Implementation of workplace innovation scheme in Southern European SMEs

Project Information

INNovaSouth

Grant agreement ID: 861874

DOI

10.3030/861874

Project closed

EC signature date 13 June 2019

Start date 1 June 2019

End date 31 May 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 299 875,00

EU contribution

€ 299 875,00

Coordinated by

JO CONSULTING SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - INNovaSouth (Implementation of workplace innovation scheme in Southern European SMEs)

Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2021-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The nature of the workplace is changing fast: work is getting done digitally and from multiple locations. The competitive landscape is evolving rapidly: the current economic context, characterized by the phenomenon of globalization, is increasingly pushing companies to change their strategies to increase their competitiveness. Against this intensely competitive backdrop, organizations must transform to survive. This transformation effort requires innovation from many fronts, not only products and services, but also business models and the nature of work itself. Technology is having a profound impact on the workplace but is only part of the equation. The organizations which are actively embracing change agree on the fact that innovation comes from people and from shared knowledge and resources. However, there are a number of barriers that impede these work styles from becoming a reality. This is particularly true when talking about Southern European enterprises, especially those with legal headquarters in Italy and Greece, where the entrepreneurial mindset is often closed and the innovation is often not contemplated. Sometimes the real problem is the misinformation with regard to innovative tools and practices capable of bringing economic benefits to the workers themselves and, therefore, to the companies. Changing the way some entrepreneurs view the world is tremendously difficult but it represents an important challenge for the future of their companies. JO Consulting and iED have the aim to provide dedicated SME instruments able to stimulate Southern European SMEs to implement new organizational models for the management of human resources and innovative solutions for the modernization of the workplace. The overarching purpose is to bring to the Southern European market an expanded vision on the new factors of competitiveness through a model of best practices of non-technological innovation which allows building skills and innovation capacity in SMEs finding simple solutions to increase employees’ productivity and well-being.

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

During the project lifetime, the two partners JO Consulting and iED achieved the following objectives:
- 24 SMEs have been granted by the INNovaSouth funding-scheme for the implementation of different WPI actions, by launching an open call within the EC Participant Portal. The list and explanation of workplace practices to be implemented by the selected SMEs have been described within the INNovaSouth matrix and included in the Online Manual of Good Practices on Workplace Innovation. The open call has been launched in march 2020 within the EC Participant Portal and made applicable through the project website. From the 152 applications received, 24 SMEs, 12 based in Sicily and 12 based in Thessaly, have been selected as beneficiaries of the funding-scheme.
- 351 workers, among managers and employees of the beneficiary SMEs, have been involved in an online training programme to improve some of their soft and hard skills, contributing to the spread of better skilled workforce and, as a consequence, of more resilient companies. Partners during the first months of 2020 developed the ICT WPI system online training program consisting of 4 modules: innovation in the workplace, English language, lean management, soft skills.
- The INNovaSouth consortium has been able to promote the importance of workplace innovation among over 1000 SMEs based in Italy and in Greece, raising awareness on its strategic advantages, through the development and dissemination of the Manual of Good Practices on Workplace Innovation. Partners have invested heavily in promoting the importance of innovation in the workplace by disseminating the project outputs among their network of local SMEs. Thanks to the use of the partners’ social media channels and websites, the press communication, a local television interview to the CEO of JO Consulting, the news on the INNovaSouth project and the launch of the Open Call published in 30 online newspapers, the consortium has achieved excellent results in terms of dissemination. It’s interesting to underline that users visited the Voucher’s page app. 6.500 times and downloaded the Call for proposal more than 1.000. Also, the views of the Manual of workplace innovations was successful, with 600 downloads and more than 2.000 pageviews. Also, at European level EASME, EEN and DGGrowth supported the project sharing posts on their social networks.
- The consortium partners has provided financial support to the selected SMEs through the disbursement of € 8.000 voucher for 24 selected beneficiaries. The funding scheme was conceived in the form of a lump sum voucher, it was paid to the beneficiary SMEs at the end of the implementation period, once the implemented WPIs were analyzed by Coordinator and their consistency with the approved project assessed.

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)

Expected result of the INNovaSouth project is to improve entrepreneurial culture of SMEs in Southern Europe and at the same time increase market resilience and business competitiveness of these companies by providing services and financial support for a total amount of 192.000 € for the implementation of several workplace innovative solutions. INNovaSouth partners have implemented and promoted a new context-based mechanism to support the adoption of workplace innovation within 24 SMEs, which has attracted the interest of almost 200 companies toward the theme. The consortium has noticed that the impact in terms of knowledge and interest in the open call was determined not only by the workplace innovation topic, but especially by the voucher funding-scheme: in fact, many small local businesses do not have the financial possibility to invest in innovation neither an innovation-oriented mindset and were encouraged to take a first step thanks to the monetary help. In a broader perspective, by educating companies on innovation issues and by providing them with financial support aimed at investing in new practices, could lead to an increased regional innovative capacity which in turn can lead local businesses to be more competitive and attractive for workers and investors. This is what INNovaSouth, in its small way, has tried to do.
INNovaSouth is contributing to reinforcing the framework conditions for adopting workplace innovation with the introduction of new managerial approaches and good practices, together with collaboration arrangements and tools supporting the uptake of innovation; It is promoting workplace innovation practices across the targeted areas and disseminating the actions implemented by Italian and Greek SMEs throughout the funding-scheme. The project is proving successful and certainly could be taken as an example by other consulting companies aimed at supporting innovation in the workplace in other realities where there is a close mindset toward new investments or a little knowledge of the topic. After the implementation period the Coordinator checked all the reports and feedback collected from the surveys, by comparing the pre and post- implementation questionnaires, drawn up by the workers of the beneficiary SMEs, and the consortium noticed that employees' motivation has increased when SMEs implemented new organisational models for the management of human resources and innovative solutions for the modernisation of the workplace.

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