1. KAM services progress report
Section 1 - Overview of the progress towards the objectives
Under this work package provisions, an average of 7-day consultancy services assignment covering phase 1 or phase 2 of the SME instrument was envisaged to be provided to beneficiaries of the Horizon 2020 SME instrument in order to identify gaps, suitable coaches and support their work that would address the recognized barriers to growth on the basis of a jointly agreed ‘coaching plan’.
Section 2 – Issues encountered and actions taken to address them and improve performance and results
During 2020 and 2021 Moldovan Government signed the Association Agreement to the Horizon Europe Programme. Periodical meetings and discussions take place with local stakeholders and European partners, in order to draw up national plans on how to foster the attraction of entrepreneurs in the Programme activities and to be better prepared to start the Programme implementation.
Section 3 – Summary of services provided in WP1.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of successful SME Instrument applications, there were no WP1 - KAM services provided by Business INN consortium members in the Republic of Moldova.
The implementation strategy, as well as the present project, recognizes the need for innovation management consulting services development, as follows: ”[...]we do recognize a need for clear planning to develop the necessary capacity. Our approach is designed to ensure, therefore, that all Consortium members, and especially CCI RM, NARD, and MTTN reinforce their cooperation with Horizon 2020 National Contact Points and develop their own relations with European specialists in innovation projects management, in preparation for more in-depth support to the SME Instrument (and other relevant Horizon 2020 action) in future.[...] Whilst we expect the Consortium to be in a position to deliver this activity within the period of the Framework Partnership Agreement, there is not yet adequate capacity for high-quality implementation. For this reason, our early-stage approach identifies a necessary process of skills and capacity upgrading.”
The objectives of the present project proposal was:
1. To ensure the delivery of “Key Account Management” (KAM) support services for 2 SME Instrument beneficiaries in Moldova, with the aim of identifying weaknesses in the client innovation capacities, identify suitable coaches for addressing the identified weaknesses, facilitating and moderating the coach-client relationship and support client efforts during phase 1 and phase 2
of the SME instrument project;
2. Enhancing innovation management capabilities and processes, as defined by the CEN/TS 16555 standard, in client SMEs for 10 companies in Moldova;
3. Developing and testing PRO Business Innovation Moldova partners capacities for consultancy services required under KAM support for SME Instrument beneficiaries and innovation
management consultancy services in Moldova;
4. Collecting follow-up and impact data for services delivered through the present project, to be used by PRO Business Innovation Moldova, EEN partners, and other interested third parties (EASME, EC, IMPROVE Academy).
