Contribution of Swiss EEN to the implementation of the SME Instrument

Project Information

Swiss EENISSME

Grant agreement ID: 770919

DOI

10.3030/770919

Project closed

EC signature date 10 October 2017

Start date 1 March 2017

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 402 132,50

EU contribution

€ 402 131,50

Coordinated by

SCHWEIZERISCHE AGENTUR FUR INNOVATIONSFORDERUNG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Swiss EENISSME (Contribution of Swiss EEN to the implementation of the SME Instrument)

Reporting period: 2017-03-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The current project had two goals since the beginning. On one hand the main objective of these activities was to help Swiss winners of the SME instrument actions first, and of the European Innovation Council pilot then, to identify the major weaknesses in their business and look for the most appropriate business coach to help them addressing those. On the other hand, the “Enhancement of the innovation management capacities of SMEs” (EIMC) service packages were designed with the final goal to identify and improve the weaknesses of SMEs. The EIMC service provides support, not necessarily linked to innovation projects, to SMEs that have been identified as suitable candidates for an assessment of their innovation management capacities.
SMEs are the backbone of modern economy and their success is crucial for society in terms of additional jobs created, innovative services developed, etc. This is why the two services described above have a real impact on society if performed correctly - they can help young SMEs or SMEs making the first steps in a new, innovative direction in their business to address weaknesses right away and to find experienced coaches and services to help overcome them.

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

"The main mass of work was clearly performed in workpackage 1 - Key Account Management services for SME instrument winners in phase 1 (and some phase 2), plus more recently with some FET-Open and FET_Launchpad projects. Due to the huge amount of success of the SME instrument since Switzerland full association to Horizon2020, most of the EEN advisors in the Swiss EEN consortium took over KAM duties in 2017 and 2018 and quickly developed a good experience in the delivery of these services. 115 KAM cases were assigned and started in 2017 and 2018 and the corresponding needs' analysis performed with the clients. This amount of work slowed down the consortium plans to deliver a higher number of EIMC packages, and only 1 EIMC service package was delivered in 2018; however most of the advisors were formed with trainings on Improve by the end of the two years' period.
Regarding the main results achieved so far, the feedbacks of the cases closed we received showed a 50% of ""agree"" and 47% of ""strongly agree"" to the question ""(the) KAM helped us to identify relevant business needs"", which shows of course the great impact that these services have and the good design of the process. This existing feedback from past clients is used in the rare cases when new clients are hesitant in working with a coach or do not immediately understand the advantages of a coaching program."

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)

The delivery of KAM services to clients winners of other programs than the SME instrument started in this last year with some pilot actions on SMEs in FET-open and FET-launchpad instruments.
The potential application of the EIMC packages to clients finishing a nationally funded project by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation agency, has started as a pilot at the end of 2018 and shows very promising results and good acceptance within the agency.

Customer satisfaction post-KAM service