QUICK: Innovative SMEs by Gender and Age

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The following findings are the background of the project: a) The number of persons in employable age in the BSR countries decreases by up to 20 % until 2030. b) The increasing lack of skilled workers will limit innovation and growth of SMEs. c) While equal opportunities for women and elderly in the workplace are comparably high in Scandinavia, it must be improved considerably in countries south of the Baltic Sea. d) The greatest potential for innovation in SMEs are in the field of human resources and organisational development. Supporting these will improve the equal opportunities of women and men and elderly in the workplace and strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs. Thus the project "Innovative SMEs by Gender and Age-QUICK-IGA" addresses the mentioned challenges and elaborates solutions. The partnership includes 6 partners from the QUICK project and 7 new partners, which have specific experiences in SME promotion in the field of innovation and gender equality. Following objectives will be pursued: a) Levelling of equal opportunities for women south of the Baltic Sea with the ones of northern countries; b) Strengthening the promotion of innovation in SMEs by developing working cultures, which explictly improve the equal opportunities of women; c) Supporting the regional development in order to optimally develop the human capital and competitiveness of SMEs in the regions through gender and education policy. In 4 levels the project focuses on the following activities: 1. Individually: boost motivation and workability, thus increasing the rate of women participating in worklife, through qualification of consultants and the development of a manual; 2. Enterprises: supporting working conditions suitable for women’s needs and personnel development through the transfer of Best Practice, qualification and coaching. 3. Organisations: Competences and commitment of 50 chambers and 17 universities to support innovation and equal opportunities 4. Policy: development of a strategy programme, 5 national agreements and 2 action plans to promote equal opportunities and innovation in SMEs. Main Results: More qualified consultants for gender issues; more women in leadership and elders employed in SMEs; better regional and BSR-wide policy for gender issues in SMEs; improved work cultures in SMEs in all BSR; increased innovation capacities in SMEs esp. in southern BSR countries. All activities will be tested and implemented in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia and partially in Belarus and then transferred to 50 regions. The partnership includes 13 partners from 8 BSR countries, which have specific experiences in SME promotion in the field of innovation and gender equality: 3 partners from Finland, Sweden and Norway deliver Best Practices, 10 partners from 5 southern BSR countries develop, test and implement Best Practices. Associated Transfer Partners: 50 chambers and 17 universities from 13 countries.

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