MEETings for INnovation Growth in SMEs: Enhancing collaboration with innovative start-ups

Project Information

MEETING

Grant agreement ID: 949186

DOI

10.3030/949186

Project closed

EC signature date 17 April 2020

Start date 1 July 2020

End date 30 June 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 50 000,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

FONDAZIONE DI PARTECIPAZIONE PER L'INNOVAZIONE E LO SVILUPPO IMPRENDITORIALE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MEETING (MEETings for INnovation Growth in SMEs: Enhancing collaboration with innovative start-ups)

Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2021-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The aim of MEETING project is to collaboratively address the innovation support challenge of promoting the adoption of Open Innovation practices by SMEs in order to strengthen the collaboration between SMEs and innovative start-ups. This synergy would create value for both sides involved. On one hand, European SMEs, especially those of more traditional sectors, could be facilitated in innovating their business, not only in terms of new products or processes but also in terms of business model transformation, strengthening their adaptability to a fast-changing competitive scenario. On the other hand, start-ups could earn privileged access to a market of 23,5 M European enterprises, facilitating their scale-up process and the creation of new jobs in strategical innovative domains. To address the challenge, MEETING partners collaboratively designed a new innovation support initiative, based on the existing good practices and a co-creation process implemented during a series of collaborative workshops, following the Twinning Advanced Methodology made available by the European Commission.

The results of MEETING activities have been included in the Design Options Paper (DOP), a document that provides a practical guide for all the European innovation agencies interested in implementing programmes on the same topic. This knowledge will enhance the ability of all European innovation agencies to provide effective innovation support services to help SMEs in using OI practices. At the same time, the three innovation agencies involved in the MEETING project had the opportunity to strengthen their European networks of relation, setting the stage for future collaborations on SMEs' innovation support initiatives.

MEETING project was coordinated by the Italian Fondazione per l'Innovazione e lo Svilluppo Imprenditoriale, with the help of the French innovation agency TVT Innovation and of the Croatian agency HAMAG-BICRO.

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

To address the challenge of MEETING project, the Consortium followed a methodology articulated in three main steps, completing the following activities:

1. Good practices review

During the first phase of the project, the partners collected best practices of open innovation initiatives aimed at fostering collaboration between SMEs and innovative startups. The analysis was focused on the “ecosystem level”: partners looked for projects supported and implemented by actors external to the enterprises belonging to the innovation ecosystems. A first joint workshop was organised to peer-review the material collected and to isolate the main key elements useful to provide indications for the designing of an innovative support program of open innovation.

2. New initiatives co-design

During the second part of the project, the partners worked collaboratively on the designing of an innovation support initiative aimed at fostering collaboration between SMEs and innovative start-ups. A dedicated online workshop was organised, during which the partners worked collaboratively brainstorming on the main ingredients which should compose a successful open innovation initiative in line with project MEETING objectives. The result produced by the activity has been the structure of an “Open Innovation Path” able to make traditional SMEs and startups develop innovative collaboration projects.

3. Validation and lesson learning

During the third phase of the project, the partners worked on the validation and refinishing of the innovation support initiative model. During the third workshop of project MEETING, the partners presented the model to an audience of external guests, representing different stakeholders of innovation ecosystems of Italy, France, and Croatia. The guests provided a set of suggestions about the elements of the model to drop, add, keep, or improve, and showed an overall interest for the models proposed and for the path started by project MEETING. The result of this activity was used to refine the “Open Innovation Path”. During the last two months of the project, the Consortium ran a series of validation activities, aimed at measuring the interest of the stakeholders towards the result of the project.

The results of the validation activities, as well as the insights and the suggestions provided by the stakeholders, have been inserted in the Design Options Paper (DOP). The document condenses the project results, providing a practical guide for all the innovation agencies interested in the topic addressed by MEETING. The document will be published and disseminated by the MEETING Consortium after the end of the project to spread all the information collected to address the innovation challenge of facilitating collaboration between SMEs and startups. Moreover, the DOP will be used by MEETING partners to implement the model of open innovation co-designed, through a collaborative initiative that will involve the territories of Italy, France, and Croatia.

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)

The activities performed during the project contributed to the generation of several impacts in the short term:

- A new model of SMEs innovation support scheme has been developed by partners, based on the existing good practices and on a set of recommendations elaborated by MEETING partners. The Consortium collected some feedback to validate some of the key assumptions of the proposal, recording a good level of interest among SMEs, innovative startups, and innovation ecosystems’ actors.

- The three European innovation agencies involved in the project MEETING have become familiar with the Twinning Advanced Methodology. This aspect will enable partners’ to adopt the same methodology also in other fields, in order to collaboratively analyse and systematically address other innovation challenges.

- The recommendations contained in the Design Options Paper will provide useful information to all the innovation agencies interested in developing projects to foster collaboration between SMEs of traditional sectors and innovative startups. This sharing of knowledge will strengthen the capacity of the EU innovation ecosystem to more effectively address the challenge of the MEETING project.

- The partners had the opportunity to strengthen their relationships with local innovation ecosystem actors, especially incubators and technological parks, as well as to enter in contact with subjects of other countries’ ecosystems. These network-building activities will allow MEETING partners to build fruitful collaborations in the future, especially to work on other EU co-funded innovation projects related to the project MEETING topic.

In the longer term, MEETING partners will work on the capitalisation of the results of the project, implementing the open innovation initiative model designed during the project activities and fostering collaboration between SMEs and startups. Thanks to these activities project partners expect to accelerate innovation processes in SMEs, producing several benefits for the European economy.

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