Leveraging the Emergence of Advanced Debt and Equity Risk-financing Solutions for the Hypergrowth of IP-driven SMEs & start-ups

Project Information

LEADERSHIP4SMEs

Grant agreement ID: 951164

DOI

10.3030/951164

Project closed

EC signature date 24 September 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 October 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 999 843,75

EU contribution

€ 999 843,75

Coordinated by

BWCON GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LEADERSHIP4SMEs (Leveraging the Emergence of Advanced Debt and Equity Risk-financing Solutions for the Hypergrowth of IP-driven SMEs & start-ups)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2022-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EU Commission has evaluated several obstacles the entrepreneurs are facing and one, maybe until now underestimated, is related to the value of IPRs the SMEs own. Several companies have, indeed, a high level of IPRs but their value is difficult to capture and to integrate in the development of the business especially with regards to investments. The scope of L4SMEs was to investigate what already exists in Europe with the aim to identify the schemes and cases that work, scale them at EU level and define an ad-hoc pool of services to make available primarily to EIC beneficiaries with the final scope to valorise the “capitalization” of IPRs in access to funding. Furthermore integration an pilot action has been put in place in order to understand better the IPR dynamic and how they can play an important role as leverage. In summary, L4SMEs tested a new support program for the EU market to facilitate the growth of SMEs focusing on the obstacles they are facing in scaling up, especially with regards to the IPR valorisation.

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

Main activities carried out in 7 WPs since the beginning of the project in September 2020 include the following:

WP1
• Develop an overview of existing IPR support services and providers
• Develop an evaluation framework
• Work on case studies selection and analysis
• Desk research and mapping of existing IPR support services in relevant countries
• Identification of relevant intermediaries
• Desk research concerning existing valuation methods
• Identification of success factors and criterias for accelerators

WP 2
• Elaboration of the Step-by-step guide (D2.1)
• Meeting with partners from other initiatives/projects and Advisory Board for best practices
• literature review and desk research on business planning, IP integrated business planning, IP related expectations and instruments of financial intermediaries
• development of the Step-by-step guide for hyper growth (D2.2)

WP3
• Creation of L4SMEs community on venture development platform
• Setting up the registration process
• Setting up matchmaking, market place and further functionalities
• Integration and installation of a chatbot
• Managing and motivation of the community
• Inviting relevant stakeholders to join the community
• Organising a sustainability workshop to share the results of interview with partners
• Agreement with partners on the most exploitable project results
• Collection of information on the project PEDR

WP4
• Redaction of the IP Catalogue of Services
• Redaction of the repository of opportunities
• Moderation of workshops to develop strategy & BizDev support services
• Moderation of workshops to develop access to finance support services
• Elaboration of the final service offering incl. materials
• Needs based proposal and matchmaking with relevant development partners
• Needs based suggestion of public funding opportunities

WP5
• create the guide for applicants
• formalisation of the application form
• create a beneficiaries contract template
• launch and promotion of the call for applications
• Evaluation of the proposals and selection of the beneficiaries
• set up of an CFA subpage on the website
• participation to pitching sessions as part of the selection committee
• Individual assessment of the Business and Investment readiness level and the associated needs
• participate actively to the KOM for the beneficiary allocated to
• supporting these beneficiaries according the services and procedure described
• Strategy review workshops and definition of a custom action plan

WP6
• elaboration of logo and project identity
• setting up communication tools, social media and launching the website
• Elaboration of the C&D strategy
• Setting up a first action plan
• Preparation and moderation of workshops and community events
• representing L4SMEs in external workshops
• actively participating to workshops & events

WP7
• Creation of inception report
• creation of the consortium agreement
• creation of the project management plan
• creation of the data management plan
• Preparation and follow up of steering committee meetings
• financial management
• periodic reporting
• monitoring and submission of deliverables
• steering committee meetings
• advisory board meetings
• kick of meeting
• Coordination with WP leaders
• Coordination with PO
• internal semester reporting
• work package progress reporting
• monthly calls

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 most significant innovation factor within the framework of the project compared to existing services, initiatives or similar was the interdisciplinarity with which the topic of IPR management was approached as well as the focus on its utilisation.
Everyone agrees that intellectual property is becoming increasingly important for highly innovative SMEs that can solve the problems of our future. That is why it should increasingly becoming the focus of strategic orientation and thus the centre of entrepreneurial decision-making. It must no longer be seen in isolation as part of the legal department and as a necessary must, but integrated into a holistic corporate management approach with the awareness that the management of IP has a significant influence on the development of the economic potential of an entrepreneurial venture.
LeadershIP4SMEs provided a solution for this concept. On the one hand, it consists of an interdisciplinary consortium of technology transfer and IP protection and valorisation, business strategy and development and financing experts. This competence is bundled in an innovative and tested service approach. On the other hand, the project created a community that unites the relevant tools and stakeholders in order to make the actual implementation scalable and thus have a socio-economic impact on the whole of Europe.
The main outcomes by the end of the project and their potential (socio-economic) impact are therefore the following:

- We increased the awareness of SMEs with respect to the importance of IPR and its impacts on business and funding, contribute to changing their perception and increasing the adoption of measures, strategies and support services and reduce the informational asymmetries for financial partners.
- We implemented a platform to aggregate the project community of SMEs and support services providers, created a repository of mutualized resources and coordinated the activities.
- We developed and tested in two batches an integrated, IPR-centric and business strategy aligned support approach, allowing high-growth potential SMEs and start-ups to access an adequate mix of funding and business opportunities to accelerate their development.
- We defined a assessed all the services and created its roll-out to create sustainable impacts.

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