Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUNORS (Enhancing innovation management capacity of SMEs in Republic of Srpska)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-01-01 al 2021-12-31
The EEN consortium of Republic of Srpska (EUNORS), notwithstanding the Global pandemic, continues to fulfil most of the planned targets. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has profoundly changed the way we have conducted network activities. One of the key challenges is physical movements limited by both government measures and people’s fears. In such circumstances virtual space via screen sharing and chat with companies and network partners replaced conventional ways of communication.
The Consortium (EUNORS) organised frequent meetings to discuss emerging issues related to the work of the Enterprise Europe Network in the current crisis. In so doing, in the last 8-9 months we’ve been conducting online training for member clients. At the beginning of the pandemic outbreak we were active through online trainings in helping businesses about workplace safety and preventing the spread of the virus.
Individual members of the Consortium, particularly the Universities’ team members closely monitor fast changes in macro business environment necessary to timely update businesses that struggle to cope with increasing uncertainties. As a result of our proactive communication with business clients, several companies we have assisted converted new business opportunities into action. For example, one company (furniture manufacturer) from Banja Luka decided to expand their product portfolio to face masks production.
Certainly, the Covid-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge. While we do not yet know its full impact, it is set to change the future business activities, business governance, companies’ organization structure and architecture of new business models. Having this in mind we as a group making an additional effort to help firms to cope with changes, as well as making sure that our clients are fully aware of current situation and upcoming issues.
We have also actively begun to promote the Sofia Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This new growth strategy, that addresses numerous deficiencies of traditional economic development/business paradigm that lacks resource-efficiency and innovation. In this context, we shall target business and entrepreneurs that are interested in building needed business capacities.
The EUNORS Consortium, during 2020 did not deliver any Key Account Management services as the needed funding was not available for this work package. Hence, the Report provides information related to the activities undertaken in other Program areas including EIMC service provision, promotion of the SME Instrument and capacity building of potential applicants through, mainly online communication channels within the COSME program, all in accordance with the current circumstances.
During the period of 2020, the EUNORS team, dedicated a lot of time in promoting the SME instruments funding scheme but none of the applications that we assisted, passed the initial phase. The EUNORS consortium continues to provide support for businesses with innovative ideas and international orientation ambition that are unable to secure investment capital. We are expecting a positive response, as the applicant has already demonstrated the innovative capacity.
The Consortium (EUNORS) organised frequent meetings to discuss emerging issues related to the work of the Enterprise Europe Network in the current crisis. In so doing, in the last 8-9 months we’ve been conducting online training for member clients. At the beginning of the pandemic outbreak we were active through online trainings in helping businesses about workplace safety and preventing the spread of the virus.
Individual members of the Consortium, particularly the Universities’ team members closely monitor fast changes in macro business environment necessary to timely update businesses that struggle to cope with increasing uncertainties. As a result of our proactive communication with business clients, several companies we have assisted converted new business opportunities into action. For example, one company (furniture manufacturer) from Banja Luka decided to expand their product portfolio to face masks production.
Certainly, the Covid-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge. While we do not yet know its full impact, it is set to change the future business activities, business governance, companies’ organization structure and architecture of new business models. Having this in mind we as a group making an additional effort to help firms to cope with changes, as well as making sure that our clients are fully aware of current situation and upcoming issues.
We have also actively begun to promote the Sofia Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This new growth strategy, that addresses numerous deficiencies of traditional economic development/business paradigm that lacks resource-efficiency and innovation. In this context, we shall target business and entrepreneurs that are interested in building needed business capacities.
The EUNORS Consortium, during 2020 did not deliver any Key Account Management services as the needed funding was not available for this work package. Hence, the Report provides information related to the activities undertaken in other Program areas including EIMC service provision, promotion of the SME Instrument and capacity building of potential applicants through, mainly online communication channels within the COSME program, all in accordance with the current circumstances.
During the period of 2020, the EUNORS team, dedicated a lot of time in promoting the SME instruments funding scheme but none of the applications that we assisted, passed the initial phase. The EUNORS consortium continues to provide support for businesses with innovative ideas and international orientation ambition that are unable to secure investment capital. We are expecting a positive response, as the applicant has already demonstrated the innovative capacity.
Our plan for the reporting period was to serve 13 clients for EIMC services, plus one client as part of the Key Account Management (KAM) programme. During this period we have been working with 18 clients including those firms from the previous period (the year 2019) that we had started consultancy with. Thus, during the year 2020, the Consortium completed 12 cases (RARS 5, UNIBL 5, ICBL 2). The assessment of business strategy in order to see how does it enhance business innovation appeared to be well appreciated by our clients. As the methodology is based on a holistic approach to innovation management, it helps businesses to get value-creating innovation management assessment compared with thousand businesses across Europe and beyond.
Synergies and links with COSME activities and their contribution to the achievement of the objectives
Beneficiaries of EIMC service are identified and recruited through standard EUNORS onboarding process for EEN clients. As contacting companies is part of the wider EEN efforts, services of this action are offered to companies as part of the EEN client journey. Initial client intake assessment includes identification of clients that might need improvement of their innovation management capacity. Broader services provided by the EUNORS members include innovation support services, different forms of business advise, business mentoring, coaching and the like. The consortium implements the “hub and spoke” model by designing services around individual clients, making the best possible use of the available resources by pooling assets and services among partners in the Consortium and across the local and EU ecosystem. In this context the partner handling a given client provides the core services and uses other partners to provide additional and specialized services in accordance with the given partner’s strengths.
As part of normal duties (under COSME), EEN staff tasks includes scouting for potential candidates for EIMC services as well as identifying potential candidates for the SME Instrument. Once the potential candidates were identified the advisor performed a needs assessment with the company and devised a client journey plan for the company that focused either on building their capacity for innovation or on assisting the company to apply for funding if they have a concrete project appropriate for application to SME Instrument funding. If the company was in the early stages of building innovation capacity, they were provided relevant advisory and partnering service provided by the Network directly, and subsequently directed towards EIMC and access to finance services once their projects reached necessary level of maturity, while those who are in the advanced stage are directed towards these services directly upon initiating their client journey. For EIMC services this mainly meant that clients using EIMC services came from the pull of clients using broader EUNORS services, and once the IMC assessment was made, action plan design took into account possible use of other Network services to implement and complement the action plan.
Synergies and links with COSME activities and their contribution to the achievement of the objectives
Beneficiaries of EIMC service are identified and recruited through standard EUNORS onboarding process for EEN clients. As contacting companies is part of the wider EEN efforts, services of this action are offered to companies as part of the EEN client journey. Initial client intake assessment includes identification of clients that might need improvement of their innovation management capacity. Broader services provided by the EUNORS members include innovation support services, different forms of business advise, business mentoring, coaching and the like. The consortium implements the “hub and spoke” model by designing services around individual clients, making the best possible use of the available resources by pooling assets and services among partners in the Consortium and across the local and EU ecosystem. In this context the partner handling a given client provides the core services and uses other partners to provide additional and specialized services in accordance with the given partner’s strengths.
As part of normal duties (under COSME), EEN staff tasks includes scouting for potential candidates for EIMC services as well as identifying potential candidates for the SME Instrument. Once the potential candidates were identified the advisor performed a needs assessment with the company and devised a client journey plan for the company that focused either on building their capacity for innovation or on assisting the company to apply for funding if they have a concrete project appropriate for application to SME Instrument funding. If the company was in the early stages of building innovation capacity, they were provided relevant advisory and partnering service provided by the Network directly, and subsequently directed towards EIMC and access to finance services once their projects reached necessary level of maturity, while those who are in the advanced stage are directed towards these services directly upon initiating their client journey. For EIMC services this mainly meant that clients using EIMC services came from the pull of clients using broader EUNORS services, and once the IMC assessment was made, action plan design took into account possible use of other Network services to implement and complement the action plan.
Direct impact on clients of the EIMC services provided
As foreseen in the application the contribution to "significantly enhanced growth and profitability" of SMEs companies for the EIMC services is foreseen it the areas of market growth, cost savings, job creation/maintenance, quality improvement, and innovation management capacity.
We expect that the in terms of the market growth 6 beneficiaries were in the process of reaching new market/s while 4 beneficiaries will bring new/improved products to the market. Reduced production costs are expected at 3 clients, ranging from 3% to 5% cost reduction, while it is expected to generate/maintain over 20 jobs. Quality improvement is expected at 14 clients in total, while 16 firms (clients) will benefit from networking.
As foreseen in the application the contribution to "significantly enhanced growth and profitability" of SMEs companies for the EIMC services is foreseen it the areas of market growth, cost savings, job creation/maintenance, quality improvement, and innovation management capacity.
We expect that the in terms of the market growth 6 beneficiaries were in the process of reaching new market/s while 4 beneficiaries will bring new/improved products to the market. Reduced production costs are expected at 3 clients, ranging from 3% to 5% cost reduction, while it is expected to generate/maintain over 20 jobs. Quality improvement is expected at 14 clients in total, while 16 firms (clients) will benefit from networking.