SEIMED Innovation Management Support

Project Information

SEIMED INNOSUP

Grant agreement ID: 740879

DOI

10.3030/740879

Project closed

EC signature date 13 February 2017

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 209 950,00

EU contribution

€ 209 950,00

Coordinated by

INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE LA COMPETITIVIDAD EMPRESARIAL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEIMED INNOSUP (SEIMED Innovation Management Support)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In 2014 the Enterprise Europe Network – SEIMED launched the KAM and EIMC services. Ever since then we have been adapting and improving the delivery of these services to allow our SMEs to make the most of them contributing to the generation economic and social impact in our territories of Valencia and Murcia.
The EEN SEIMED has delivered Key Account Management services for the H2020 SME Instrument beneficiaries, identifying weaknesses in their innovation capacities and offering expert coaching services to maximize the impact of their global business innovation opportunities. The high success of the SME Instrument in Spain and in our regions (124 beneficiary SMEs at the end of 2018) has boosted our dedication to implement and at the same time to improve the KAM services.
Both, EEN SEIMED partners involved, IVACE and INFO Murcia, have supported SMEs and guided them to implement effective processes in order to become more competitive and have a pro-active attitude towards the changing business environment, promoting the creation of a system that would continuously generate innovation and not only erratic and sporadic progress. This service has been delivered by innovation experts and has been linked to other support services of the EEN SEIMED as well as other national and regional support services ensuring that our SMEs receive, and has the capability to benefit from the a timely and suitable support accompanying their innovation cycles.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"Both regions involved in the action have had very good results in the H2020 SME Instrument EU Program. Since 2014, until 2018 a total of 124 SME beneficiaries of Phase 1 (73 in Valencia and 21 in Murcia) and 14 SME beneficiaries of Phase 2 (23 in Valencia and 7 in Murcia). Part of this success has had to do with different initiatives financed under COSME EEN SEIMED project. In the same period 2014-2018, a total of 1,080 participants have attended the different SME Instrument events (881 in Valencia and 199 in Murcia) and more than 120 companies have received individualized advice. Our KAMs do also attended several events like the “Networking Days for EEN KAMs” (sept 2017) in order to exchange experiences with other KAMs and improve the service. Finally, 84 cases have been closed (IVACE 65 and INFO 19), doing the needs Assessment, supporting the coach selection, validating the coaching plan and facilitating interaction between the SME, the Coach and the European Commission until the final assessment. Both partners feel that the EIMC service is actually a very valuable ""entry service"" to get to know deeply pre-selected companies and define tailor made action plans to boost innovation and competitiveness. Nevertheless, it is very important to mention that this service has a long learning curve and needs senior innovation advisors to properly deliver value added to the companies. Both partners are making efforts to continue improving the service through tailor-made trainings to our innovation advisors involved in the action. It is worth to mention that in November 2018, two of our KAMs attended a workshop organized by Enterprise Ireland on the Innovation Health Check tool and will attend in January 2019 a training workshop on Idea Management organized by EEN Austria. IVACE is investing time and resources to train their KAMs to deliver, not only the Coaching services but the EIMC services as well. The rationale behind this is that we think that KAMs tend to be the main prescribers of the EIMC service for two reasons: KAMs have a close contact with the CEOs of the SMEs, not only the SMEi beneficiaries but also the SoEs . Both segments of companies in general perceive our KAMs as a trusted advisor so they are more open to the uptaking of added value services like the EIMC.
"

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Both partners involved in the action serve 124 SME Instrument beneficiaries (94 phase 1 and 30 phase 2). All these projects have stated for a total grant of 41,6 million euro (22,1 M€ to Valencia and 2,6 M€ to Murcia). The KAM services, assessing the gaps and needs of each innovation project and introducing appropriate coaching experts, are backing the company to accelerate the commercialization of innovations and bring good returns on investment to our regions and Europe. With respect to the EIMC services, mainly focused on mature or more established companies, have worked to make SMEs management teams understand the great significance to manage innovation as a vector for future growth. Introducing Innovation from the very start of the definition of a Business Strategy and to getting to manage innovative ideas and project portfolio in an efficient manner. The innovation advisors have agreed with the SMEs to define concrete actions to enhance innovation capacities. In our opinion guiding the company through the innovation ecosystem and helping them identify the right advice, potential collaborators and suitable programs has had an impact on business performance. Moreover, the innovation advisor gathers first-hand information on the real needs of the companies and feedback on the impact of actual policies to share with policy makers and continuously improve programs and services offered to SMEs.

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