Enhancing Innovation Management Capacities and Key Account Management (KAM) services for Greek SMEs

ended

Innovation is key to boost productivity and has a role to play in the economic success of the era of new technologies (The Global Competitiveness Report 2018, WEF), while digitisation offers SMEs new opportunities to take part in the next production revolution (OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook 2019). However, SMEs can lag behind in innovation capacity and innovation management capacity skills compared to large companies. Enterprise Europe Network-Hellas consists of 12 major business support organisations - key innovation players, industrial associations and innovation support organisations, as well as chambers of commerce and industry - creating a country-wide network. This network serves as a key facilitator in enhancing the competitiveness, innovation capacity and growth potential of Greek SMEs. The overall goal of the proposed action is to enhance the innovation capacities of Greek SMEs with international ambitions enabling their business growth and boosting their competitiveness in the Single Market and beyond. More specifically, the proposed action aims to: • Assist SMEs in identifying and addressing innovation management gaps and developing respective strategies; • Support SMEs to utilize the opportunities offered under the EIC Pilot Schemes -SME Instrument(SMEI), Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) and Future and Emerging Technologies (FET Open) programmes- as a tool for bridging the gap between research, innovation and market; • Identify SMEs with the capacity to innovate and internationalise and provide them with tailored services; • Offer targeted assistance on innovation management that, compared to large companies, have limited capacity for R&D activities and consulting services; • Support business innovators to translate their ideas into market success, fostering their innovation potential; • Empower SMEs to unlock their growth potential by better managing more effectively and efficiently their innovation processes.