PEER LEARNING OF INNOVATION AGENCIES FOR ADVANCED SUPPORT TO SCALE-UPS

Project Information

Scale-ups Ready

Grant agreement ID: 823163

DOI

10.3030/823163

Project closed

EC signature date 26 September 2018

Start date 1 October 2018

End date 30 June 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 50 000,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Scale-ups Ready (PEER LEARNING OF INNOVATION AGENCIES FOR ADVANCED SUPPORT TO SCALE-UPS)

Reporting period: 2018-10-01 to 2019-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Ηow does an innovation agency assess a new or existing client in order to identify their capacity and potential for high growth? The former approach in which client needs and capacities are assessed by EEN consultants through simple forms is fast becoming obsolete as it rarely sees in depth on clients’ needs or provides an objective assessment in capacity and capability. Innovation services are in too many occasions standardised and do not take into account the rapid changing innovation ecosystem and the emergence of scale-ups and of new technologies that set the stage for advanced and tailor-made services to be provided by innovation agencies.
In order to cope with this new environment, client intake needs to be improved in order to approach new clients with better value propositions which address actual and contemporary client needs. Assessments should be in-depth, carried out according to a clearly defined baseline, connected to the reality of businesses, and updated on a regular basis.
The overall objective of Scale-ups Ready has been to enable the participating innovation agencies to exchange knowledge, know-how, and good practices on methodologies and tools for the assessment of scale-ups (including SMEs with high-growth potential) and customised support services, in order to develop better approaches for client intake and support of scale-ups.
The tools involved are: 1) IPscore® 2.2 2) smE-MPOWER ‘Business innovation roadmap tool’, and 3) Innovation Health Check assessment tool.

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 work plan of Scale-ups Ready consisted of one work package the ‘Design Options Paper’ (DOP). In order to design and develop the DOP, partners have conducted peer learning activities with the planning of three joint workshops. At each of the workshops, they have identified, presented, assessed with the use of a questionnaire and analysed the application of each tool and the use of its results for supporting scale-ups. Each partner has introduced/trained the other two partners to the assessment tool of their expertise, and exchanged good practices and know-how. All results of the peer learning activities and suggestions for improvements of the tools have been included in the DOP.
The consortium has implemented a number of communication activities in order to disseminate information with regards to the project and its output, i.e. the DOP. More specifically:
1) Social media publications on the progress of joint workshops organised by each partner (see link 1 and link 2).
2) The DOP offered for publishing in the EASME website Design Options Papers developed under H2020-INNOSUP and will be sent to EASME and DG GROW experts.
3) The national Enterprise Europe Networks in Greece, Lithuania and Spain will receive our newsletter with a link to download the main output – the DOP;
4) EEN Scale-ups Thematic Group will be presented with project and its results;
5) The newsletter with a link to download the DOP will be sent by email by each partner to all relevant stakeholders.

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 project has produced results beyond the state of the art because it has assessed a set of tools that can be used by innovation agencies in order to support scale-ups. The results are twofold: on the one hand, partners have been trained in these tools and have investigated and exchanged good practices in order to improve their tailor-made services to scale-ups and their intake techniques; on the other hand, the assessments of the tools may also be of use to relevant stakeholders (innovation agencies and their networks and related EU agencies). The impact that has been and will be achieved is threefold: a) sharing of knowledge and know-how among partner innovation agencies; b) better support to scale-ups and improved intake techniques in participating countries; c) to share results with other innovation agencies and in particular with those participating in the Enterprise Europe Network, and also, the EASME and DG GROW EU agencies.

Design Options Paper