Annual Report_LD by Eurotop

E u r o p e I N N O VA Pa p e r n 째 1 3

Europe INNOVA

Annual Report 2009

E u r o p e I N N O VA Pa p e r n 째 1 3

Europe INNOVA Annual Report 2009 Europe INNOVA Communications

Europe INNOVA is an initiative of the European Commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Directorate General Enterprise and Industry which aspires to become the laboratory for the development and testing of new tools and instruments in support of innovation with the view to help innovative enterprises innovate faster and better. It brings together public and private innovation support providers such as innovation agencies, technology transfer offices, business incubators, financing intermediaries, cluster organisations and others. Additional information on Europe INNOVA is available at www.europe-innova.eu.

Legal Notice This publication has been produced as part of the Europe INNOVA initiative. The views expressed in this publication, as well as the information included in it, do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission and in no way commit the institution.

Cover photo : bulb with business background ÂŠ Gunnar Pippel #9720727 - istockphoto

Contents

FOREWORD: Improving innovation support is another ‘grand challenge of our time’

Launching the second phase of Europe INNOVA

Innovation in Services

2.1 European Innovation Platform for Knowledge Intensive Services .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 ACHIEVE MORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 KIS4SAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 KIS-PIMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.4 KISPLATFORM .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.5 BCreative .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.6 GreenConServe .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.7 ImMediaTe .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.8 MOBIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8 9 10 13 15 16 17 19 20

Eco-Innovation

3.1 European Eco-Innovation Platform .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 REMake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 INNOWATER .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 BIOCHEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.4 ECOLINK+ .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22 22 23 24 25

Eco-Innovation OBSERVATORY

Cluster Cooperation

5.1 5.1.1 5.1.2

European Innovation Platform for Clusters.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 ABCEurope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 EcoCluP .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

European Cluster Observatory

Novel Tools and Services

7.1 TAKE IT UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 8

Highlights and happenings in 2009

8.1 Annual Partnering Event.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Thematic Workshops .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 Standards open new markets for innovative SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 Key European actors agree on an improved strategy to support space-based downstream services.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Sectoral Innovation Watch (SIW) Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 35 35 36 36

Maintaining the legacy of the first phase of Europe INNOVA

9.1 9.2

IMP³rove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Sectoral Innovation Watch (SIW) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Improving innovation support is another ‘grand challenge of our time’ Innovation policy is again under the microscope, as the recent public consultation on the effectiveness of innovation support in the EU highlighted the fact that many SMEs do not feel sufficiently supported. They believe that whilst there is a lot of general advice available, there is too little concrete assistance for their innovation efforts.

Europe INNOVA Annual Partnering Event 2009, Heraklion, Crete

Thus, it is important that innovation support is more focused and more strategically oriented if it is to make a real impact. This is very much in line with the text of the ‘Lund Declaration’ that was issued in June 2009. The main point made in this declaration is that Europe needs to mobilise substantially increased investments in research and innovation to target the ‘Grand Challenges of our time.’ The declaration also envisages ‘a new deal among European institutions and Member States, in which European and national instruments are well aligned and cooperation builds on transparency and trust.’ It is vital that Europe INNOVA reflects this re-orientation of innovation policy. It has already moved from networking to partnerships, and thus improved its strategic positioning to develop novel responses to those ‘Grand Challenges’ that must be met through innovation. Europe INNOVA must also search for new methods of offering improved support to innovative SMEs. It must become more result-oriented offering support not only in words but, more importantly, through its deeds. The main indicator for success, in this respect, will be an increase in the number of innovative SMEs throughout Europe. Echoing the Lund Declaration, this calls indeed for a ‘new deal’ between the different institutions supporting SMEs such as innovation agencies, incubation centres, cluster organisations, business angels and other investors. Better innovation support mechanisms must also be developed, in particular mechanisms that are capable of responding to the challenges and issues that are of great societal concern. In addition, I see competitiveness as being an issue that has major implications for the future of our European society and therefore it represents a ‘Grand Challenge’ in the very real sense of the Lund Declaration. Reinhard Büscher, Head of Unit ‘Support for Innovation’ DG Enterprise and Industry

1 Launching the second phase of Europe INNOVA The Rationale behind the Second Phase of Europe INNOVA From the very beginning, Europe INNOVA has aimed to accelerate innovation processes and its first phase, which was launched in 2006, reinforced cooperation between business clusters in Europe. Three learning platforms were established to enable the exchange of experience, information, good practice and knowledge between Cluster Networks, Financing Networks and Standards Networks. By bringing these projects together under one umbrella and providing them with a clear identity, these platforms produced an impact much greater than any that could have been achieved by an individual project working on its own. Now, however, the emphasis is on private-public partnership.

As Reinhard B端scher outlined in the Foreword to this report, currently the stakes are even higher. It has now been recognised that innovation can make an important contribution to addressing some of the major challenges that our societies face. In this way, it can ensure that the needs of people are served, as well as those of business and the economy. While there are more and greater challenges to be met, the funds to support innovators are even more limited in the current economic crisis. In such a situation, it is essential to optimise the use of resources and so it was decided that, in its second phase, Europe INNOVA should become the laboratory for the development and testing of new tools and instruments that later on could be used by many others. This decision also took account of the fact that real and lasting impact could only be produced through such a leverage effect and thus, private-public partnership was seen as the key to success. Applicants for the second phase had to indicate who would be interested in, and committed to, transforming the solutions tested under Europe INNOVA into sustainable operations and services after the end of the projects. The best guarantee in this respect is to collaborate with partners who work on the same agenda. Especially those who are prepared to mobilise their own financial and human resources to develop new, or improved, innovation support tools. Partnership is also an important element in risk sharing. With the support of Europe INNOVA, radically new innovation support mechanisms can be developed and tested. Then, once their potential has been proven, they can be implemented fully at regional and national levels outside Europe INNOVA. In other words, Europe takes the development risks, whereas regional and/or national innovation agencies and other intermediaries invest in the roll-out of the new mechanisms. Currently, the new set of Europe INNOVA actions operates around European Innovation Platforms in the three high priority areas of Transnational Cluster Cooperation, Knowledge Intensive Services and Eco-innovation. Novel Concepts for Innovation Support assist them in optimising their roll-out strategies. The partnerships that have been retained and the new partnerships that have been selected are outlined in the following pages.

2 Innovation in Services The first decade of the millennium witnessed a notable increase in the importance of services and at the same KIS-PIMS KIS4SAT time, the nature of manufacturing changed and this reinforced the shift towards a Innovation in Services knowledge and services based economy. KISPLATFORM ACHIEVE MORE Services account for approximately 70% of both employment and GDP in the EU and ImMediaTe MOBIP nowadays services business is performed in all industries ranging from the services sector to traditional manufacturing sectors. Services innovations are needed, more than ever, to compensate for the loss of jobs, to create new business opportunities and to create a competitive advantage for the whole of Europe. B Creative

GreenConServe

Services innovations differ from the traditional understanding of R&D in terms of their relation to technology. Services use technology as an enabling platform for non-technological innovations that can deliver unprecedented value both to the customer and the services provider. Developing new services is a continuous process embedded in firmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; business activities rather than a separate R&D project. This R&D involves users and consumers to a large extent and also employees in the innovation process. Services are a complex phenomenon. Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS) are generally characterised by their knowledge intensity, relative capital intensity and a high degree of specialisation and they are the real drivers of innovation in many industries. The knowledge economy covers almost 40% of total employment within the EU-27, and this share is growing. During the past two decades, the Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) sector has been the main source of job creation in Europe and additionally KIBS play an important role in national innovation systems and activities. It is not all smooth sailing for KIS companies, as innovative services firms face major challenges. There is little IP protection and this can result in almost instant replication, except when innovations are software based. Standards are also hard to define or develop and this makes the marketing of the innovation more difficult. Additionally, user centricity and user experience is often culture dependent and this can increase the problems of market expansion across borders.

2.1 European Innovation Platform for Knowledge Intensive Services In order to emphasise the significance of services innovation and to develop and test new or better innovation support mechanisms for innovative SMEs, Europe INNOVA established the European Innovation Platform for Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS-IP), in February 2008. In its early phase, it comprised three sectoral partnerships working in the fields of ICT, renewable energy and satellite-based applications. In 2009, the platform was expanded by four additional partnerships representing creative industries, digital media, mobile services and sustainable construction. These seven sectoral partnerships represent the multidimensional nature of services innovation. They will search for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;better practiceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that can respond to the specific needs of potential high growth companies active in knowledge intensive services.

2.1.1 ACHIEVE MORE 2009 Activities and Results During 2009, ACHIEVE MORE actively stimulated innovation, knowledge sharing and the generation of continuous improvement and better practice within its key communities of ICT focused incubators, clusters and investment funds. The ACHIEVE MORE community came together on two occasions. An event in Munich’s Gate Garching incubator team at June, entitled ‘Learning from the Best – Barcelona workshop Learning to be a Leading Edge Incubator’ was supported by La Salle Innovation Park, which is one of Spain’s leading incubators. These are challenging times and those who fund incubators, those who manage them, and those who shelter under their roofs, need to identify what the key elements of a successful services portfolio are. During this event, ACHIEVE MORE showed what the future might look like for business incubation and those attending went away with key learning, plans and scenarios which they could put into practice. Then, in Delft, in October, a workshop brought together 60 delegates who were committed to trying to help early stage entrepreneurs to get their products and services to market. This workshop shared the experiences of many countries in building seed funds using a variety of sources of money, and examined new seed fund models that are being implemented by the innovation, banking, corporate and incubation communities. The participants developed maps which will allow them to make the case for much needed innovation support during the first two to three years of their SMEs’ existences. ACHIEVE MORE also launched the very successful web-based Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange - the EIX. This has grown in one year to nearly 400 members representing over 60 countries. Membership is by invitation, but a lot of this is done by word of mouth and recommendation. The members are actively engaged in shared interest groups, in blogging on topics that are ‘hot’ for the community and sharing informed opinion and good practice. The EIX also acts as a repository of learning and ideas, some of which are shared through videos. Examples of videos made this year include those on the award-winning Berne TCBE ICT cluster, the Gate Garching incubator in Munich, new models for the ICT sector titled ‘Software as a Service,’ with examples from both the UK and Switzerland of successful early stage companies. A series of films from the Delft workshop was also published about Seed Funding. These and other films can be seen at http://eandix.ning.com/video ACHIEVE MORE works closely with 12 ICT clusters across the EU. It is anticipated that this will lead to an improved awareness of the critical success factors that will drive cluster collaboration and also of other emerging issues such as the need for seed funding for some clusters and the inter-relationship with regional business incubation. A report has been produced on ‘synergies between clusters and incubation business,’ and this has been accepted as an input to the European Commission’s future thinking on clusters.

Lessons learned The ACHIEVE MORE community has been through a tough time in 2009, as the recession has hit hard in many areas, and finance has largely dried up. Surprisingly, the rate of innovation does not appear to have slowed down, indeed many entrepreneurs seem to take the view that in a time of business and economic turmoil, innovation is just what is needed to stimulate new ideas, services and products. The main challenge is to unlock sources of funding for early stage business and this is being explored and tested. A key lesson is the need to be much more prepared to finance SMEs. Many of these may fail, but

Innovation in Services ACHIEVE MORE

Knowledge Intensive Services Partnership for ICT Business Incubators and Clusters across the EU Coordinator David Moir, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cambridge UK Contact Details d.moir@stjohns.co.uk Website www.europe-innova.eu/achieve-more Duration 36 months, February 2008 – January 2011

it also represents the way in which the infrequent, but high impact, success story will get the financial transfusion it requires.

What can be offered to others? ACHIEVE MORE is generating transferable learning about supporting early stage ICT business in incubators and clusters. The toolkit includes strategic planning tools, investment readiness courses, inspiring video stories and experience of collective community building. It provides many insights which can be used by other projects and indeed by the innovation community across the EU.

Future Developments ACHIEVE MOREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ambition is to help to create a vibrant knowledge sharing network of incubator and cluster managers together with the funding community that supplies the financial lifeblood. The EIX may well reach a critical and self-sustaining mass that will enable it to live on beyond the end of this project, in February 2011. The tools will be roadtested and be in a licensable state after the project ends. ACHIEVE MORE is also interpreting the policy implications of its investigation into excellence in cluster building, establishing and delivering business incubation and creating channels to enable a speedier delivery of funding to early stage business in the EU.

Briefing on the structure of Barcelona incubation

The ACHIEVE MORE project members are all high-quality performers in their chosen fields and the relationships they have formed, and will continue to grow, will help them develop and adopt better practice faster within a fit for purpose framework that responds to the needs of the EU.

2.1.2 KIS4SAT 2009 Activities and Results Building on the experience gained from previous projects, KIS4SAT determined its objectives. In terms of analysis, it intends to review the supply chain, to identify critical technology and to make recommendations for R&D activities and also to assess the existing and the required management skills of potential entrepreneurs and young KIS and high growth SMEs. It will also review the IPR issues typical of spaced-based applications, and edit a manual for the use of KIS ventures, assess the contributions of European SMEs in the supply chain of space-based downstream applications and identify highly competitive areas and potential technological gaps where SMEs could contribute by joining in a larger project.

In terms of information, the most important aspect is to collect the available knowledge and tools for the support of SMEs in the space-based applications market by identifying clusters’ good practices and by creating pools of sectoral experts. It is intended that all of this should be underpinned by the initiation of collaboration across clusters in the space-based applications area and by the identification of opportunities to involve the entrepreneur, venture and investment financing communities in the clusters. The linking of existing activities, networks, events, the venture capital communities and entrepreneurship promotion activities has the overall aim of supporting potential high growth SMEs and start-ups. With the effort of all its partners and a strong commitment to launch KIS4SAT business support packages for high-profile companies, KIS4SAT has achieved significant progress in realising its objectives. Initially, synergies have been established with the major stakeholders in the space-based sector namely, GSA, ESA, ENCADRE and ESINET. The KIS4SAT project started at the beginning of 2008, and in almost two years of work, the initiative has been able to create closer connections with cluster managers, as well as SME support organisations and innovation agencies. The primary mission was to engage with a high number of KIS ventures, overcoming the problem of ‘no time and money to invest in initiatives without short term results’ and integrating them into the project. So far, 500 companies have been identified and registered on KIS4SAT database. A knowledge repository has also been created and fed by the studies and the research undertaken by the project over the first year of activity. KIS4SAT has participated actively in a number of venture academies and investment fora during 2009 and finally the KIS4SAT Services Toolbox and Business Support Packages are now up and ready to go. Other major outcomes of the project have come from the coaching and monitoring that it has offered to KIS ventures in space-based applications.

What can be offered to others? KIS4SAT aims to support entrepreneurs and KIS ventures that have high growth potential to seize new market opportunities in the field of space-based applications such as SATNAV, SATCom and Earth Observation. With this objective, KIS4SAT has developed an innovation platform where SMEs, entrepreneurs and innovation intermediaries can find the business support packages that they need to develop critical mass offers and to accelerate their growth processes.

Figure 1: The KIS4SAT Platform Knowledge Depository • Market surveys • Supply chain and critical technologies for satellite based services • Golden rules for building KIS4SAT business models • Good practices for the support of KIS4SAT clusters • IPR manual for the use of KIS4SAT ventures

Networking tools

Special Tools • Self assessment tools • WIKI tool for rapid accedd to targeted information

• Directory of SMEs • Directory of experts in regions • Directory of innovation intermediaries • Directory of financial investors

Training / Consultancy (with vouchers) • for incubatores & SMEs

News

Special events

• Calls for tenders • Workshops

• Business Plan competition • Investors' forum

The KIS4SAT Platform provides: 1. A ccess to a high value added and exclusive knowledge repository in the field of satellite applications:        

Market surveys – existing and new ones (as they arise) Supply chain and critical technologies for satellite based services Golden rules for building KIS4SAT business models Good practices for the support of KIS4SAT clusters IPR manual for the use of KIS4SAT ventures Information relative to space programmes Norms and regulations Directories: a. Directory of SMEs b. Experts in regions c. Financial investors d. Innovation intermediaries

2. Networking services:  Introduction to potential partners  Automatic matching tool based on offers of demands for management processes 3. Participation in Innovation Intermediaries’ training programmes; 4. P articipation in SMEs’ training programmes on investor readiness, business presentation and corporate structure; 5. Participation in investors fora and venture academies; 6. D irect consultancy services with the KIS4SAT experts - 200 innovation vouchers offered free of charge with EU funding = 1 voucher per consultancy day.

Innovation in Services KIS4SAT

Knowledge Intensive Services in the satellite downstream applications and services sector Coordinator Robert Sanders and Vera Egreja Barracho, EBN

In 2009, most of these services were provided free of charge by Europe INNOVA programme funding. To have access to the services and resources, partnerships need to visit the Europe INNOVA portal or contact the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN), the KIS4SAT Coordinator.

Future Developments KIS4SAT expects to test the business support packages in more than 250 companies that are considered to be high-profile and in need of specialised technical support.

Figure 2: KIS4SAT rationale

Entrepreneurs & Knowledge Intensive Services companies

Contact Details vba@ebn.be Website www.europe-innova.eu/kis4sat

Clustering labs at regional and pan European levels

Duration 36 months, February 2008 – January 2011

Experts in innovation management and financing

Regional clusters with direct access to knowledge creation centres in the field of satellite applications

During the second phase of the project, the partners will promote the innovation vouchers scheme at regional events and offer free on-the-spot consultancy services and investment readiness training. In 2010, KIS4SAT will launch an ideas competition integrated into the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2010, as well as nominate ‘KIS4SAT labelled’ companies to participate in the ESA 2010 Investment Fora in Stuttgart and Milan.

2.1.3 KIS-PIMS 2009 Activities and Results The KIS-PIMS project kicked-off in February 2008. It aims to test a new support scheme to boost innovation in services in the high growth sector of renewable energies within Austria, Finland and France. KIS-PIMS relies on an ‘Innovation Voucher’ scheme to enable entrepreneurs with innovative services-oriented proposals to access external expertise. In 2009, calls for proposals have been launched in the three countries, all of which have different national and regional regulatory frameworks. By the end of the year, 18 projects had already been supported. They cover a wide range of approaches including: wind resource assessment; a biogas station; renewable industrial steam; micro-hydro sites retrofit, and hygenisation of cooling systems using renewables. A training programme, which aims to qualify participants as ‘KIS-PIMS labelled’ experts, has been developed and successfully tested with the first set of 10 innovation supporters.

Lessons learned The mid-term meeting held in Vienna during October, focused on sharing the lessons learned from the three countries and then on revising the action plan. The main difficulty encountered by the KIS-PIMS partners has been getting the SMEs’ voucher applications in good time. Close to 100 ideas had been registered, but the time to the receipt of the SMEs’ proposals was too long. Thus, it was agreed that contacts must be followed up more closely and individually if KIS-PIMS was to succeed in attracting sufficient applications for its voucher-based scheme.

Innovation in Services KIS-PIMS

The partnership has revised its communication strategy accordingly and will use existing success stories to relay its messages and to make the expert services that it provides more Knowledge Intensive Services in the Planning, Installation, Maintenance and Scrap services for renewable energy production systems

Figure 3: KIS PIMS Voucher scheme

Variants per country Austria

Finland

France

1 technical voucher (FFG) 1 business Styrian voucher (LEV)

1 single voucher covering both technical and business expertise (TEKES)

1 voucher for business (OSEO)

Voucher values

FFG: € 5 000 LEV: € 5 000 max

TEKES: € 50 000 max

OSEO: € 15 000 max

Funding rates

100% of the external expertise

75% of the external expertise

75% of the external expertise 50% of the total expenses

Voucher types

Coordinator Vincent Morfouace, Technofi Contact Details vmorfouace@symple.eu Website www.europe-innova.eu/kis-pims Duration 36 months, February 2008 – January 2011

understandable and concrete to potential users. Secondly, other channels of reaching larger numbers of SMEs will be explored such as using the contacts and networks of business incubators, existing clusters and professional associations. Thirdly, an IMP3rove assessment campaign will be launched to focus on the more promising SMEs.

What can be offered to others? KIS-PIMS coordinator at innovation tool test training

The stages in the implementation of the KIS-PIMS voucher-based support scheme are as follows:

1. Identification of an SME’s eligible project proposal by the Selection Committee; 2. S election of a qualified expert by that SME from the lists hosted by Greenovate! Europe, Motiva, LEV and FFG; 3. A ssessment of the project’s risks using a dedicated Project Risks Assessment tool, which helps the expert prepare the offer of expertise, which he or she might provide; 4. K ick-off meeting with the SME during which an IMP3rove assessment on innovation management capability is performed; 5. T he Cash Flow Simulator is then used to perform a financial assessment of the proposed business model, to tune its business parameters and to analyse the sensitivity of the model to critical parameters; 6. S ince confidentiality is a key asset for the service proposers, the IPR Manual helps the expert to formulate recommendations for optimal IP protection. All the tools highlighted above are accessible online at: www.europe-innova.eu/kis-pims/ toolbox. Know-how in the use of these tools is transferred during a two day ‘Qualification Training’ course and the participants in this course have to be able to operate, and to deliver, a mission report in the language used, in Austria, Finland, France, or a country that has implemented a similar voucher-based innovation scheme.

Future Developments The next goal of the KIS-PIMS Partnership is to have 100 services projects supported in the renewable energy sector. Then, relying on the lessons learned, the partnership’s ambitions are to make the support scheme sustainable in the three test countries and to successfully replicate the support scheme in 10 more countries or regions that are ready to finance vouchers schemes for services innovation.

2.1.4 KISPLATFORM 2009 Activities and Results KISPLATFORM is a horizontal support measure of the Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS) Innovation Platform (KIS-IP) intended to guarantee the effective promotion of the results of the KIS-IP sectoral partnerships. Its aim is to facilitate collaboration and coordination among all sectoral partnerships in the platform.

Its objectives are to: • Become the key reference point for knowledge intensive services innovation at European level; • Help to identify key companies in Europe in this area; • Provide an opportunity for them to network and learn from each other and share best practices through the KIS100 Club; • Identify the key issues and barriers to innovation in the services sector; • Distil better practices for innovation support; and • Identify issues and approaches emerging from the sectoral partnerships of the KIS-IP and place them at the centre of the innovation support policy debate. Throughout 2009, the KISPLATFORM project continued to implement its work plan and the most notable event was the first KIS Partnering Forum, which took place in February 2009. More than 150 participants from all over Europe attended the Forum, which was held in Brussels and hosted by DG Enterprise and Industry. The aim was to facilitate networking and partnership between policy-makers, academia, industry, investors and SMEs from the fields of knowledge intensive services. In an interactive conference programme, three discussion sessions and two keynote speeches covered various issues on the very different situations regarding financing, processes and successful growth within knowledge intensive services. The speakers included Prof. Alan Barrell from the University of Cambridge, Prof. Colin Turner of the Theseus International Management Institute, Tiina Tanninen-Ahonen of Tekes, Dr. Jan Nylander from the Innovationsbron and Wilbert Schaap of SenterNovem. In the six company review sessions, 32 SMEs from 14 countries that were providing services in the sectors of renewable energies, ICT and satellite downstream applications, presented their activities. Then experts designated by the various sectors reviewed these presentations in order to select the winner of the KIS Contest. Eleven of the 32 companies had also attended the KIS Academy on the day before the Forum, when they received valuable coaching to help them prepare their presentations for the following day. Innovation in Services

Considerable work was also undertaken throughout 2009 by both the project and its Horizontal Steering Group (HSG) with a view to securing a lasting impact of the initiative by generating momentum for the setting up of a dedicated investment fund for KIS companies, in collaboration with the EIF. Apart the activities mentioned below, KIS-IP held a number of meetings of the HSG, which were focused on validating the new tools and instruments developed by the sectoral partnerships. These meetings also looked at how best to communicate the results of the projects to companies, to innovation agencies and to other innovation support providers. A unified KIS-IP website has been developed under the Europe INNOVA portal in collaboration with the European Commission and the Europe INNOVA Communication Team. This website and regular newsletters will be used to disseminate information on all of the work of KIS-IP.

KISPLATFORM

Knowledge Intensive Services Europe’s Sustainable and Competitive Business Community Coordinator Anneli Prohaska, Europe Unlimited Contact Details anneli@e-unlimited.com Website www.europe-innova.eu/kisplatform

Lessons learned In 2009, a number of lessons were learned from the experience of running the project during its first year. In particular, it was clear that the methodology for the identification and recruitment of companies to the KIS100 Club had not been the most efficient. The KISPLATFORM project recognised that relying on sectoral partnerships and a related

Duration 36 months

top-down approach for identifying potential members of the Club was not the most effective strategy. Thus, it was decided to work more closely with innovation support, and innovation related services, providers at regional and local level. These actors have a much closer relationship with companies and a much better understanding of the dynamics of the sector at these levels and of the supporting ‘eco-system’ that is needed to foster the growth of these service companies. The KISPLATFORM consortium proceeded to subcontract the organisation of four transregional recruitment events, each to be organised by a minimum of two legal entities from two different EU Member States. During the second half of 2009, an expression of interest was launched inviting the presentation of proposals for such regional events. The selection process was completed during the fourth quarter of 2009 and contracts were finalised for the organisation of regional events in Germany, Estonia, France and Greece. These events will take place between April and December 2010. Coaching of KIS100 Club Companies

Throughout 2009, it also became clear that the strategy originally proposed for the development of the repository on better practices in services innovation also needed to be re-assessed, as surveying a large number of companies proved ineffective and burdensome. For this reason it was decided to opt for a repository comprising two components: 1. A repository of videos that will be accessible via the Europe INNOVA website. This repository will be populated with material coming from the KIS100 Club regional events at which companies will be asked to present themselves and their activities on video; 2. A smaller repository will be constructed and this will take the form of a booklet. The repository will analyse the experiences of some 20 successful KIS SMEs in Europe and investigate what type of services innovation they have undertaken and its resulting impact on the companies.

2.1.5 BCreative Aims and Aspirations As a result of globalisation, Europe’s competitive position and its economy are even more dependent on innovation and it has been recognised that the Creative Industries (CI) possess enormous growth potential. However, this growth is hindered by the lack of appropriate support tools and many small companies, although bursting with creativity, lack adequate entrepreneurial and management skills. Also, due to the high-risk nature of the sector, companies face problems in finding investment and in protecting their ideas, especially those focusing on services. With the advent and the spread of the internet, many support tools that assist companies with their growth have been made widely available digitally but, they are very fragmented, not easy to find and often not adapted to the particularities of the CI. The BCreative partnership (howtogrow) was spawned by the need to create an on-line platform that would enable creative entrepreneurs, creative thinkers and investors not only to share thoughts, challenges and results socially but also to have easy access to professional solutions that address their most pressing needs. These needs are often related to finance, protection of intellectual property and access to design services. BCreative will identify existing tools and services, choose the most appropriate and make them available on its new platform. BCreative will also develop novel tools, such as an innovation voucher scheme for design services, and test them in several countries. The partners’ intention is to create a dynamic and interactive stage for Europe’s creative individuals and industries that can be refined over time by the inclusion of new tools and by continuous user feedback.

The Partnership The BCreative partnership brings together complementary expertise that will be combined to maximise the quality and impact of the on-line platform. BCreative includes research organisations like Cranfield University (UK), Alintec (IT) and ARCF (BG), providers of innovation support tools such as Innovationsservice (AT) and Meta Group (IT), creative industry clusters like IIP Create (NL) and the expert design providers, DieTwee (NL) and NOA (DE). The project is coordinated by the European Design Centre (NL), whose experience brings together research, promotion of innovation and design, development of innovative medical technological applications and several spin-offs in various innovative fields. Six countries are represented in the partnership but the networks of the members stretch well beyond their national borders. All the partners are well-established organisations with a track record that, over the years, has provided them with privileged access to creative SMEs and start-ups. This vast array of contacts will facilitate not only access to a test bed of companies willing to experiment with the BCreative platform but also the dissemination of the project outcomes to a much wider range of users across Europe.

Progress The task that BCreative faces is not an easy one because of the width of the spectrum of businesses in the Creative Industries, the specificities that apply to such businesses and the fragmentation of the existing support tools that can be used to nurture the businesses. There is a plethora of tools and services, from questionnaires and self-assessment tools, through seminars, webinars and mentoring sessions to tool-kits, which claim that they can help companies to grow. Although many are valuable, others are not, either because they are not specific enough for CI or because they are simply not effective. So far, BCreative has managed to establish its priority areas for assistance, identify the tools and services that are available within the partnership, set out the principles that will guide the choice of tools for its platform and design the visual identity that will assist its innovative communication with the creative industries. BCreativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest and most definitive challenge is to succeed where others have failed, by addressing, engaging and committing European CI to recognising their own potential and growing with the help of services that the partnership will provide.

2.1.6 GreenConServe Aims and Aspirations GreenConServe is setting out to improve the innovation support framework for green services innovators in the construction sector.

Kick-off meeting gathering 27 persons from ten partner projects

Innovation in Services B Creative

Business kit for Creative start-ups in IPR, Venture capital and Entrepreneurial skills Coordinator Marija Popovic, European Design Centre Contact Details marija@edc.nl Website www.europe-innova.eu/bcreative Duration 36 months

Why is it doing this? â&#x20AC;˘ The sector could and should eco-innovate more: In spite of the sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s huge economic, ecological and social footprint, we are still building almost like we did 100 years ago. De facto, the problems are neither understood nor are being remedied by the majority of SMEs. â&#x20AC;˘ SMEs willing to innovate face large, and sometimes insurmountable, barriers: Supply chain constraints hinder the spread of innovation and innovation support cannot be accessed by most SMEs. urrent public support remains limited to the few companies that know where to find it C and are able to overcome all of the administrative hurdles to getting their hands on the money or resources. There is a systemic market failure in delivering innovation support to SMEs and a bottleneck in the innovation value chain caused by the lack of articulation between the supply and demand for innovative construction services.

T hus, GreenConServe will follow three main lines of action to create more favourable innovation framework conditions for SMEs: 1. Useful tools for services innovators The partners are gathering together a number of technical and business tools that can help innovation-orientated SMEs. These tools will be available to the SMEs on-line and will also be promoted via training seminars and experts.

Innovation in Services GreenConServe

Greening the Construction Sector Towards a Value-adding Service Industry Coordinator Greenovate! Europe Contact Details Katharina Krell, Managing Director; katharina.krell@greenovate.eu Website www.europe-innova.eu/greenconserve Duration 36 months, July 2009 - August 2012

2. Fast, flexible and non-bureaucratic funding for services innovators The project is also setting up a new public funding instrument specially adapted to SMEs. This is based on innovation vouchers that can only be used by SMEs to purchase consultancy and advice from an external expert. The outstanding features are the simple non-bureaucratic application procedures, the quick feedback to the application which usually happens within a month and the openness to all kinds of services innovation projects. Thus, the consortium is creating a new and robust scheme to deliver technical and business expertise to interested innovators. Public agencies in France, Germany and Norway have committed a total of 1.75 Million EUR to pilot the scheme under real-life conditions, and if it proves to be successful, they have expressed their interest in continuing the support beyond the lifetime of the project. 3. There is a market: the future is GREEN and DIGITAL Many SMEs claim there is no market for additional eco-innovative services. To address this common misconception, the consortium is setting up a group of dominant public and private players, the so-called LIONS Group, which represents the natural or normal clients of SMEs in the construction service. If these LIONS clearly outline their expectations in terms of eco-innovation services, the SMEs will be more likely to understand where the market is going and the fact that they will have to improve their innovation performance to stay in the game. It appears that the future will lie in digital design, industrialised decision-making and life-cycle analysis and costing, as well as in fully serviced work and living spaces.

The Partnership GreenConServe is truly a public-private innovation partnership. Five public partners have set up voucher schemes, two partners are first-class technical and research centres and the Coordinator possesses state-of-the-art innovation expertise. Two professional associations BSI and DGNB, involved with standards and labels, are formidable multipliers with well-developed contacts with SMEs.

2.1.7 ImMediaTe Aims and Aspirations Digital media and Creative Industries (CI) represent a vast sector that brings together technology development and content production for digital television, radio and the internet plus a vast array of fixed and mobile devices. It is one of the most promising high growth sectors both in the EU and worldwide. The ImMediaTe Project Consortium crowds around Project Director Michela Michilli

As a centre of excellence for the creative and media industries, Europe must create the conditions to enable its enterprises to develop and expand and the ImMediaTe Consortium, which was established in 2009, will work to promote SME growth and innovation skills in this sector by helping: • C ompanies to become more ‘investment-ready;’ and • Investors to become more ‘sector-aware.’ More importantly, the ImMediaTe Consortium will exploit the full range of its partners’ experience and competences to establish an innovative business services organisation that will assist European ventures to realise their full growth potential in this cutting-edge sector.

The Partnership The ImMediaTe Consortium features 10 partners from EU Member States with considerable skills and knowledge of the digital media and creative industries sector. The Consortium is coordinated by Filas, the Financial Development Agency of the Lazio Region in Italy. The other partners are Cap Digital (France), 22 ARROBA BCN, SAU (Spain), the Institute of Electronic Business e.V. (Germany) and Living Labs Global (Denmark). The consortium also includes five important EU clusters in this sector based in Rome (INNOVA SPA), in Paris (Media Deals), in Barcelona (Fundación Cultural Media), in Amsterdam (ICT-Innovatieplatform Creatieve Industrie) and, finally, in Malta (Fondazzjoni Temi Zammit). Each project partner will analyse, develop and integrate the tools provided by the other partners and the ImMediaTe Consortium will then create an innovative business services organisation to assist European ventures in realising their full growth potential.

Improving the Value of Digital Media and Creative Industries through Innovative Business Models and Services

Progress ImMediaTe held a successful kick-off meeting, in Crete, at the end of September, when the project strategy for the first year was defined. Current project activities include the creation of a directory of SMEs and stakeholders in the digital media and creative industries sector and interviews with SMEs leading to an analysis of their business models to produce a better understanding of the services that are required. An initial call has also been launched for the creation of a business services organisation. In addition, the consortium has participated in various events both to publicise ImMediaTe and its activities and to network and gather further knowledge about important and relevant issues. The project has a clear challenge to meet. It must enhance synergies between major European Digital Media clusters and integrate and bundle the quality tools and services

Coordinator Michela Michilli, ImMediaTe Project Director (Filas) Contact Details michilli@filas.it Website www.europe-innova.eu/immediate Duration 36 months

that are already available into a dynamic European business and innovation services platform. European clusters provide invaluable technological equipment, but they must also improve business-related knowledge intensive services, as such services play a vital role in boosting the economic growth of SMEs and supporting their valid, innovative ideas. Thus, ImMediaTe will develop a new web-based tool that will bundle together the knowledge intensive services provided by five major European digital media clusters and those of other international protagonists based in South East Asia, Japan and Argentina. The tool will analyse cluster dynamics in terms of cooperative clusters versus unmanaged clusters and will identify individual components, such as technology transfer and local investment and innovation incentives, which provide opportunities for internationalisation. The project will also promote successful business models, seek out the most promising EU Digital Media ventures, propose new ways of distributing digital media products and provide SMEs with partnering opportunities in the EU and beyond.

2.1.8 MOBIP Aims and Aspirations Recent developments in mobile technologies and related services have changed the world in which we live, and this change is expected to continue at an astounding rate. Mobile services have a huge economic potential for competitiveness, innovation and growth, and there is a pressing need to build on this potential in the world’s markets.

Innovation in Services MOBIP

Mobile Services Innovation Platform Coordinator Angelos Manglis, Atlantis Consulting S.A.

The ambition of MOBIP is to support the competitiveness of high growth ventures in the mobile services sector and to strengthen their opportunities for growth Second MOBIP project meeting and market access, both within Europe and Thessaloniki in wider international markets. The project aims to facilitate the access of high growth ventures to investors, exploit the potential for business-to-business cooperation and improve access to large mobile corporates. Specifically, the project aims to: • S upport the evolution of European gazelles in mobile services by identifying SMEs with high growth potential and improving their innovation capacity, investment readiness and access to international markets; • Foster all dimensions of innovation in mobile services; • Develop new or better tools for innovation support by building on successful initiatives.

The Partnership Contact Details amanglis@atlantisresearch.gr Website www.europe-innova.eu/mobip Duration 36 months, September 2009 – August 2012

The consortium consists of consultants, innovation support agencies, an incubator and the international network of European Business and Innovation Centre (EBN). The consultants are Atlantis, Europe Unlimited and PNO and they have extensive experience in: • W orking with SMEs to improve their investor-readiness and access to finance and markets; • Connecting dynamic entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate investors, researchers, universities and policy-makers to create more positive conditions for innovation; • Supporting industries, public administrations and research organisations throughout the whole development process of innovative business ideas and proposals, towards regional, national and European grant programmes.

The innovation support agencies involved are GLE Growth Capital, IMPIVA, and the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia and they have knowledge and expertise in: • F acilitating access to business angel investment and in setting up and managing early stage funds as well as supporting the growth and investment readiness of early stage, high growth businesses; • Managing innovation support programmes in the field of services INI-CUBATOR has a presence in several key markets worldwide and, over the last two decades, the EBN has become a reference point in Europe on innovation, spin-off, incubation, entrepreneurship, SMEs and regional economic development.

Progress So far the MOBIP consortium has identified 240 European SMEs in the mobile services sector, and has developed a methodology for the subsequent assessment of their research, training, skills, and financial needs. Preparatory work has taken place for the subsequent activities of the project. These will include developing an on-line forum to encourage knowledge sharing, developing and testing innovation support packages, promoting the use of standards and providing access to finance and markets by improving the investment readiness of SMEs. Three major events will also be organised, which will focus on ‘Partnerships and Investment in Mobile Services’ and provide: • A ccess to information, expertise, good practice and relevant tools to support the growth and development of innovative mobile services companies; • A meeting point for SMEs, professional experts, intermediaries, corporates and investors to support interaction and knowledge-sharing about strategic information on market opportunities and new business trends; • An exhibition and showcase of innovative mobile services businesses and clusters and partnerships working with the mobile services sector; • Direct access to, and interaction with, regional, national and cross-border sources of investment.

Second MOBIP project meeting - Thessaloniki

3 Eco-Innovation 3.1 European Eco-Innovation Platform It is generally agreed that the professional context or the framework in which any SME operates can influence the views and opinions of the entrepreneur who is managing that company. For example, national governments often work through trade associations as a way of reaching companies and most notably SMEs. These associations can be helpful in explaining new environmental regulations, but they rarely directly stimulate the use of environmental technologies. There is room for improvement in those actions that focus on the professional context and operate through SME multipliers and other intermediaries such as trade associations, cluster organisations, innovation agencies, chambers of commerce or environmental agencies. This is exactly what the Eco-Innovation Platform (Eco-IP) of Europe INNOVA aims to do.

The sectoral partnerships of the Eco-IP will test innovation support services that assist those SMEs which are active in the emerging eco-innovation markets identified by the Lead Market Initiative and the Environmental Technology Action Plan (ETAP). The use of these tools will accelerate the adoption of eco-innovative solutions by their users. The Eco-IP consists of three sectoral partnerships that deal with recycling and resource efficiency, sustainable use of water in industry and lastly, bio-based products in the chemical sector. These are complemented by two horizontal actions, the first of which aims to structure the eco-innovation community and the second to establish an Eco-innovation Observatory.

3.1.1 REMake Aims and aspirations The REMake project will support SMEs in the lead market area of recycling and resource efficiency (RRE). The core of its activities is the testing of a comprehensive set of consultancy tools through a two-stage voucher scheme for manufacturing SMEs that are producing or applying RRE technologies. The partnership plans to test a self-assessment tool on RRE innovation performance with the SMEs, as well as training and consultancy modules on RRE-oriented eco-design, life-cycle assessment and eco-innovation management. The search for a competitive advantage by an early adoption of eco-innovation standards and labels in the RRE field will be supported by a new data base information

Fervid discussions at REMake's Workshop

system. A contest for RRE-innovative SMEs will also identify approaches that can be showcased in this lead market area. This project works with SMEs that have ambitions to grow in the future greener processes within the manufacturing industries. It focuses on innovations in sectors such as metal products, plastic products, surface finishing, mechanical engineering and electric and electronic equipment.

The Partnership Sixteen experienced partners from six countries are involved in the project. Three National and three regional agencies have established funding systems based on vouchers. Since the regional requirements to help SMEs are very different, the experiences will be exchanged and discussed with the four innovation experts, three technical centres and three industrial associations. The partners have built a strong partnership to test their support tools in an integrated manner. The potential of the voucher system is recognised by all the partners and the expert consultants who will support the SMEs will significantly increase the efficiency of the system. Finally, the feasibility of using the voucher system in different industrial sectors is based on the long-term experience of the associations taking part in the project, as well as that of the technical and innovation specialists. The tools used by the partners are adapted to the needs of the companies. They range from very simple to fairly complex tools.

Eco-Innovation REMake

Recycling and Resource Efficiency driving innovation in European Manufacturing SMEs Coordinator Dr. Uwe KĂśnig, ZVO e.V, Germany

Progress Having been established on 1 September 2009, the project has immediately started to address the most challenging issue: the different requirements of the target groups who will use the voucher systems. Central to this endeavour is the combination of the national experiences to conduct the voucher funding in an efficient way across the diverse regional contexts.

Contact Details remake@icon-innovation.de Website www.europe-innova.eu/remake

First exchanges already show considerable agreement on the basic features. The tools used to meet the needs of the SMEs are slightly different but the results are comparable. After an internal workshop in January 2010, the public agencies will take the experiences of their partners into account when developing their own systems.

3.1.2 INNOWATER Aims and Aspirations The global water crisis is one of the most fundamental challenges that the world will have to face during this 21st century. Currently, over 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and over 2.5 billion people are without safe sanitation. Whilst large

INNOWATER kick-off meeting in Brussels

Duration 36 months, September 2009 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; August 2012

parts of Europe still have an abundant water supply throughout most of the year, water scarcity, droughts, floods, ageing infrastructure, increasing energy demand and pollution are growing concerns in many of its countries. At the same time, the industrial use of water increases with industries’ water costs reaching up to 25% of their total production costs and Europe still failing to treat around 50% of its wastewater. On the one hand, the growth potential for innovative water technologies and services is enormous and currently they are growing at a rate of 10% per annum. On the other hand, innovation support for this sector is often relatively poor. Moreover, in many countries water management is not a priority concern like low carbon. Consequently, access to innovation support is difficult for innovators in the water sector. During kick-off meeting

Eco-Innovation INNOWATER

Innovation partnership for better innovation support tools and delivery mechanisms in sustainable water and wastewater

INNOWATER is the ‘Innovation partnership for better innovation support tools and delivery mechanisms in sustainable water and wastewater.’ This partnership has been set up to improve the exploitation of the growth potential of sustainable water and wastewater innovators and industrial users. The overall objective of INNOWATER is to establish and implement a water innovation partnership that develops and tests new and better innovation support tools and delivery mechanisms for innovative SMEs and first-user industries. This will be accomplished through: the development and testing of the most promising methods and tools to facilitate technology and knowledge transfer; the promotion of innovative water technologies with first-user SMEs; the development and testing of first-user tools in industry sectors facing water issues; the proactive involvement of key clusters and industry associations; and the development of user-friendly innovation support delivery schemes in the form of vouchers and business support programmes.

The Partnership Coordinator Harro Riedstra, European Water Partnership Contact Details h.riedstra@ewp.eu Website www.europe-innova.eu/innowater Duration 36 months, February 2010 – February 2013

INNOWATER is a public-private partnership of 16 partners: innovation agencies, water associations and technology specialists, innovation experts and eco-innovative cluster organisations from Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Together, the partners have great experience and knowledge of facilitating innovative water technologies to reach the market through the development of innovative technologies, promoting their uptake in water consuming businesses and implementing voucher schemes to facilitate this development and uptake. The partnership brings together typical water technology developing countries (NL and DK) with countries that can be seen as technology adopters and importers (CY and ES). This means that INNOWATER will be able to test the tools for technology developers and tools for industrial users, closing the full innovation cycle through facilitating the combination of innovation with access to first clients. INNOWATER will start on 1 February 2010, and will run for three years.

3.1.3 BIOCHEM Aims and Aspirations The BIOCHEM project aims to support companies, and especially SMEs, in entering the emerging and very promising market for bio-based products in the chemical sector. Bio-based materials are those made from renewable, biological raw materials such as plants and trees. They are typically sold into market sectors such as bio-plastics, bio-lubricants, surfactants, enzymes and pharmaceuticals, which have been identified as one of Europe’s six lead market areas. There are many strong drivers at present and the most obvious are climate change and energy security, in particular the global target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. Increasingly however, companies are seeing commercial or economic advantages in products which are sustainable or ‘green.’

The aims of the BIOCHEM Project are therefore to stimulate demand-driven, bio-based business in the chemical sector and to improve the innovation capacity of bio-based chemistry start-ups and SMEs. It intends to achieve this by: • D eveloping a tailored, integrated toolbox to provide technical and business support that will increase the take-up of industrial biotechnology; • Formulating a new accelerator concept that will use the toolbox to promote SME biobased product ideas; • Completing a comprehensive assessment of the bio-based products market and using this to increase the awareness of its potential for the chemistry-using sectors. Through its network of partners, the project will develop tools, methodologies and processes such as innovation management, life-cycle methodologies, business planning and fundraising scenarios. These will all target SMEs that aspire to innovate in the biobased products market and BIOCHEM’s goal is to reach at least 250 companies across seven European countries with these new tools. Eco-Innovation

It will facilitate the creation of partnerships between technology providers from both industry and academia and solution seekers, through new on-line, open innovation support tools. In addition, it will work with regional and national innovation management organisations and chemistry cluster organisations to reinforce the innovation management capacities of local SMEs. The project will also help the financing of new bio-based business ideas at the proof-ofconcept stage and enable the access of organisations to European test facilities. A novel concept will be the market testing of a ‘federated’ bio-based products investment fund involving at least five regional funding agencies, business angels and early-stage funders from different European countries. This should improve access to capital, provide support to early stage ventures and also accelerate their international growth. During the project, the impact of the support tools and the integrated service package will be assessed and recommendations made for extending the scope and uptake of these BIOCHEM tools.

BIOCHEM

Eco-IP Partnership for Driving Innovation in the Sector of Bio-based Products Coordinator Dr Steven Fletcher, Chemistry Innovation Limited Contact Details steve.fletcher@ciktn.co.uk Website www.europe-innova.eu/biochem

The Partnership The project will be co-ordinated by a UK knowlege transfer network for the chemistryusing sectors. In addition, the BIOCHEM consortium includes other national innovation agencies in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as specialist partners in venture capital and business consultancy. It will also work with other established European networks and innovation initiatives. It will begin its activities on 1 February 2010.

3.1.4 ECOLINK+ Aims and aspirations On the one hand, policy efforts in support of Eco-innovation in the EU have grown considerably and have led to the implementation of a huge variety of methods, tools and instruments. On the other hand, a sound and coherent framework has not yet been developed. ECOLINK+ is a horizontal action that aims to unite these fragmented efforts by providing a single reference point to strengthen the Eco-innovation community. ECOLINK+ will provide the Eco-innovation community platform (Eco-IP) with guidance on: • E xploiting the results of the Eco-IP sectoral partnerships to the greatest extent; • Identifying and capitalising on the potential synergies between the partnerships; • Placing the most influential issues in Eco-innovation support at the very heart of the policy debate.

Duration 36 months, February 2010 – January 2013

Eco-Innovation ECOLINK+

A platform to strengthen Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eco-innovation community Coordinator Andrea Di Anselmo, META Group s.r.l. Contact Details a.dianselmo@meta-group.com Website www.europe-innova.eu/ecolink Duration 36 months, February 2010 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; January 2013

It will also set up the 100 Emerging Eco-innovators Business Club (BC), that will provide its members with opportunities to network and to access services and financial partners and it will also promote their activities and their potential to a community of international investors. Finally, ECOLINK+ will ensure the highest possible visibility for the innovative services developed under Europe INNOVA sector projects, in an attempt to reach a wide target audience of policy-makers, innovation service providers and stakeholders in the Eco-innovation arena.

The Partnership META Group can demonstrate unique expertise in implementing innovation policy, supporting start-ups and managing early-stage finance. Europe Unlimited has a proven track record in establishing and managing business clubs at EU level. EBN, ERRIN and EURADA provide the partnership with a unique outreach capability, ensuring the dissemination of the Eco-IP results and findings to an incredibly wide range of Eco-innovation support practitioners and end-users.

Progress The kick-off meeting of ECOLINK+ will take place in Brussels on 25-26 January 2010.

4 Eco-Innovation Observatory

Project team at kick-off meeting in Brussels

Aims and aspirations Eco-innovation offers a huge market for EU enterprises and reducing the uncertainty about future trends will help to boost investment in sustainable technologies. Thus, the rationale behind the Eco-innovation Observatory (EIO) is to improve the understanding of eco-innovation processes by systemically monitoring and analysing developments and future trends and tailoring this information to the needs its target groups. This integrated information resource on eco-innovation will be offered to SMEs and innovation services providers to enhance the eco-innovation potential of companies, and also to decisionmakers, as a robust evidence base for policy formulation. The key objectives and the expected outcomes of the EIO are summarised in the table below.

Figure 4: Eco-Innovation Observatory key objectives

Key objectives

Expected outcomes Improved access to information and knowledge on eco-innovation for SMEs and service providers

To collect information and data on eco-innovation High quality knowledge base for the innovation policy development process To analyse information on eco-innovation taking into account the situation in EU-27 Member States To provide market and technology intelligence to SMEs and innovation services providers To recommend how to improve SME-oriented eco-innovation information

Improved access to information and knowledge on eco-innovation by SMEs and services providers High quality knowledge base for the innovation policy development process Improved access to information and knowledge on eco-innovation for SMEs and services providers High quality knowledge base for the innovation policy development process Integrated information and knowledge sharing platform for relevant eco-innovation stakeholders Improved information and knowledge on eco-innovation for SMEs and service providers

The EIO is a ‘prospective observatory’ with two innovative planks: • T he adoption of a pervasive, wider definition of eco-innovation will ensure that the EIO data and analysis covers a broad range of business sectors/technologies; • The application of market scanning and foresight activities will favour the identification of additional lead markets. More specifically, the innovative elements of the EIO will include: • D eveloping an eco-innovation scoreboard at micro, meso and macro levels with indicators linked to policy development cycles; • Providing users with a prospective vision of where eco-innovations may best be pursued, in order to generate new Lead Markets, through horizon scanning of market trends, foresight, eco-innovation and road-maps; • Producing thematic and country reports on new markets and comparisons of barriers and drivers to feed into ECO-IP; • Publishing a flagship annual report accessible in an interactive manner that will enable in-depth, low cost investigation; • Disseminating knowledge via a web platform and developing training modules for innovation services providers.

The Partnership The EIO consortium is composed of five partner organisations led by the Technopolis Group. Eco-Innovation Observatory

Eco-innovation Observatory Coordinator Michal Miedzinski, Technopolis Group Contact Details michal.miedzinski@technopolis-group. com Website www.europe-innova.eu/eco-inno-obs Duration 36 months, December 2009 – November 2012

• • • • •

T echnopolis Group (Belgium) plus offices in seven other countries; Wuppertal Institute (Germany); Sustainable European Research Institute (Austria); Finland Future Research Centre (Finland); C-Tech Innovation Ltd (UK).

The consortium partners have also had discussions with a number of national ministries and major think-tanks and organisations notably DEFRA (UK), Dutch Environment Ministry, Dutch Planning Office, UCA, Oakdene. Other organisations outside the EU have signed letters of intent to work with the consortium for the purpose of data or information comparison and these include: • • • •

epartment of Environmental Science and Engineering - Tsinhua University, China; D JEMAI – the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry; The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, US; The University of California, US.

Progress The EIO is only at the very beginning of its activities.

5 Cluster Cooperation Many of the cluster initiatives that were launched over the last decade have been recognised as important drivers of development. The first generation of Europe INNOVA and certain earlier programmes helped to identify good practice in support of innovative companies, including knowledge transfer from universities to enterprises, incubation services and access to finance. However, the full impact of these initiatives has yet not been realised because it seems that many of them lack a critical mass and/or a strategic orientation.

5.1 European Innovation Platform for Clusters The European Commission has established the European Innovation Platform for clusters (Cluster-IP) to better support innovative firms, mainly SMEs, in internationalising their business and engaging in partnerships with enterprises and research institutes beyond their own regions. It also aims to accelerate the take-up of innovation and the growth of cluster firms in Europe. Within the Cluster-IP, two cluster partnerships serve as laboratories. EcoCluP supports 13 of Europe’s key clusters focusing on eco-innovative industries, whilst ABCEurope brings together 14 of Europe’s strongest biotechnology clusters. These partnerships are expected to become the driving engines of the Cluster IP. Each will address a number of specific challenges in responding better to the particular needs of high growth companies that are active in eco-innovative industries and biotechnology. The European Cluster Observatory, as a horizontal support action under Europe INNOVA, facilitates the partnering of cluster organisations and cluster firms and also promotes what clusters have to offer. In its second phase, the Observatory intends to provide a fullyfledged information service for enterprises and cluster organisations.

5.1.1 ABCEurope Aims and Aspirations ABCEurope brings together 14 of Europe’s strongest biotechnology clusters in a unique partnership, with the overall objective of raising the standard of services to SMEs. The key driver behind this project is the development and delivery of services through a fully integrated mechanism that will bring the significant added value of cross-cluster cooperation to this development and delivery. The aim of the consortium is to ensure that no service is delivered in isolation, as biotech SMEs and their cluster support actors will be fully integrated into a community of clusters and SMEs across Europe. The main aspiration is to shift from the identification and dissemination of good practice to the further development and practical implementation of ‘better practice’ through offering concrete services to SMEs. The objectives of the project have been designed by the consortium with a view to success. They firmly believe that “Europe’s clusters must operate within a European template and not as a collection of individual entities,” and this is the driving force behind the project.

The Partnership There are 14 partners, each of which is the leading biotechnology support organisation in its region, and the regions involved represent the majority of those at the forefront of biotechnology in Europe. Most of these partners have known each others for several years.

In some cases, joint projects offered promising opportunities for launching collaboration on specific issues, whilst in others, the experience and visibility of the cluster organisations promoted their involvement in specific programmes.

Cluster Cooperation

This consortium operates as a ‘network amongst networks,’ as all the partners are members of other networks and these connections will widen the impact of the proposed activities. Through the ABCEurope project, actions can be enhanced with the final aim of creating real, added value services for all biotech cluster operators.

ABCEurope

Advanced Biotech Cluster platforms for Europe Coordinator Mara Tumiati, Innovhub

A significant added value is the fact that the consortium is composed of completely different entities that, together, have a profound knowledge of the biotech market and its needs, technological and organisational innovation and difficulties and strengths. Each is strategically important for cluster development, as chambers of commerce, universities, bio-cluster organisations, incubators, technology parks and regional development agencies can all offer their specific views and perspectives to the project.

Progress Contact Details tumiati.mara@mi.camcom.it Website www.europe-innova.eu/abceurope Duration 36 months, September 2009 to August 2012

The near future will see the launch of some of the activities. The consortium is working on the development of tools in support of internationalisation, on cluster support services for innovative SMEs, on the development of transnational partnering between cluster organisations and businesses and on IPR support for the internationalisation of innovative SMEs. As for dissemination activities, all the partners are promoting the project via the normal channels that they use for their own information campaigns. The Council of European Bio-Regions is also supporting the consortium’s dissemination activities. As all of the project partners are full members of this council, it is a very appropriate partner to promote greater visibility for the project’s activities.

5.1.2 EcoCluP Aims and aspirations EcoCluP aims to adapt, test and implement sector-specific cluster support tools and services for fast-growing businesses, thus creating better opportunities for these cluster companies to grow and internationalise.

The EcoCluP consortium

It will also create the Eco-Cluster Manager Campus to provide a platform for the managers to exchange experiences with their peers and to further develop the profile of a cluster manager as an innovation professional. The overall objectives will be realised through the implementation of four additional work packages, namely: a toolbox for internationalisation; a service kit supporting innovative SMEs; the Eco-Company Club for eco-innovative businesses; and a practical approach for joint research cooperation.

Voting session during the kick-off meeting

The project will reach out in a hands-on and very practical way to over 3,500 cluster companies that are mostly SMEs and to 430 research institutions from the participating European clusters. It will provide them with training courses, matchmaking events, selfassessment tools, voucher schemes, tailor-made innovation advice and many more services designed to create real business impact. Once the toolbox and the service kit have been developed, the partnership will invite cluster organisations to join the Eco-Cluster Manager Campus and the Eco-Company Club.

The Partnership EcoCluP is the first pan-European partnership of key clusters with a strong environmental portfolio. It encompasses waste, water, remediation, pollution control, environmental services, energy, sustainable transport and construction and its cluster organisations come from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. New industries with high growth potential are emerging quickly in the footsteps of new environmental policies. Such policies have been designed to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions, to optimise the use of natural resources, to counteract the pollution of soil, air and water and to increase energy efficiency. In addition, many traditional industries and financial organisations have recognised the enormous business potential of eco-innovative products and services. The countries within the partnership are pioneering the development of eco-innovative technologies and services and this is mirrored in the emergence of new, dynamic ecoinnovative cluster organisations that support effective cooperation between companies, research organisations and regional administrations.

Cluster Cooperation EcoCluP

Eco-innovative cluster partnership for growth and internationalisation Coordinator Gareth Jones & Samantha Demaio, UK CEED

Progress The EcoCluP consortium gathered for the first time in mid-September, just before the Europe INNOVA Annual Partnering Event on Crete. During this kick-off meeting, the clusters made short presentations and familiarised themselves with each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. They expressed their interests and explained how they saw their work evolving in the future. They also outlined the potential for collaboration that they foresaw within, and even beyond, the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifespan. Discussions continued on the work packages and focused on the implementation of the internationalisation analysis and the strategic development tasks for each of the clusters which are to be finalised during the initial six months of the project. Naturally, considerable attention was also given to the overall project roadmap for the coming years.

Contact Details g.jones@ukceed.org, s.demaio@ukceed.org Website www.europe-innova/ecoclup Duration 36 months, September 2009 to August 2012

6 European Cluster Observatory Aims and Aspirations

Professor Örjan Sölvell, Coordinator of the European Cluster Observatory

The European Cluster Observatory aims to be a hub for clusters and cluster organisations that provides analysis and facilitates collaboration. The Observatory website will consist of a knowledge platform aimed primarily at policy-makers and government officials, and a collaboration platform aimed primarily at cluster organisation managers and members of clusters. The Observatory will provide cutting-edge academic analyses of clusters in Europe and an official European cluster mapping. Unique analyses of regional business environments will be available through the leading interactive benchmarking tool on the sustainable competitiveness of regions in Europe. The Observatory will also provide the official European on-line platform for cluster collaboration, including amongst other elements, a virtual marketplace for cluster organisations to promote their services on behalf of their members, and a showcase for cluster organisations that aims to promote cross-fertilisation between clusters in macro regions.

The Partnership The Observatory is provided by a consortium of six partners. The Center for Strategy and Competitiveness (CSC) at the Stockholm School of Economics is the Observatory’s coordinator. CSC aims to be one of the world's leading research centres within the fields of clusters, social networks and regional economic development. CSC works closely with another partner, Ivory Tower, which is a private research consultancy firm. The partner Orkestra supports the activities of public administrations, socio-economic agents and universities in the Basque country in fields related to competitiveness and it also provides expertise in competitiveness research. Clusterland Upper Austria manages five clusters and three networks. ZENIT focuses on the objective of supporting SME innovation, technology and internationalisation and fostering regional economic development. Consortium members at the kick-off in Linz, October 2009

The Fondation Sophia Antipolis (FSA), is a public interest body at the crossroads of innovation, research and culture with the key function of facilitating and stimulating inter-disciplinary relationships and knowledge creation at local, national, transnational and international levels.

Progress European Cluster Observatory

The European Cluster Observatory Coordinator Göran Lindqvist Contact Details goran.lindqvist@hhs.se Website www.europe-innova.eu/eu-cluster-obs Duration 36 months, September 2009 to August 2012

The Observatory had its kick-off meeting in Linz, in October, when its work was initiated. Data collection has started, and the Observatory has volunteered to organise a workshop on regional competitiveness data. Distribution of a user survey aimed at cluster managers has been launched and initial plans on how to organise and develop the website have been agreed. In addition, the Observatory has been presented and featured at a large number of events across Europe, in Heraklion, Luxembourg, Linz, Sophia Antipolis, Jyväskylä and Ljubljana. The Cluster Observatory offers user-driven service like the Cluster Mapping, the Cluster Library and the Cluster Collaboration Platform. The Cluster Mapping tool gives access to an advanced data set on clusters and regions in Europe providing statistical information from a wide range of sources both about where various industries are concentrated and indicators of economic performance and offers data on the framework conditions that shape regional competitiveness. The Cluster Library is a European repository for all kinds of cluster-related documents and the Collaboration Platform is a new tool of the Observatory. It addresses cluster organisation staff and cluster members with the intention of facilitating collaboration and helping them find potential cooperation partners based on detailed profiles.

7 Novel Tools and Services The exploitation of research results within Europe is still underdeveloped, compared to the considerable progress that has been made in the field of innovation support. A more targeted strategy is now being employed so that European innovation support providers use the tools and services that have been generated.

The second phase of the Europe INNOVA initiative, is building on the tools developed during its first phase, and is now promoting the enhancement of these novel tools and concept services. The aim is that EU-funded innovation projects should have a significant impact on wider innovation support providers’ groupings. Whether they are public or private, innovation agencies, regional development agencies, technology transfer offices, incubators, science parks, cluster management organisations, network/platform managers or innovation consultants, they will all be actively supported by Europe INNOVA’s new promotional pillar called TAKE IT UP. Europe INNOVA will be working closely with both the developers and users of innovation tools and services. Developers will be guided in identifying the most appropriate exit strategy, in translating this into an operational plan, in commencing its implementation and in building the appropriate capacities. Potential users such as EEN, EBN, TII, EURADA and EBAN could benefit from Europe INNOVA best practice promotion through campaigns, promotion and matchmaking opportunities. The proactive approach towards users, and the soliciting of their feedback, will turn them into ‘actors’ in this new exploitation process and thus help developers to improve, sharpen and upgrade their support services.

7.1 TAKE IT UP Aims and Aspirations TAKE IT UP is the promotion pillar that aims to covert the novel tools and services developed by Europe INNOVA projects into support packages which, in turn, will be adopted by European Innovation Service Providers (ISPs) for the benefit of a wide SME audience.

Objectives TAKE IT UP is a market and user centred platform that assists Europe INNOVA projects with: • F ine-tuning tools in relation to the quality principles of Subsidiarity, Novelty, Usability, Replicability, Scalability and Adaptability; • Accessing potential users to test the tools and services; • Identifying the most appropriate capitalisation strategies to ensure the widest, continued use of the services and tools by ISPs once the project has ended; • Engaging innovation support professionals to participate in the development of the tools through the Expert Validation Platform; • Showcasing the ‘best in class’ tools and services for innovation support to a wide audience through its on-line repository.

The Partnership TAKE IT UP is run by a distinctive consortium of private companies and networks of innovation stakeholders that includes the META Group, Solgenia, TII and Eurada. This consortium provides direct access to hundreds of innovation support organisations, creating a

living environment for the wider use of the new services, whilst setting the conditions for a durable impact after the end of the project.

Progress During the first six months of the project, a number of key milestones were reached: • M embers of the Expert Validation Platform were successfully recruited and a first event has been planned for the KIS Partnering Forum, in Rome, on 10-12 February 2010; • The guidelines for the testing of the novel tools have been drafted together with a toolkit containing a set of checklists and templates; • The mapping of innovation support services has been completed; • Support services have been launched for the Europe INNOVA projects and the first bilateral meetings have plotted the roadmaps for future collaboration; • A beta version of the TAKE IT UP on-line repository has been prepared; • Interaction has been established with the horizontal support platforms of Europe INNOVA. The next steps will be to launch the exploitation services for Europe INNOVA projects and to organise the first plenary capacity building session. Novel Tools & Services TAKE IT UP

Figure 5: TAKE IT UP building blocks TAKE IT UP Coordinator Andrea Di Anselmo, META Group

Repository

Coaching for new projects

Contact Details takeitup@meta-group.com Website www.europe-innova.eu/takeitup

Europe INNOVA Communications and other AMs

Duration 36 months, September 2009 – August 2012

Communication & Marketing

EU innovation service providers

Validations platform Working group users community

EEN network

8 Highlights and happenings in 2009 8.1 Annual Partnering Event This year’s event was held on the island of Crete, in September, and attracted around 200 participants who were either working in Europe INNOVA projects or searching for partners, inspiration and funding. On the edges of the programme, these participants had many opportunities to make or to renew contacts. Also, on the first day, four of the new Europe INNOVA projects held their kick-off meetings. The Opening Session on the second day considered how Greece had used the EU Structural Funds, the role of the services sector, companies’ investments in, and the financing of, innovation. A common thread that emerged in all these presentations was the need to adapt innovation policies to constantly evolving global challenges. This was also reflected in the subsequent Roundtable on ‘What should innovation support in a changing world look like?’ During the afternoon, three parallel workshops were held on: • D eveloping new tools and instruments; • Involving SMEs in the testing of the tools and instruments; and • Promoting new forms of clusters. The feedback indicated that the development of new tools, based on the experience of Europe INNOVA projects, had already commenced. On the final day, the participants had the chance to learn about the outcomes of the public consultation on the effectiveness of innovation support in Europe and the findings of a recent report ‘A new nature of innovation,’ which had been prepared as a contribution to a new OECD innovation strategy to be presented in spring 2010. This session concluded with a presentation on the Baltic Sea Strategy that underlined the importance of scaling up and focusing on the introduction of novel approaches into mainstream programmes through a top-down strategy.

Revising the Mission Statement The debates over the three days highlighted the need for a new Mission Statement for Europe INNOVA and during the Closing Plenary Session, the European Commission presented options for choices, which were ranked by electronic voting. The results of the voting were then made available on the Europe INNOVA site for further consultation and the following Mission Statement was subsequently adopted in December 2009. For the second generation of Europe INNOVA projects, the following six principles will guide the development and testing of such new tools and instruments: Subsidiarity; Novelty; Usability; Replicability; Scalability; and Adaptability.

8.2 Thematic Workshops 8.2.1 Standards open new markets for innovative SMEs Europe INNOVA organised a Thematic Workshop on ‘Standards for innovative SMEs – from lessons to actions’ early in June. Around 40 invited delegates from European and national

Standardisation Organisations, standardisation experts and other innovation stakeholders met to discuss how the leverage of standards could be improved. It was felt that new products that complied with quality standards delivered a message of trust and professionalism, which can be crucially important when entering new markets. However, SMEs needed easier access to information about standards, as well as training in their use. In addition, the costs related to standardisation are often excluded from public funding of R&D in contrast to EU security fields where they are considered to be part of the innovation process. On a more positive note, Europe is becoming a knowledge society with a greater emphasis on intellectual properties and this is directly reflected in the kind of standards that are used by companies. It was also announced that, through an agreement with DG Enterprise and Industry, European and national Standards Organisations have been invited to collaborate with those Europe INNOVA projects that will work on standardisation.

8.2.2 Key European actors agree on an improved strategy to support space-based downstream services A Europe INNOVA Thematic Workshop provided the setting for the European Commission, ESA and GSA to meet with incubators, venture capitalists, cluster initiatives and SMEs in the field of Space-Based Services. This Workshop, also held at the beginning of June, produced the following recommendations for future action and the Commission’s representatives agreed to establish an innovation sub-group of the Space Policy Inter Service Group to pursue them: • A gree on the joint vision of key actors across institutions and operators • Move from applications to emerging services markets • Organise more joint events, also involving more regions and structural funds (INTERREG), to create higher visibility in the eyes of SMEs • Provide complete, relevant information on specific support activities through a onestop-shop that would be promoted using all existing channels • Liaise with multi-national enterprises to open up global markets for new locationbased services • Ask Member States to buy in to GNSS that offer services for public tasks and responsibilities such as health or security • Certify Galileo for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) • Develop a Galileo Application Programming Interface (API)

8.3 Sectoral Innovation Watch (SIW) Workshops The First Foresight Workshop brought together key players from nine industrial sectors, in Brussels, on 23 and 24 June to analyse the dynamics and future development of sectoral systems of innovation. “Using foresight for exploring future innovation challenges and policy issues is an important addition to conventional studies and analyses, as in a fast-changing economy, we need to prepare for likely changes rather than react to crises once they have occurred,” explained Matthias Weber, leader of SIW Foresight. The growing importance of demand-side drivers for innovation was emphasised by the participants in all of the nine sector working groups. In line with this observation, the consideration of sustainability issues was expected to become an integral part of innovation activities but there was still a gap to be bridged between the requirements of the demand-side and innovation in practice

The nine sectors involved in the SIW workshops Aeronautics and Space

Automotive

Biotechnology

Construction

Electrical and Optical Equipment

Food and Beverage

Knowledge-Intensive Business Services

Textiles and Clothing

Wholesale and Retail Each of the nine sectoral working groups came to the Second Foresight Workshop at the beginning of December, having identified requirements and policy issues that would impact on the innovation and evolution of these sectors. These covered access to finance, regulatory barriers, standardisation and harmonisation. All the nine sectors stressed that sustainability and, more specifically, eco-innovation were overarching and cross-sectoral innovation challenges. A commonly held belief amongst the participants was that to address grand societal challenges such as sustainability, policy instruments needed more focus and clearer priorities, as well as an integrated approach towards cross-sectoral policy issues. The discussions during the workshop also contributed to the identification of major issues that are likely to require a policy response in the years to come.

 Europe INNOVA is a European initiative which aspires to become the laboratory for the development, testing and promotion of new tools and instruments in support of innovation, with the aim of helping innovative enterprises to innovate faster and better. This will support all forms of innovation, taking into account the great societal challenges of today.  Europe INNOVA has the ambition to become the main pan-European platform for innovation professionals, which will enable them to discuss, develop, test and exchange ‘better practices’ in support of innovators and to contribute to a better understanding of the innovation patterns in different sectors. To this end, Europe INNOVA will be driven by innovation agencies and other public or private innovation support providers that are interested in working together in partnerships to search for new forms of innovation support at European level.  Europe INNOVA aims to exploit Europe’s innovation potential as effectively as possible, by contributing to the creation of an environment in which enterprises can start, grow and thrive, thus supporting the competitiveness and sustainable development that Europe requires. To maximise its potential impact, Europe INNOVA will follow a ‘strategic approach’ by identifying which new innovation support mechanisms need to be developed at European level.  Europe INNOVA offers a sound analysis and mapping of sectoral innovation and identifies sectoral barriers to, and opportunities for, innovation, listening to the needs and recommendations of European businesses and innovation professionals. To follow such an ‘evidencebased’ approach in support of innovation, Europe INNOVA intends to provide more and better practical information services about sectoral innovation patterns and match-making facilities in support of entrepreneurial innovation.

9 Maintaining the legacy of the first phase of Europe INNOVA At the end of 2009, the Europe INNOVA initiative entered its second phase. While a number of new platforms were selected, six projects continued from the first phase. These projects have committed themselves to transforming the solutions tested under Europe INNOVA into sustainable operations and services. The activities of KIS PIMS, Achieve More, KIS4SAT and KISPLATFORM are detailed under the first main section of this report on ‘Highlighting Innovation in Services.’ Those of the IMP³rove and the Sectoral Innovation Watch are outlined later in this section.

During the first phase, the sector-based approach of Europe INNOVA ultimately reinforced cooperation between business clusters, networks, financial and standardisation practitioners in Europe. These experiences gave birth to innovation tools and instruments such as reports, brochures and publications, on-line and off-line tools and instruments, which are available to support innovation practitioners and the future actions of the second generation of the initiative.

A Review of some of the Tools developed in the First Phase of Europe INNOVA

On-Line Tools

 KIS-PIMS produced a number of reports for services innovators and innovation professionals and these documents can be accessed through the ‘Results’ link of the KIS-PIMS Innovation and Services section of the Europe INNOVA website.  One of the twelve projects in the Cluster Networks’ automotive sector produced two notable tools on ‘Automotive Clustering in Europe’ and ‘Methodological Guideline for Cluster Analysis,’ which can be found through the ‘Results and Downloads’ link of the Transnational Clustering in the Automotive Sector (TCAS) Cluster Network project.  T he Innovation Panels working within the Sectoral Innovation Watch produced a number of documents on Lead Markets, Sectoral Innovation Leaders and Sectoral Policy Mapping that can be found via the ‘Reports’ link of the Europe INNOVA Innovation Watch and Innovation panels sections.  KIS-PIMS developed the Project Risk Assessment tool and more information can be accessed through the ‘Toolbox’ link of the Innovation and Services section of the new Europe INNOVA portal.  Space sector projects INVESaT and FinanceSpace from the Finance Networks developed the ‘Space applications Tool’ and the ‘Guide 2 Finance Space’ respectively. More information about the first tool can be found at the www.invesat.com webpage and the second tool can be accessed at the ‘Downloads’ link of the FinanceSpace project.

 The Energy Innovative Financial Network project developed two financial tools. The ‘Energy Sector Budget Tool can be found at the Europe INNOVA publications ‘on-line tools’ and the ‘Real Option Approach and Spreadsheet’ are accessible at the ‘Downloads’ section of the EIFN project.

Non-Line Tools

 Six Good Practice Handbooks for construction, e-health, shipbuilding, furniture sectors, environmentally-friendly products and public procurement can be downloaded at the ‘Tools’ link in the project’s section of the Standards Networks.  Five tools to assist researchers in the initial testing of a research hypothesis, with a view to identifying its innovative and market potential, can be found on the homepage of Gate2Start www.gate2start.eu/.  The ACHIEVE project produced a ‘Guide to Incubation Excellence’ and its executive summary has been published on the Project Reports section of the Financing Networks.

9.1 IMP³rove 2009 Activities and Results IMP³rove aims to provide new and better tools to improve innovation management and to produce a sustainable impact. The project’s activities support innovative enterprises, innovation intermediaries and financial as well as policy actors and are applied by academia to train innovation managers for SMEs. IMP³rove has achieved tangible results in the first phase of developing, testing and disseminating this new approach to improving innovation management in Europe. The dissemination activities in 2009 resulted in establishing IMP³rove’s presence throughout Europe and beyond.

Innovation Management IMP3rove

Based on the development and successful testing of the IMP³rove approach in Europe2, the focus of the project in 2009 was on the further European dissemination and development of the proof of concept for this holistic approach. The report on the proof of concept was also being finalised at the end of 20093.

Improving Innovation Management Performance with sustainable Impact

The following key deliverables for the dissemination phase were achieved: • • • • •

Coordinator Eva Diedrichs, A.T. Kearney GmbH

T raining on the IMP³rove approach; Expanding the IMP³rove Benchmarking Database; Further developing the IMP³rove Expert Network; Providing the proof of concept; Marketing and dissemination of the IMP³rove approach.

Contact Details improvecoreteam@atkearney.com

Monthly training on the IMP³rove approach was offered across Europe both as classroom teaching and web-based training. This resulted in add-ons to the IMP³rove database and the IMP³rove Expert Network. The training was offered both by the European Coordination Team, as well as by IMP³rove National Coordinators across Europe. 2 3

Results for the development and the testing are documented in the Europe INNOVA paper No 2 and 10. It is envisaged to publish the report on the ‘IMP³rove proof of concept’ at the beginning of 2010.

Website www.europe-innova.eu/ innovation-management Duration The second phase will last for 24 months

The IMP³rove database now includes more than 3,500 registered SMEs with almost 2,500 having completed IMP³rove Assessments. It is currently the largest and most up-to-date innovation management benchmarking database of SMEs. The distribution, by size of company, reflects the European situation, with smaller SMEs constituting the largest group of companies. Over the last months, there has also been a large increase in registrations from Spain and Serbia. Due to its continued training activities, the IMP³rove Experts Network was expanded in terms of geographic spread and the number of associated network partners. There are currently around 400 associated IMP³rove Experts throughout all major European countries. Some 81% of all IMP³rove Experts come from privately owned consultancy companies.

Lessons learned The proof of concept for IMP³rove has been achieved in several ways. Some 50 case studies have been collected that illustrate the various benefits, which IMP³rove has generated for companies, innovation management support providers and intermediaries, financial actors and policy-makers. These case studies will be documented in the IMP³rove report for 2009. The feedback from SMEs that have used IMP³rove shows that the combination of thorough on-line assessment and personal consultancy pays off. SMEs report that this combination has helped them to improve their business performances, enter international markets, adjust organisational structures and strengthen the innovation cultures in their organisations. In total, 74% of the SMEs indicated that the recommendations developed by the IMP³rove Expert, based on the IMP³rove benchmarking report, had a significant, longterm impact on their businesses. Davide Vanin, Managing Director of Mangiarotti spa, in Italy explained that "One of the most important benefits of IMP³rove is that it helps to start thinking on innovation. The consultancy workshop and the opportunity of meeting an Innovation Management Consultant are fundamental, you can understand your weaknesses and also understand if your strategies are good.” Providers of innovation management support either integrate the services, based on the IMP³rove approach, that they intend to offer into their services portfolio or establish an additional business area for their organisation, thus securing and, in some cases, creating jobs in the knowledge intensive services sector. Financial actors have appreciated the depth and quality of the benchmarking. Based on the IMP³rove benchmarking reports, they gained additional insights into the prospects of SMEs

Figure 6: Distribution of completed IMP³rove Assessments by country 377 298

321 231

226 188 111

94 56

Pre-Test companies are excluded Source: IMP³rove Core Team, November 3, 2009; www.improve-innovation.eu

ke y Sl o ve Cz ni ec a h Re pu bl ic Sl ov ak ia Hu ng ar y Ro m an ia Po Bu la nd lg ar ia /S er bi a Ot he rs

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tu g

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that either apply for funding or have to be managed within a portfolio of funded SMEs. With the successful dissemination of IMP³rove, policy-makers have become more and more aware of the benefits that this approach can offer either for national benchmarking in innovation management or for supporting SMEs in their development, in combination with voucher

Figure 7: Distribution of completed IMP³rove Assessments by industry sector BioTech/ Pharma/ Chem

Food/Bev Textile

172

225

ICT/Elect./ Optical

505 Knowledge Intensive Services

721

125

588 Mach/Equip. (plant constr)

Space/Aeron./ Automot.

Pre-Test companies are excluded Source: IMP³rove Core Team, November 3, 2009; www.improve-innovation.eu

Figure 8: Distribution of IMP³rove Experts by country (Number of Registered IMP³rove Experts)

37 33 29 22

22 18

9 6

3 4

6 1 2

2 1 1

Au s Be tria lg Cz B ium ec ul h ga Re ria p De ubli nm c a Es rk to Fin nia la n Fr d Ge anc rm e a Gr ny ee Ire ce la nd Ita l L y Lit atvi hu a an Ne M ia th alt er a la Ot n he No ds r c rw ou ay nt ri Po es la Po nd rt Ro uga m l an Ru ia ss Se ia Sl rbia ov en i Sp a Sw ain Sw e itz den er la Un n ite Tu d d rke Ki y nd om

4 3 4

Source: IMP³rove Core Team, November 3, 2009; www.improve-innovation.eu

schemes. Feedback from policy-makers indicates that they appreciate and value having a ready to use, common European approach that allows for international comparison. The further adoption of IMP³rove in Europe is a result of the regular marketing activities that included its presence at international trade shows and fairs, speeches during conferences and discussions with key stakeholders, clusters and other networks. The reasons for such a broad spectrum of acceptance are real European coverage combined with the high quality standards that have been implemented. IMP³rove can be leveraged to develop specific industrial sectors, geographical regions or the innovation capabilities of SMEs in general. The aim now is to further integrate IMP³rove into publicly funded projects and, by so doing, support SMEs effectively in the attainment of their goals for sustainable growth. In summary, IMP³rove delivered in due time what it originally promised, “Improved Innovation Management with sustainable IMPact.”

9.2 Sectoral Innovation Watch (SIW) Following the activities of the first Sectoral Innovation Watch, the new phase of the project widens the focus on sectors with five cross-cutting themes under the foresight dimension. The sectors under study are shown in the table on page 37 whilst the crosscutting themes are: • • • • •

ational specialisation N Organisational innovation in services Emerging lead markets Potential for eco-innovation High growth companies (gazelles)

2009 Activities and Results In 2009, the consortium worked extensively on analysing trends in, and reporting on, innovation performance in the nine sectors. Current trends in innovation performance, the innovative agents and the related characteristics of the sectoral innovation systems

Figure 9: Sectoral Innovation Watch tasks – “matrix approach”

Tasks

Sectors

Task 1: Collection and analysis - measuring innovation performance

Reports

Task 2: Foresight of sectoral innovation challenges & opportunities Task 3: Markets, regulation and sectoral innovation patterns

Reports

Task 4: Analysis cross-cutting themes Task 5: Organisation of thematci expert panels

• Biotechnology • Electrical and optical equipment • Automotive • Space & Aeronautics • Space & Aeronautics • Construction • Wholesale & Retail Trade • Knowledge Intensive Services • Food & drink • Textiles • National specialisation • Organisational innovation in services • Emerging lead market • Potential for eco-innovation • High-growth compagnies

were identified for each of the nine sectors. The results will be included in nine sector reports on innovation performance, which will be available in early 2010. A second major element of the project is foresight, which explores and identifies the main drivers of change and the key future developments such as future innovation themes, emerging markets and related requirements and impacts. As Reinhard Büscher, Head of the ‘Support for Innovation Unit’ at DG Enterprise and Industry put it “We do not know the future and we do not know how the sectors will change in the future, but we need to understand better what drives innovation in these sectors in order to support innovation proactively.” The results of the foresight exercise have been discussed and validated in two Sectoral Foresight Workshops in the middle and the end of 2009. The nine sector foresight reports will also be available early in 2010. A third task undertaken by SIW is the identification and analysis of current and potential bottlenecks that influence sectoral innovation performance, paying special attention to the role of markets and regulations. The interim results of the desk research have been included in an initial report. In 2009, a Europe-wide, web-based survey was organised and the outcomes of this exercise will be included in a final report, which is due early in 2010. In addition, the consortium has worked on five horizontal, cross-cutting, themes related to innovation. In 2010, the analyses of these horizontal themes will be finalised and the results will be included in five horizontal reports. In 2009, the consortium also started preparations for the five thematic workshops, based on the five horizontal reports. The idea behind these workshops, which will take place in 2010, is to provide the Commission’s services with feedback on current and proposed policy initiatives.

Lessons learned The work in the Sectoral Innovation Watch followed the original work plan so far, with the exception of one setback. The unavailability of Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data from Eurostat meant that the analysis and the reporting of the sectoral innovation performance had to be postponed. Lack of this data also became an obstacle for the examination of the relationship between innovation, labour productivity and skills availability. However, more efforts than initially expected were invested in the identification of current and potential innovation bottlenecks. Initially, there was a poor response to the Europe-wide survey amongst companies and thus, additional work had to be undertaken to improve the response rate.

Sectoral Innovation Watch

What can be offered to others? The Sectoral Innovation Watch develops extensive analyses of the innovation performance and dynamics in the nine different industrial sectors. The project focuses on current and future developments in these sectors and the analysis of the cross-sectoral and cross-cutting dynamics. Sector-specific insights coming from the project’s tasks will be combined in the final reports on each sector. The results of the Sectoral Innovation Watch will be presented on the Europe INNOVA website, in its Sparks Newsletter and at conferences, workshops and meetings throughout Europe.

Sectoral Innovation Watch Coordinator Dr. Carlos Montalvo, TNO, the Netherlands

Future developments

Contact Details annelieke.vandergiessen@tno.nl and carlos.montalvo@tno.nl

In 2010, the consortium will finalise the work of the Sectoral Innovation Watch. The results of the individual tasks will be published and the sector-specific insights will be combined in nine final sector reports. An overall final report will present the cross-sectoral linkages and dynamics.

Website www.europe-innova.eu/ sectoral-innovation-watch

During the coming year, the consortium will also organise several thematic workshops. It is intended that the results of the project’s work should provide vital evidence that will nourish the policy debate on innovation support in Europe.

Duration 30 months

Europe INNOVA papers Paper N° Title

NB-N°

Innovation Clusters in the 10 new Member States of the NB-AW-04-001 European Union €15

European Innovation Management Landscape

Europe INNOVA Annual Report 2006

Towards a European strategy in support of innovation in NB-AW-07-004 services: Challenges and key issues for future actions

Innovation Clusters in Europe: A statistical analysis and NB-81-07-100 overview of current policy support

Addressing Challenges for High-Growth Companies: NB-AW-07-006 Summary and Conclusions of the Europe INNOVA Gazelles Innovation Panel

Europe INNOVA Annual Report 2007

Sectoral Innovation Watch – synthesis report

NB-AW-08-008

The role of clusters and cluster policies and their role for NB-NA-23-591 competitiveness and innovation: Main statistical results and lessons learned

Insights on innovation management

NB-NA-23-470

Europe INNOVA Annual Report 2008

EU Cluster Mapping and Strengthening Clusters in Europe NB-NA-23-903

Europe INNOVA Annual Report 2009

Europe INNOVA Annual Report 2009 Europe INNOVA is an initiative of the European Commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Directorate General Enterprise and Industry which aspires to become the laboratory for the development and testing of new tools and instruments in support of innovation with the view to help innovative enterprises innovate faster and better. It brings together public and private innovation support providers such as innovation agencies, technology transfer offices, business incubators, financing intermediaries, cluster organisations and others. Additional information on Europe INNOVA is available at www.europe-innova.eu.

The publication is financed under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) which aims to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises.