Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ERBSN 4 H2020 (Eastern Romanian Business Support Network support for innovative SMEs)
Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2021-12-31
RO2 is a modest innovator, according to Regional Innovation Scoreboard, with low innovation and R&D activities undertaken by SMEs.
Hence, the innovation activities refer mainly to modest product or service diversification so that to meet the local consumers demand with few enterprises including internationalization within their business development strategy.
ERBSN 4 H2020 project aims to:
- deliver Key account management (KAM) services for RO2 SMEs benefiting of SMEs Instrument / EIC Pilot under H2020 and support the for achieving their innovation project success;
- deliver services to enhance the innovation management capacities (EIMC) and processes of RO2 SMEs with innovation activities and potential for international growth;
- develop skills and competencies of ERBSN KAM and EIMC consultants.
Specific efforts were made within ERBSN COSME activities in order to support the development of successful EIC Pilot proposals.
ERBSN consortium continued the efforts made in order to improve this difficult RO2 innovation performance situation.
On the other hand, for EIMC services, ERBSN active partners started or delivered over 100% of the planned targets for the SGA4.
Incremental innovation projects were, mainly, identified and supported as well as organizational and product innovations.
Client SMEs innovation management activities and processes were assessed and bench-marked using IMPROVE tool.
Shortcomings and needs of the clients were identified and prioritized with improvement action plans being designed and implemented.
- offering SMEs custom-made in-depth services, based on their clearly identified and mutually agreed needs and gaps, thus tackling the very root of the SMEs innovation problems.
- proposing tools, methods and resources for improving SMEs innovation performance.
Both KAM and EIMC services are unique services in RO2 region.
Thus, the RO2 macro-regional innovation-related organizations, including R&D ones, benefited from introducing in-depth European innovation support services.