Lack of innovation management capacity is recognised as an important barrier to creating economic impact from innovation activities in SME. Indeed, many SME focus their innovation strategy on R&D activities, delivering thus projects, rather than on impact driven activities and generation of economic growth.
To tackle this issue in SMEs, the AISS4SME project fully adheres to the necessity to support innovative SME in improving their innovation management capacity to become more efficient in filtering out ideas and translating the most promising projects into commercial success (including the projects funded under the SME instrument scheme of Horizon2020). This objective is in line with the strategy adopted by Luxinnovation, the National Agency for Innovation and Research in Luxembourg, partner of the Enterprise Europe Network consortium in Luxembourg.
The project AISS4SME has implemented the new services for innovation support within the national consortium LIEN Grande Europe established in Luxembourg. Partners involved in the AISS4SME have the necessary expertise to successfully implement this action :
• Proven record in innovation projects support (EEN);
• Excellent knowledge and experience in European programmes (FP7, Horizon2020). Luxinnovation is the official Luxembourg National Contact Point for Horizon 2020 including “SME and access to risk finance”, which is of upmost importance for the Key Account Management service for the beneficiaries of the SME Instrument;
• Experience in promoting and supporting SMEs in improving their performance;
• Deep knowledge of the Luxembourg innovative SMEs thanks to the active involvement in the national ecosystem (Luxembourg Cluster Initiative).
With the aim of increasing successful exploitation of innovation projects on the market, the goal of the AISS4SME project is twofold:
a) Identify bottlenecks in the creation of economic impact in companies benefitting from grants under Horizon2020's SME instrument, FET-open, or FTI and address these bottlenecks with the help of qualified coaches.
This service delivered to beneficiaries of the SME instrument in the context of a specific given project is called 'Key Account Management' - KAM.
b) Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of innovation processes in SMEs.
This service is delivered to small and medium sized enterprises that display significant innovation activities and high potential for internationalisation but do not have effective access to consulting services for innovation management. This service, provided independently from a specific innovation project and focusing on a company's innovation management system, is called 'Enhancing the innovation management capacity of SMEs’ - EIMC.
