Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EEN-Innovate Plus PT (EEN-Innovate Plus Portugal)
Reporting period: 2019-01-01 to 2019-12-31
The EEN-Innovate Plus PT consortium maintained the objectives presented in its proposal: the continuity of the work developed in previous projects and a focus on the transition to the new challenges of the European Innovation Council.
It was our commitment to ensure that companies continued to benefit from all services without any constraints. To strengthen companies’ business innovation by ensuring the transition from the SME instrument program to the European Innovation Council, encouraging them to pursue their objectives by support and improve their management, growth and innovation skills. Following the EU goals, it continues to be central in our strategy to support the increase of SME´s internal innovation capacities, especially innovation management capacity, and thus enabling companies to access European and international markets in a competitive and sustainable way.
The main goal mentioned in the proposal, which was aligned with the implementation strategy set out in our Consortium FPA, had two specific objectives (increased with a special one):
• SMEs beneficiaries of Horizon 2020 by SME Instrument (Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3), FTI - Fast Track Innovation and FET OPEN - Future and Emerging Technologies
• SMEs with significant innovation activities and a high potential for internationalization,
• SMEs awarded with a Seal of Excellence (SoE) from H2020 SME Instrument
In summary, the Consortium partners (P01-IAPMEI, P03-ANI, P10-CEC, and P11-INESC TEC) had foreseen to deliver a total of 74 services for a one-year program covering all the regions in the country.
It was our commitment to ensure that companies continued to benefit from all services without any constraints. To strengthen companies’ business innovation by ensuring the transition from the SME instrument program to the European Innovation Council, encouraging them to pursue their objectives by support and improve their management, growth and innovation skills. Following the EU goals, it continues to be central in our strategy to support the increase of SME´s internal innovation capacities, especially innovation management capacity, and thus enabling companies to access European and international markets in a competitive and sustainable way.
The main goal mentioned in the proposal, which was aligned with the implementation strategy set out in our Consortium FPA, had two specific objectives (increased with a special one):
• SMEs beneficiaries of Horizon 2020 by SME Instrument (Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3), FTI - Fast Track Innovation and FET OPEN - Future and Emerging Technologies
• SMEs with significant innovation activities and a high potential for internationalization,
• SMEs awarded with a Seal of Excellence (SoE) from H2020 SME Instrument
In summary, the Consortium partners (P01-IAPMEI, P03-ANI, P10-CEC, and P11-INESC TEC) had foreseen to deliver a total of 74 services for a one-year program covering all the regions in the country.
The work done considered and was focused on, the concepts presented in the Consultation: “Client-centric approach” and “hub and spoke model”. The subsidiarity and additionality principles, as well as the European dimension and European added value, were also key factors in the implementation of the different actions.
The consortium carried out 91% of the objectives by supporting 67 companies (of 74 proposed), among mandatory services provided to the beneficiaries of SME Instrument (KAM Services), 26 services (of the 23 planned, 13% more) and to the beneficiaries of EIMC services – Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SME, 41 services (of 51 services planned) 80% execution of the program) which specific objective was to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of innovation processes in those companies, promoting the access to the European research and innovation programmes.
The consortium carried out 91% of the objectives by supporting 67 companies (of 74 proposed), among mandatory services provided to the beneficiaries of SME Instrument (KAM Services), 26 services (of the 23 planned, 13% more) and to the beneficiaries of EIMC services – Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SME, 41 services (of 51 services planned) 80% execution of the program) which specific objective was to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of innovation processes in those companies, promoting the access to the European research and innovation programmes.
The consortium is still working on how to find solutions for the attendance of the SoE companies with effectiveness and prompt response to their needs, as it still did not receive a list of SoE (due to GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation constraints).
The consortium started to use the Innovation Radar tool; it expects to obtain some results at the end of the first semester of 2020.
The feedback received from SMEs beneficiaries of KAM services has been very positive, mainly concerning the help given by coaches for the business strategy development.
The consortium considers that, in general terms, the proposal met the companies´ expectations by providing high-quality consulting services, for the enhancement of innovation management capacities of the Portuguese SMEs, namely the beneficiaries of Horizon 2020 SME Instrument and those with significant innovation activities and a high potential for growth and internationalization. The evidence of this is the winning prizes that EIMC companies granted this year, in different sectors and organizations.
In total, the Consortium executed 91% of the whole program, completed 35% and has 55% of the services ongoing in 2019.
The consortium provided more 11 Kam services and 11 EIMC services (see Section 2), initiated in the previous activity period (2017-2018) but completed in this activity period, as reported in PES 2019.
The consortium started to use the Innovation Radar tool; it expects to obtain some results at the end of the first semester of 2020.
The feedback received from SMEs beneficiaries of KAM services has been very positive, mainly concerning the help given by coaches for the business strategy development.
The consortium considers that, in general terms, the proposal met the companies´ expectations by providing high-quality consulting services, for the enhancement of innovation management capacities of the Portuguese SMEs, namely the beneficiaries of Horizon 2020 SME Instrument and those with significant innovation activities and a high potential for growth and internationalization. The evidence of this is the winning prizes that EIMC companies granted this year, in different sectors and organizations.
In total, the Consortium executed 91% of the whole program, completed 35% and has 55% of the services ongoing in 2019.
The consortium provided more 11 Kam services and 11 EIMC services (see Section 2), initiated in the previous activity period (2017-2018) but completed in this activity period, as reported in PES 2019.