Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EEN EF4 INNO 2019 (Enterprise Europe Network Eastern France services for Innovation)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2019-01-01 do 2019-12-31
EEN EF4 INNO projects provided the Network’s Innovation management services in the regions served by the EEN EASTERN FRANCE consortium. The action was divided between
- Key account management (KAM) mentoring support to those SMEs beneficiaries of the H2020 SME Instrument scheme and new EIC enhanced pilot related schemes involving one Key Account Manager for each region (provided by CCI BFC and Grand E-nov).
- Enhanced Innovation Management Capacity services provided to SMEs with a potential to access new international markets through innovation which concentrated most of the activity. About 8 active Innovation management advisors from all three partners participated in the activity.
KAM activity was widely bound to the number of EIC pilot instrument beneficiaries. New projects were awarded mostly on phase 1 and with a first success on the EIC Accelerator towards the very end of the period. However, with the end of phase 1 calls, fewer case were supported in 2019 than in the previous year, despite a good number of phase 1 success acquired during the first semester. KAM represented a minority of resources spent in 2019.
3 new projects and 5 which had started at the end of 2018 were supported during the period.
EIMC services was conducted with different approaches according the regional contexts and other stakeholder’s existing activities. Synergies with the Scale-up approach tested during 2017-2018 were implemented.
Overall 24 cases were completed in 2019 while another 21 were also started.
- Key account management (KAM) mentoring support to those SMEs beneficiaries of the H2020 SME Instrument scheme and new EIC enhanced pilot related schemes involving one Key Account Manager for each region (provided by CCI BFC and Grand E-nov).
- Enhanced Innovation Management Capacity services provided to SMEs with a potential to access new international markets through innovation which concentrated most of the activity. About 8 active Innovation management advisors from all three partners participated in the activity.
KAM activity was widely bound to the number of EIC pilot instrument beneficiaries. New projects were awarded mostly on phase 1 and with a first success on the EIC Accelerator towards the very end of the period. However, with the end of phase 1 calls, fewer case were supported in 2019 than in the previous year, despite a good number of phase 1 success acquired during the first semester. KAM represented a minority of resources spent in 2019.
3 new projects and 5 which had started at the end of 2018 were supported during the period.
EIMC services was conducted with different approaches according the regional contexts and other stakeholder’s existing activities. Synergies with the Scale-up approach tested during 2017-2018 were implemented.
Overall 24 cases were completed in 2019 while another 21 were also started.
Additional efforts were made during the period to increase synergies between COSME core EEN services and H2020 specific innovation management issues.
On the EIC, a special attention was given to identified recipient of the Seal of Excellence, which means mostly SMEs which had been assisted beforehand for the submission of a proposal. In particular, pitching and proposal preparation workshops were offered as part of COSME activity.
On the KAM services itself, coaching services were globally very much appreciated by EIC beneficiaries, although the tools for selecting the coaches made available to the EEN did not prove very efficient. Needs analysis are generally conducted leading to coaching needs requiring quite specific skills which can be hardly available in the coaching database. Peer exchanges between KAM but also very accurate coaching searches in professional social media like Linked In was often a relieving solution. Several coaching were also carried out with the active participation of the KAM which is entrusted by the SME and makes the relation with the coach smoother. From the experience of several cases now, we believe that EEN KAMs could play a deeper role in the coaching in the future as well
EIMC on the other hand focused most of the resources and activity of this project. The notion of Innovation Management is now broader than innovation and it encompasses new economy trends faced by companies like sustainability or digitalisation. Several cases were touching these notions. Besides, EIMC has become a real backbone of the EEN typical client journey with action plans leading to other EEN core business related activities, like regulation compliance or partnersearches for instance.
On the EIC, a special attention was given to identified recipient of the Seal of Excellence, which means mostly SMEs which had been assisted beforehand for the submission of a proposal. In particular, pitching and proposal preparation workshops were offered as part of COSME activity.
On the KAM services itself, coaching services were globally very much appreciated by EIC beneficiaries, although the tools for selecting the coaches made available to the EEN did not prove very efficient. Needs analysis are generally conducted leading to coaching needs requiring quite specific skills which can be hardly available in the coaching database. Peer exchanges between KAM but also very accurate coaching searches in professional social media like Linked In was often a relieving solution. Several coaching were also carried out with the active participation of the KAM which is entrusted by the SME and makes the relation with the coach smoother. From the experience of several cases now, we believe that EEN KAMs could play a deeper role in the coaching in the future as well
EIMC on the other hand focused most of the resources and activity of this project. The notion of Innovation Management is now broader than innovation and it encompasses new economy trends faced by companies like sustainability or digitalisation. Several cases were touching these notions. Besides, EIMC has become a real backbone of the EEN typical client journey with action plans leading to other EEN core business related activities, like regulation compliance or partnersearches for instance.
On the KAM service, all clients approached benefited from coaching which was always welcome and proved useful in securing the business approach of new markets. Most of coaching were indeed very much business and international market access oriented while the financial or technical aspects were often already well addressed by the company and its local stakeholders. This is here a real added value of the EEN compared with existing services for high growth business scaling up.
On the EIMC services, most clients also had concrete benefits out of the supporting scheme: increase of turnover, improved profitability, better strategic planning, secure investment and funding, more efficient human resources management and involvement …
Several Advisory Services Outcomes were also reported in the EEN core business activities (COSME) after individual services were provided in the so-called hub and spoke approach of the client journey.
On the EIMC services, most clients also had concrete benefits out of the supporting scheme: increase of turnover, improved profitability, better strategic planning, secure investment and funding, more efficient human resources management and involvement …
Several Advisory Services Outcomes were also reported in the EEN core business activities (COSME) after individual services were provided in the so-called hub and spoke approach of the client journey.