Enhancing INNovation management capacity of CATalan small and medium enterprises 2017-2018

ended

Horizon 2020 call “Enhancing the innovation management capacity of SMEs” proposes advising services to SMEs with the objective of increasing and accelerating the economic returns from innovation. The current proposal fully describes these services and proves ACCIÓ’s capacity to successfully deliver them. The services will be provided to two specific groups of enterprises: beneficiaries of the SME instrument and, SMEs with significant innovation activities and a high potential for internationalisation. As the current coordinator of the Catalan node of the EEN (also for 2015-2020), ACCIÓ is specialised in promoting innovation and internationalisation among SMEs and has implemented several successful programmes over the last 20 years; for instance it is currently providing advise services for the period 2015-2016 with IMPRove, Innovation Health Check (IHC) and KAM methodologies with an EU financed project called INNCAT. The experience obtained, especially since the implementation of INNCAT, has given to our team of experts a deeper knowledge of these services and therefore we are proposing that a minimum of 80 services will be provided in the period of 2017-2018 for enhancing the innovation management capacity of SMEs. It is 42% more services than INNCAT1516. The proposed staff is fully committed to deliver the proposed services and is trained in IMPR3ove methodology and Innovation Health Check (IHC) and have a broad and extensive expertise in innovation and business support and, management. Moreover, 6 of the proposed 9 staff members have intervened in the implementation of INNCAT for the delivery of KAM and IMPR3ove services during 2014-2016. Therefore they are fully capable to deliver the services described and successfully advise SMEs.