Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ELSE SIM 2020-21 (Enterprise Lazio and Sardegna for Europe Smes Innovation Management 2020-21)
Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2021-12-31
All EU projects have been negatively affected by the pandemic situation. This is incredibly true as far as EIC Accelerator pilot is concerned. Nevertheless, issues encountered are not only concerned with Covid-19 situation. Below a list of critical points affecting the smooth trend of activities:
1. SME instrument phase has ended. Italian companies traditionally applied the most to SME ins. Phase 1. EU statistics and reports confirm this trend. In 2018 SMEs from Spain and Italy accounted for one third of both applicants and funded companies for ph1 and 2. Going into details of the two phases, a recent example shown in the table belows clearly figures out that out of a total of 854 participants to ph1 2019 cut-offs, 84 were Italian proposals (figure 2). If we look at phase 2 on a total number of 328 projects, only 16 were Italian. Considering the 2020 cut-offs, situation radically changes. On a total number of 180 SME ph 2 project financed, only 4 projects are Italian (figure 3).
2. Covid-19 outbreak has stimulated a general EU reaction within the Horizon 2020 grants. Concerning EIC Accelerator Pilot calls, they left the ground to proposals of companies providing health and sanitary solutions, leaving few room to other proposals.
3. May 2020 cut-off H2020-EIC Accelerator pilot –SME Instrument - Green Deal was only addressed to those companies providing circular and green solutions, since the topic contributed to implement the Green Deal goals. Other ELSE companies active in other industrial/technological sectors had no possibility to apply to the call. That means that all other companies had to wait 6 months (from March to October) to apply again to the EIC calls.
4. The coonsortium developed a new assessment to evaluate the Clients' digital new mindset facing the pandemic challenges
1. SME instrument phase has ended. Italian companies traditionally applied the most to SME ins. Phase 1. EU statistics and reports confirm this trend. In 2018 SMEs from Spain and Italy accounted for one third of both applicants and funded companies for ph1 and 2. Going into details of the two phases, a recent example shown in the table belows clearly figures out that out of a total of 854 participants to ph1 2019 cut-offs, 84 were Italian proposals (figure 2). If we look at phase 2 on a total number of 328 projects, only 16 were Italian. Considering the 2020 cut-offs, situation radically changes. On a total number of 180 SME ph 2 project financed, only 4 projects are Italian (figure 3).
2. Covid-19 outbreak has stimulated a general EU reaction within the Horizon 2020 grants. Concerning EIC Accelerator Pilot calls, they left the ground to proposals of companies providing health and sanitary solutions, leaving few room to other proposals.
3. May 2020 cut-off H2020-EIC Accelerator pilot –SME Instrument - Green Deal was only addressed to those companies providing circular and green solutions, since the topic contributed to implement the Green Deal goals. Other ELSE companies active in other industrial/technological sectors had no possibility to apply to the call. That means that all other companies had to wait 6 months (from March to October) to apply again to the EIC calls.
4. The coonsortium developed a new assessment to evaluate the Clients' digital new mindset facing the pandemic challenges
The ELSE SIM consortium performed 2 kams activities and 28 EIMC assessments, for a total of 30 clients mentored, that accounts for 30% of the target The 2020 - 21 Covid-19 situation negatively affected the whole EEN performances. As reported in the Grant Agreement, the current biannual period aimed to be the period of the “perfect integration” between COSME and H2020 services, aiming at accompanying the Client in a process of co-creation of a structured process for a company’s tailored service design commensurable with their strategy and vision. The Consortium has intensively worked to implement the hub and spoke community, while supporting the Network Client’s Journey. Consortium has been reaching the full implementation of “client-centric approach”, becoming the support integrator for the individual Client: providing the core services and pulling together the skills of the consortium members, offering additional services also co-developed by the local partners in and outside the consortium and across the Network. Efforts have been made it create synergies with other EU projects beside the Cosme EEN project and to reinforce relationships with host structures. Pandemic has demonstrated that in difficult times “unity is strength”. In place of the usual ELSE SIM campaigns to recruit new clients, partners addressed unified communication to clients and potential new clients, to offer a set of services labelled both host structure and EEN. Even though the consortium reports still difficulty to individuate Seal of Excellence cases (SoE), some SoEs have been assigned to the coordinator to manage the needs analysis of cases and help companies to ameliorate assets for future EIC proposals.
Despite the extraordinay nature of the period 20-21, the Consortium efforts will be addressed to search alternative means, based on virtual tools, in order to target clients and to increase their trust on the effectiveness of these new methodologies. Consortium purpose is to become a point of reference as a european arm for companies, to lead them thorugh the covid 19 pandemic. The aim is to better address their innovation assets and turn it to be successful to overcome the economical crisis.