SMEs play a central role in territorial development since they are generators of industrial and economic performance. Although they are a small part of the total RTD activity within European regions, SMEs contribute to a large extent to the innovation system by introducing new products and adapting existing ones to the needs of customers. Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that paradoxically SMEs create innovation without research.
The project proposal InnoMedia originates from a chain of factors that show why and how regional innovation support agencies have to provide SMEs with better innovation support and services:
- SMEs do not usually possess the necessary resources and skills for innovation, so that they have to rely on the public support provided by external specialists
- indeed, SMEs receiving innovation support from the public often remain dissatisfied with the services they receive, since generally the public approach to innovation consists in supporting single technical projects within single enterprises
- as a consequence, the need arises for the public to pay more attention to work out effective innovation policies, in accordance with which the regional and local innovation support agencies can design and implement improved innovation programmes for SMEs, monitor and evaluate the outcomes of the programmes, promote or accelerate the development of product and process innovation in SMEs
- in such perspective, territorial innovation policies are the determining factor for the innovation-driven economic and productive growth of SMEs and it is the responsibility of public authorities to determine effective policies, consistent with the territorial peculiarities, to enable innovation support agencies to design and implement improved and effective SME innovation support programmes
- SMEs need intermediaries able to foster and facilitate the access to the knowledge basis needed to develop innovation: these intermediaries are the Regional Agencies for SME Innovation Support.
The InnoMedia peer learning action aims at fostering a new, structured and comprehensive approach to SME innovation challenge and to formation and implementation of SME innovation support programs as well as to create a permanent learning environment by sharing resources, competences and experiences from a group of three leading regional innovation support agencies across national borders.
The three Regional Agencies for SME Innovation Support are: Innova BIC Srl (Italy), Steinbeis Europa Zentrum (Germany), RCISD Ltd (Hungary).
The DOP-Design Option Paper developed, which is the ultimate result of InnoMedia, represents the synthesis of the initiatives to be undertaken and the methodologies to be adopted by the regional innovation agencies to create a new model of animation for the innovation of SMEs that can be adopted in the widest European context and, for this reason, aims to be a public and comprehensive learning tool to serve European SME development.
