Enhancing innovation management capacity of the SMEs in Central Poland - 4

Project Information

KAM2CentralPoland-4

Grant agreement ID: 879419

DOI

10.3030/879419

Project closed

EC signature date 7 February 2020

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 31 December 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 163 061,25

EU contribution

€ 163 061,25

Coordinated by

POLSKA AGENCJA ROZWOJU PRZEDSIEBIORCZOSCI
Poland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - KAM2CentralPoland-4 (Enhancing innovation management capacity of the SMEs in Central Poland - 4)

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

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The KAM2CentralPoland-4 project was implemented under an extraordinarily circumstances caused by Covid-19 pandemic which started in 2020 and continue to influence the global economy in 2021.
In 2020 the global economy was shut down for few months and Polish GDP dropped by 3,5 % (year on year) in 2020, while the unemployment is set to rise to 5,5 %. The government adopted a comprehensive fiscal package, worth around 5.2% of GDP in 2020, which combined with the spontaneous impact of the recession, will push the deficit to 11% of GDP in 2020. In 2021, again Poland suffered from 3 waves of the pandemic, which did not helped in the economic recovery process. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Polish GDP advanced 7.3 percent year-on-year, as the Polish economy continued to recover from the economic setbacks brought by the pandemic. But at the same time, the annual inflation climbed to 8.6% in December 2021 (which was the highest inflation rate since November 2000) mainly boosted by the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities as well as transport. On the monthly basis the consumer process rose 1.9 percent at the end of 2021.
During the project implementation, Polish SMEs were struggling to survive despite the highly difficult economic situation in Europe and all the restrictions imposed on them by the Polish Government. The global vaccination process helped in reopening the European and global markets.
The KAM2CentralPoland-4 consortium needed to adjust quickly to dynamic changes to all facets of the economy.

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

In response to the lockdown enforced in mid-March 2020, the Consortium host organizations reverted to remote work for most of activities, in a way which nevertheless ensured the continuity of service to clients. A series of new IT solutions were expeditiously implemented – among them teleconferencing software and matchmaking solutions (in line with EASME guidelines). All Partners had to reinvent the way their services to SMEs are provided.

During the difficult time of the project implementation, the Consortium managed to find the companies which meet the basic conditions for the EIMC service, mainly by organizing a series of events promoting the service and then proceeding to execute all the planned services.

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)

In spite of the extraordinary circumstances, owing to the excellent cooperation within the Consortium and great efforts of its staff, the results planned for the reporting period were achieved at level of 103% (33% - KAM services and 117% - EIMC services) which is excellent result taking into account that most of contacts with clients over the reporting period were conducted online only and there was no KAM services allocated for the consortium in 2021 at all.

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