Invaluable support was given by the country experts of the benchmarked clusters and cluster programs in this report.
SME2, Non-SME, R&d institutions, universities, training and education providers, financial intermediaries, consultants, governmental agencies and others.
if it has no more than 250 employees. 17 Figure 3: Size of the clusters (total number of committed cluster participants) AUSTRIA DENMARK FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY ICELAND NORWAY POLAND SPAIN SWEDEN 0 50 100 150 200
Composition of clusters AUSTRIA 68%7%6%3%2%1%8%2%3%SME Universities Consultants Non-SME Training and education providers
A group of experts of 24 European countries has evaluated their specific national or regional cluster program.
and division of duties in order to create internationally competitive centres of expertise To increase the attraction of regional innovation environments in order to lure international companies, investments and leading experts to the region SHOK Strategic Centres for Science,
The most typical concept used in defining a functional region is that of labour markets (OECD, 2002:
or regional policy context16 24 out of 32 experts assessed its relevance as important or very important in relation to the overall economic/industrial development strategy (see Figure 20).
Networks and Clusters as Instruments for the Initiation of International Business Cooperation 68 2. 3. 5 PROGRAM OWNERS TAKE OVER A MORE ACTIVE ROLE TOWARDS DEVELOPING INDIVIDUAL CLUSTERS The majority of the interviewed experts confirmed that individual
All program experts consider evaluations as useful tools to improve the governance of a program and its effectiveness and efficiency.
In this context many experts consider formative evaluations as more useful than ex-post evaluations as they provide relevant information in the course of the program implementation which can be used for real-time improvements of the program.
Being an expert for the development and implementation of public funding programs, he has been working with regional and economic development policy topics for more than twelve years.
tac@fi. dk LYSANN MÜLLER has been working as a consultant at the international technology cooperation and cluster policy department of VDI/VDE Innovation+Technik Gmbh in Berlin, Germany since 2005.
Being involved with European project management for ten years Lysann has grown her professional experience in national and European R&d policy and international technology transfer.
as in the last years, hit by the economic crisis many SMES went from the medium to small size due to the decrease in the number of employees.
Furthermore, highly innovative firms were found to place great emphasis on employee development training (Laforet and Tann, 2006, p. 366),
and this is also the case in some Romanian SMES that were found to have invested in training half of their employees (24%in 2010)( Nicolescu, Nicolescu and Nicolae, 2012).
business innovation is often incremental and built on the day-to-day expertise of employees and their thorough knowledge of customers and competitors.
in 2006,15. 5 percent of Ireland's science and technology employees aged between 25 and 64 were born outside Ireland,
Better skilled and better educated employees are good for the economy as a whole and for the firms that employ them.
The agreement envisages a concerted effort by employees and employers to increase levels of workplace learning and upskilling.
Lifelong learning Education and training can no longer be seen as a phase that individuals go through before their career starts;
National Skills Strategy to 2020 The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs report, Tomorrows Skills:
which provides financial supports for training employees. It is focused particularly on the needs of people in low-skilled occupations.
The provision of individual learning accounts funded jointly by the State, employers and employees; Improving arrangements for employee training leave;
Tax incentives; and Brokerage systems to help companies source appropriate training. Innovating through the Structural Fundsstructural funding,
such as lawyers, licensing executives and tax experts conversant with the management of IP portfolios. Raising awareness The Patents Office is the public institution charged with implementing the national patents, trademarks, copyright and design regimes.
Court-appointed experts enable complex IP issues to be dealt with expeditiously. This flexible and innovative approach by the Commercial Court is consistent with Government policy of ensuring IP rights are respected fully
The skills profile of immigrant workers in many cases exceeds that of the resident population. They can make a material and positive impact on future social
Essentially, this has involved the Government working together with trade unions, business and employers, farming organisations and community and voluntary bodies to determine key aspects of economic and social policy.
The Workplace Innovation Fund is a unique opportunity for SMES to receive financial support for projects seeking to develop partnership and participation within the workplace leading to productivity improvements, improved performance and employee well-being.
OECD figures for eleven OECD countries suggest for example that high-growth enterprises account for between only 2 and 8 per cent of all enterprises with 10 or more employees,
External ideas for innovation can come from many places from collaborations with universities and other firms or business angels, from labour mobility among firms and organisations and from informal social capital contacts.
For example, for SMES, the use of knowledge-intensive service activities offered by consultants and other firms often brings new non-technological ideas into the firm with respect to business practices,
and a central role of unions and employers in regulating the economy and society in partnership with government.
The social contract included regulation of labour markets and a strong welfare state. The reduced power of large firms and unions,
and labour market flexibility increased the strain upon it. Social entrepreneurs and social enterprises such as nonprofit organisations have stepped into this breach (OECD, 2003;
i e. comparing innovation rates per employee not per firm (Audretsch, 1995). On the other hand, there is a strong suggestion that SMES are associated particularly with bringing forward so-called breakthrough innovations.
using and interacting occurs on the job as employees face ongoing changes that confront them with new problems
labour market regulation, finance markets and intellectual property protection. OECD research shows for example how unbalanced taxes on company profits
but also through informal methods such as the creation of problem-solving work teams and engagement with external knowledge intensive service activity providers such as consultants (OECD, 2010a, forthcoming).
and there is a particular SME skills gap among older and routine workers. These problems need to be addressed.
are enterprises with average annualised growth in employees greater than 20%a year over a three year period and with ten or more employees at the beginning of the observation period.
which have been employers for a period of up to five years, with average annualised growth in employees greater than 20%a year over a three-year period and with ten or more employees at the beginning of the period. 2. See also NESTA (2009). 3. The OECD/Eurostat Entrepreneurship
Indicator Programme is developing internationallycomparable indicators of entrepreneurship based on this definition. Bibliography Acs, Z. and D. Audretsch (1990), Innovation and Small Firms, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Haltiwanger, J. 1999), Job creation and Destruction by Employer Size and Age: Cyclical Dynamics, in Z. Acs, B. Carlsson and C. Karlsson (eds.
UK Public policy and open innovation Executive summary A financial and investment ecosystem which looks to support business as it grows,
and new employment opportunities) then the nature of these cash flows is increasingly important for government growth and economic policy.
It is down to employees to select which internal idea to research, develop and ultimately bring to market these knowledge packages.
nuclear reactors, mainframe computers Largely internal ideas Low labour mobility Little venture capital activity Few, weak start-ups Universities unimportant Examples of industries:
PCS, movies Many external ideas High labour mobility Active venture capital Numerous start-ups Universities important Source: Chesbrough (2003) With open innovation such a widely deployed term for describing organisational activities,
‘A sequence in the adoption of open innovation, starting with customer involvement, following with employee involvement,
++o+XVI Organised diffusion+++o/++Education policy XVII General stimulation+++XVIII Entrepreneurship education+o o o Labour market policy XIX Aim for flexibility+o
FORFÁS EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP 1 EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2table of Contents Executive Summary 3 1 Background and Context
Active Labour market Schemes in Finland 149 Appendix II: Grant Evaluation 151 Appendix III: Forfás Board members 154 Appendix IV:
FORFÁS EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP 3 Executive Summary Background Programme of Evaluations for Enterprise Supports The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) has requested that Forfás
the County Enterprise Boards and those programmes delivered by SFI that have a'touch point'with enterprise 2 Informed by research conducted by Indecon Consultants 4evaluation of Supports for Entrepreneurship
Turnover per employee increased over the period 2004-2010 by 114.8 per cent (turnover in 2010 was circa €256 million for all 199 HPSU clients supported over the period.
primarily preference shares 10 All Irish owned firms surveyed annually through the ABSEI 11 Enterprise Ireland firms started between 2000 and 2006 with 10 employees
Thus, the turnover and employment levels of new firms, export and productivity performance together with their longevity are indicators of a successful entrepreneurial performance. 1. 2 Ireland's Enterprise Policy Context
so for up to 6 years after hiring its first employee FORFÁS EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP 27 Potential Scaling companies;
For employment we use the population of Enterprise Ireland start-ups from 2000-2006 with a minimum of ten employees for comparison45;
turnover per employee is a more appropriate comparator metric, as absolute turnover and growth in turnover would be expected to vary dramatically between the two groups 45 Start-ups dating back to 2000 were selected as a more robust comparator group to reflect the fact that companies can be trading for some years before receiving HPSU supports FORFÁS EVALUATION
Total Turnover (2004,2005 and 2006 HPSUS) In terms of turnover per employee, for all HPSUS the rate of increase was 114.8 per cent between 2004 and 2010;
Turnover per Employee, HPSU clients 2004-2006 and ABSEI Comparator Group In order for a more robust comparison with the comparator group, turnover per employee is the most useful metric,
In terms of turnover per employee (Chart 2. 5), for 2004 HPSUS this climbed 145 per cent between 2004 and 2010;
terms during the period of the recession than the comparator group (Enterprise Ireland firms started between 2000 and 2006 with 10 employees or over) 47.
a significant company started in 2004 with 114 employees and grew to 250 employed in 2005
so for up to 6 years after hiring its first employee. The chart below outlines how survival rates for the HPSU 2004-2006 cohort are consistently higher than all comparator groups this is also true for each individual sectoral group.
and plan Inputs Organisation and hosting costs Promotional activities Consultant fees Outputs 18 events staged 3 times a year,
The programme is usually run 3 times a year, over 6 weekends (Friday evening and Saturday morning) by third party consultants, taking place either in Enterprise Ireland regional centres or nearby hotels.
Average salary of all enterprise Ireland employees involved was calculated and then weighted depending on the estimated time spent delivering the support.
The programme executives pre-vet the participants for each session the aim is to restrict the number per session to 15.
as is the time commitment required on the part of Development Executives. Over the two years 44 HPSUS/pre-HPSUS have been created,
Inputs Financial commitment of €2m in annual funding from Enterprise Ireland to the Business Innovation Centres (BICS), Projects are referred to the BICS by Regional Development Executives and Development Advisers following
Projects are referred to the BICS by Regional Development Executives and Development Advisers following agreement with the HPSU Validation Unit.
average salary level was established from the employees of the agency working on the project, this figure was adjusted then by the estimated amount of time the 59 Towards Developing an Entrepreneurship Policy for Ireland,
and Consultant fees (PA. Outputs Number of participants, Number of investor ready business plans,(Phase II as proxy) Number of HPSUS.
the amount of employees involved and the estimated amount of time the team spent delivering the support.
The selection panel is made up of strategic business development experts from Enterprise Ireland and PA Consulting.
monthly one to one sessions with industry experts, as well as financial support provided through the Commercialisation of Research & development (CORD) fund64.
The same supports were offered with some additional services available such as one to one meetings with sector experts.
Consultant fees. Partner HEI contribution. Outputs Number of participants industry and academic, Sectors and technology areas covered aligned to enterprise and research base,
Activities Sectorally based networking events, Presentations by industry experts on commercialisation strategies, growth opportunities etc, Structured networking,
and experts on the one hand and on the other to facilitate researchers with innovative ideas to meet up with entrepreneurs who can potentially help them develop and commercialise these ideas.
Salary costs contain the average salary of all the agency employees involved which is weighted then by the amount of time the project leader estimates was spent administering soft support services such as organisation of events,
Presentations by industry experts on commercialisation strategies, growth opportunities etc; Structured networking; Brainstorming sessions; and Information sessions enterprise and research supports etc.
Each event begins with a presentation from the industry expert from Enterprise Ireland who highlights the trends
and are still in contact with their Regional Executives in Enterprise Ireland. 7. 8 Findings
and the number of agency employees involved in providing the support as determined by the team leader.
& VC fund managers and sectoral experts who are responsible for raising financing from the private sector, making all investment decisions (based on eligibility criteria) and the ongoing management of investments.
ging business experts with tional growt s to form lar e and the creand Cumula gramme 2010 mpanies to s As such, VC a to companie s a strong ro
Current Costs which covers employee, rent/property and running costs. It is important to acknowledge that the greater proportion of this relates to staff costs (c. 70 per cent)
which may be up to €200 per course, with reductions for unemployed persons. Each CEB provides between five and ten SYOB 112 Comptroller And Auditor-General Report on the Accounts of the Public services 2010, Chapter 28:
and analysis undertaken by AECOM consultants, December 2011 FORFÁS EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP 123 courses per annum,
education and training initiatives be focused on the needs in the labour market. The concept of developing entrepreneurs through education and training was echoed again in Towards Developing an Entrepreneurship Policy for Ireland, 2007.
A business employing up to 10 employees; A manufacturing or internationally traded services business; A domestically traded service business with the potential to trade internationally;
or unemployed persons where the potential for deadweight and displacement is likely to be minimal. Eligible clients are awarded a Priming Grant within the first eighteen months of setting up the business.
500 per employee and a maximum of ten employee C Training & Management Development The CEBS provide Start Your Own Business, Management Development Training and Mentoring services.
with reductions for unemployed persons. Each CEB provides between five and ten SYOB courses per annum, indicating that there are currently over 250 such courses offered annually on a nationwide basis 123.
Active labour market programmes and market-driven programmes are considered also separately126. Scenario 126 The outcome of a programme targeted at entrepreneurship may be that of securing employment for unemployed persons
or helping individuals to start up a business 136 testing is used then to establish the extent to which the benefits of the SYOB Supports would exceed their costs under different deadweight scenarios.
Active labour market programmes international review In Finland Start-up Grants (SUG) are provided by TE centres which aim to get people out of unemployment and into employment.
In conclusion and based on these preliminary investigations, business support tools to stimulate the labour market are generally a success in reducing unemployment.
However, these schemes often come at high costs, with relatively high levels of deadweight. 127 The Centre for Labour market Research.
(UDG) programme UK 57%PA Cambridge Economic Consultants (PACEC)( 1993) Regional Selection Assistance (RSA) Scheme UK 21%Public & Corporate Economic
Consultants (PACEC)( 1998) Business Links UK 38%Hart & Scott (1994) Local Economic Development Unit (LEDU) Assistance Policies to Small Firms in Northern ireland
profits and tax revenues needs also to take account of the potential for labour market displacement. Our assessment has been informed by Forfás'appraisal methodology for projects seeking support from the industrial development agencies which concludes that no more than 20 per cent of the wage,
depending on a range of deadweight scenarios and average firm employment levels. Given the robustness of the mechanisms employed by CEBS in the assessment of applications of financial supports (outlined above),
and of 60 per cent is appropriate. 134 Based on 3. 4 full time employees and 1. 1 part time 135 Forfás, The Economic Appraisal System for Projects Seeking
if cost benefit breakeven were to be achieved (based on 60 per cent deadweight and employment levels of 2 FTES per firm.
These calculations suggest that even allowing for a high level of labour market displacement in the period 2004-2010,
SYOB Participant Cohort SYOB Participant Cohort%Propensity to Start-up%In employment 38.2 54 Unemployed persons 35.8 47.5 Self-employed/proprietors 21.2 20.0 Outside the workforce
Employees are most likely to start a business at 54.0 per cent, followed by unemployed persons at 47.5 per cent and those outside the workforce at 37.5 per cent.
The lowest propensity at 20.0 per cent relates to self-employed/proprietors, which includes entrepreneurs in start-up phase and
Propensity of SYOB Course Participants to Start a Business by Prior Employment Status(%)Prior Employment Status Selfemployed/proprietor Employee Unemployed Outside the workforce All Propensity
In particular, because of reduced employment levels, labour productivity has shown a significant increase across a range of efficiency indicators.
FÁS'objectives in providing these courses relate to the labour market. If the course succeeds in bringing a person from a position of being unemployed
and out of the labour market to a situation where they are a proprietor of a business,
Employees are most likely to start a business at 54.0 per cent followed by unemployed persons at 47.5 per cent and those outside the workforce at 37.5 per cent.
Some 46 per cent of supported firms are either providing personal and local services or are related in construction activities.
Turning to impacts on wages, profits and tax revenues, these additional impacts are likely to be relatively small in the period up to 2008, because of the low levels of unemployment and consequent high levels of labour market displacement.
This translates into potential employment levels of between 10,700 and 21,500 depending on the scale of employment in assisted firms
Comparing the annual benefits to the fully loaded costs indicates that even allowing for a high level of labour market displacement in the period 2004-2010,
or unemployed persons where the potential for deadweight and displacement is less. Any loose application of these exceptions could give rise to displacement potential.
as well as mentoring from industry experts, through a multistage workshop process. The two programmes which are most directly comparable with Propel are the Gateway2investment programme
and draws on the expertise of local universities and industry experts. The High Growth Start-up Programme targets start-ups in high technology sectors and provides coaching
Impact Forfás March 2014 Regional Labour markets Bulletin 2013 EGFSN March 2014 Action Plan for Jobs 2014 Forfás, DJEI February 2014 Consumer
The last Community Innovation Survey in Belgium shows that large firms(>250 employees) are collaborating on average with more external partners than small firms.
when the number of collaborative deals is divided by the number of employees thus measuring the open innovation intensity.
Some of them we found through publications, others by contacting a large European network of open innovation experts.
or size class (taking into account that small companies should have less than 500 employees). The companies are active in a wide range of industries.
and have 500 employees; other companies are just a few years old and have less than five employees.
The reader should thus not be surprised by the heterogeneity 13 of the cases. The diversity of the themes we will discuss illustrates how open innovation can take different shapes within each specific firm or industry.
cross-industry learning process led by sleep experts. The QOD case illustrates that developing a successful business model that ultimately changes the industry starts with nothing more than the conviction of a well-informed entrepreneur.
Curana is a micro-company (less than 20 employees) that is active in the bicycle accessory market.
and material experts. The third step is promotion. In this step Curana organized information sessions to promote its new ideas among potential customers.
and material experts. Using the so-called Original Strategic Management (OSM) model, Curana and its innovation partners started from a vision based on new opportunities derived from global trends,
After consulting with an examination board of sleep experts, QOD decided to produce a functional quilt that would reduce the temperature variation under the quilt to provide a healthy sleep.
Innovation in SMES is hampered by lack of financial resources, scant opportunities to recruit specialized workers
It combined valuable insights from sleep experts with the PCM technology which has required the characteristics to improve sleep.
and tested with the help of medical experts. QOD's first functional quilt branded as Temprakon was the result of linking PCM technology with insights about sleep comfort from the medical world.
Jaga also explored initiatives to spur the creativity of employees and external partners by setting up Jaga Product Days in 2007 (see p 47).
Adriaan Debruyne (now director of Saflot Creative Consultants) added: Our antennas are open to society and technologies,
Some of Curana's employees, for instance, did not understand why management was preoccupied with managing the network of partners
Intellectual property rights are owned usually contractually by the innovating firm in the case inventors are companies doing contract research, external designers, or employees.
Innovation in SMES is hampered by lack of financial resources, scant opportunities to recruit specialized workers, poor understanding of advanced technology, and so on.
Universities, research labs, crowds of experts, lead users, and knowledge brokers are just a few examples of potential external sources of knowledge.
Therefore, the Airfryer is packaged with an inspiring recipe booklet, written by a culinary expert, which contains 30 easy-to-prepare recipes,
or consultants develop. In contrast, they are spurred to take action when they are confronted with the testimonials of entrepreneurs who are using open innovation successfully to develop new businesses.
SMES are companies with less than 250 employees (N=792; lager companies(=250 employees; N=175.
The calculation covers the period 2002-2004. Open innovation can be measured in different ways. Developing a search strategy is one of the most important aspects of open innovation.
market sources (suppliers of equipment (i), customers (ii), competitors and other firms with similar activities (iii), commercial labs, private R&d organizations, and consultants (iv;
The external R&d intensity reflects external R&d per employee. Collaborative innovation indicates whether innovating firms engage in collaborative innovation activities with six potential partners:
consultants and private R&d organizations (iv; universities (v; and public research organizations (vi. Collaborative innovation is captured by calculating the average score of the six questionnaire items registering the firm's use of cooperative agreements with innovation partners.
and the collaboration intensity measures the collaboration per employee. Variable Small and medium-sized enterprises (N-SME=792) Large firms (N-large=175) Mean Standard deviation Mean Standard deviation Difference Search intensity
Moreover, small contests can be held among employees, suppliers, and local communities of designers, engineers, and so on. 33 These value networks have been described by different authors.
On the contrary, the report confirms that the vast majority of these innovative firms are micro-enterprises with less than 10 employees;
knowledge workers become more mobile and innovation becomes riskier and more costly, more businesses have turned to open innovation as a way of increasing the speed and effectiveness of their innovation approaches.
Serial innovators may draw on higher education institutions for intellectual property and talent, on the financial resources of venture capitalists and angel investors and on the capacities and facilities of other companies, consultants,
their research suggesting"a sequence in the adoption of open innovation, starting with customer involvement, following with employee involvement,
%GVA Per capita (index=100) 136.2 86.4 100%micro firms<10 employees 90.8%89.0%92.1%%small firms 11-50 employees 7. 7%9
. 2%7. 7%%medium firms 50-250 employees 1. 2%1. 5%0. 2%%persons employed by SMES 69%65%66.9%%of GVA accounted for by SMES
the vast majority are micro-enterprises with less than 10 employees. Source: Intertradeireland Business Monitor (2011.
effective 22 A separate analysis (Figure 15) of firms with more than 50 employees (described as large firms in the report) indicates a more positive view in relation to the importance of intermediary bodies and higher education institutes.
Within this general picture large firms(>50 employees) were more likely than small firms(<50 employees) to be more active across all types of innovation covered by the survey.
While this approach may be suitable for idea generation it does not offer a stepby-step approach to actually engaging employees generating
growth in workers, growth in productivity across-the-board and growth in the share of activity in high-productivity industries.
The first, growth in the number of workers, is a non-sustainable strategy and more importantly does nothing to increase productivity or per capita-income income growth.
America would clearly enjoy a larger GDP if the number of workers increased ten percent, but the average income of workers would not necessarily increase.
THE THREE SOURCES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH 2. PRODUCTIVITY IN ALL INDUSTRIES 3. GROWTH OF HIGH PRODUCTIVITY INDUSTRIES 1. GROWTH IN WORKERS The second the across-the-board growth effect occurs
when a region's productivity increases not by higher productivity industry sectors becoming a larger share of the economy,
or if the factory is able to employ more workers. In general, even though most nations, especially developing nations like Brazil, China and India, have focused their industrial policies on boosting productivity by changing their industrial mix,
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