Synopsis: Ict:


INNOVATION AND SMEs STRATEGIES AND POLICIES.pdf

11 The Information technology Strategy...12 The Niche Strategy...13 The Network and Flexible Production Strategies...

Clustering is particularly important to gain access to new ideas and tacit knowledge, especially in young industries.

which information can be transmitted across geographic space via the Internet, fax machines and electronic communication superhighways,

While the telecommunications revolution has brought the cost of transmitting information across geographic space to virtually zero,

For example, the Gellman (1976,1982) data base identified SMES as contributing 2. 45 times more innovations per employee than do large firms.

For example, Audretsch (1995) has demonstrated that SMES contribute more to innovative activity in electronic computing equipment

1) high tech, potentially high growth firms and research oriented consultancies which include engineering services, technology consultants,

and research labs R&d ACTIVITIES Invest significantly in research (75%invest more than 20%of Invest on average about 11%of their turnover in R&d Invest less than 5%of their turnover in R&d 8 Biotechnology, electronics and telecommunication, industrial software applications, new

-The information technology strategy, which makes innovative uses of information technology in order to reduce SME costs and increase productivity.

-The niche strategy, in which SMES choose to become sophisticated global players in a narrow product line.

The most innovative industries, such as computers, instruments and pharmaceuticals also tend to be the most R&d intensive (Audretsch, 1995.

yet contribute considerably to innovation in newly emerging industries like biotechnology and computer software (Audretsch, 1995).

The Information technology Strategy 37. A second strategy SMES can use to improve their competitiveness in global markets involves the application

which include the Internet and the microprocessor, help mitigate economies of scale and the gains traditionally associated with large-scale production.

New web-based information technologies are enabling SMES to attain global marketing capabilities at very low costs.

and internet-based access to products like financial and accounting management software systems that enhance organisational and management capabilities,

while at the same time reduce the high costs associated with managing SMES. Such products enable SMES to create virtual warehouses,

But to properly take advantage of such internet-based financial and accounting systems SMES typically need to modify

An important strategy deployed by SMES to create competitiveness in global markets is to use the digital technology to develop core competencies

On the high-tech front, they make parallel-processing computers for Japan and satellite receivers for Germany.""12 41.

Diversification is considered generally to be anathema to focusing upon the core product. But because of their specialisation and small size, Mittelstand companies are often at a disadvantage in terms of economies of scale.

individuals move easily from semiconductor to disk drive firms or from computer to network makers. They move from established firms to start-ups (or vice versa) and even to market research or consulting firms,

In a clustering strategy, firms take advantage of linkages with other enterprises afforded by geographic proximity

It may seem paradoxical to claim that geography matters for innovative activity in a world of E-mail, fax machines, and cyberspace

While the marginal cost of transmitting information across geographic space has been reduced drastically with the telecommunications revolution, the marginal cost of transmitting knowledge,

Data constraints can be overcome to study the extent of knowledge spillovers and their link to the geography of innovative activity using proxies like patenting activity, patent citations,

Clusters of firms have experienced high levels of investment into process technologies, particularly in manufacturing automation, NC, CAD-CAM,

Several studies have shown that public funding in the form of R&d grants plays a decisive role as seed financing for high tech and potentially high growth SMES.

These organisations are typically technical consultants and count R&d as a non-core activity. Looking at firm growth rates during the three-year period preceding the study,

Public R&d grants were the only viable source of seed capital in Europe during most of the eighties and early nineties, a period during which high tech,

Close to 80%of all new technology startups are in information technologies--software, Internet, and telecommunication software.

Because these firms are focused more on providing a service and face much shorter development times,

Therefore comparability of the data in this table is guaranteed not fully. 21 Year founded. 22 Not included:

Examples include a producer of environment-friendly products who used ecommerce as a new way to promote his products;

business advice Information technology Grant advice Direct access Access via business review%Source: Ernst & young Evaluation Report (1996),

the core competencies scan (which lasts 3 hours and is used to define SME core competencies);

the network scan (which lasts 3 hours and identifies the network needs); and the innovation scan (to measure the innovative capability of the SME.

Since SMES have difficulty finding the most appropriate public programme given the complex web of public initiatives,

and Han Zhang, 1999, Small Business in the Digital economy: Digital Company of the Future, paper presented at the conference, Understanding the Digital economy:

Data, Tools, and Research, Washington, D c.,25-26,may 1999. Berman, Eli, John Bound and Stephen Machin, 1997,‘Implications of Skill-Biased Technological Change:

International Evidence, working paper 6166, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Cambridge, MA. Bessant, J.,1999, The Rise and Fall of Supernet:

OECD. OECD, 1999, Cluster analysis and Cluster-based Policy in OECD countries, Paris: OECD. Porter, M. 1990), The Comparative Advantage of Nations, New york:

Prevenzer, Martha, 1997,‘The Dynamics of Industrial Clustering in Biotechnology,'Small Business Economics, 9 (3), 255-271.


INNOVATION AND SMEs SWEDEN.pdf

innovation, innovation, entrepreneurship, business models 5 List of abbreviations used in the thesis ANT Actor-Networks Theory ASPEM Arena of SMES Performance Models HTSF High tech

Small Firm IBAM Innovation Balance Matrix ICTS Information and Communication Technologies IT Information technology KEV Knowledge Embedded Value KEVAM Knowledge Embedded Value Margin

analysis uj L Ultimate average life span aj L Accumulated average life span s n Number of segments in the SIC os n Segment

number n Number of points of data making the SIC no Data point number p n Number of periods of SIV analysis O Periodicity coefficient Periodicity compression coefficient

In Allam Ahmed (ed.),World Sustainable Development Outlook 2009: The Impact of the Global Financial crisis on the Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development, Part VII, Chapter 30,287 294.

and deal with a single perspective of firm performance, such as bankruptcy or failure, using a few core input parameters (Altman 1968, Altman et al. 1977, Cadden 1991, Jain and Nag 1997).

since this economy is influenced by the Information technology (IT) revolution. When assessing the current system, the numerical, clear-cut,

came into existence almost at the same time as the IT revolution began to gain momentum through the launching of the Internet,

the rapid decrease in computer prices, and the increased availability of the personal computer. I noticed clearly the impact of these new IT tools on the managerial and operational aspects of the activities of my trading entity.

The main problem I had to tackle was the high costs coupled to the communicative and managerial parts of company activities.

and realized that I could multiply my firm's capacity many folds by using the fax, the modem,

and, later on, the Internet. This in turn inspired my keen interest in the issue of smaller firm performance and the impact of IT on that performance.

computers, computer networks, Intranet structures, Internet technologies, and similar tools. By outward-focused technology intake, I refer to expenditures on developing new products, new methods of production, new markets, new raw material,

and ability to generalize from the produced data, have different requirements and limitations than in other disciplines.

That necessitated a discussion of the axiological and epistemological aspects of the research performed in this thesis. The initial work to build the desired model (Abouzeedan 2001) applied a textual/statistical analysis method to existing basic information from a Swedish database (Affärsdata

and it encourages diversity of approach to core issues. In order to develop the intended model, I needed to build on knowledge accumulated through the years.

I preferred to utilize existing data without pre-structuring. Although I relied on existing accounting data for the financial parameters,

there were no predetermined requirements on how the data would be displayed. Finally, although the major outcome was an empirical model,

verbal descriptions and explanations (i e. narrative-textual analyses) were used in a number of papers that addressed the issue of performance in relation to the external environment of the firm,

and noisy data sets (Jain and Nag 1997). Furthermore, decisions based on financial failure prediction, which is driven statistically, may actually trigger a bankruptcy.

One of the problems with using the financial ratio approach to predict company performance is the huge number of such ratios that can be deducted from the available financial data for larger firms (Chen and Shimerda 1981.

Organizations can benefit from utilizing information technologies (IT) in their daily operations (Fink and Kazakroff 1997.

This section screens the existing literature on SME performance and tried to categorize the literature in a systematic way.

Lakhani and von Hippel (2003) listed different types of incentives that drive the firm to use open source management.

People constitute any organization's core resource for competitiveness (Rastogi 2000. On the other hand, if an increase in labor-productivity is related only to an increase in working hours and not to a net production output,

who based his works on analyzed data collected by Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939). Social psychologists such as Likert (1961) and Katz et al.

have a core overriding objective that is, to survive (Gouldner 1954,1959). According to this school, the internal conflicts appear

An organization's adaptability to its environment is the core concept in this theory (ibid. The combination of rationality and openness in organizational systems is made clear in James D. Thompson's (1967) work.

The core concept in this approach is to look at the organization as a production system trying to maximize its output (Scott, 2003.

Selecting the core parameters of the intended model: The literature-driven phase SELECTION OF NONFINANCIAL VARIABLES Qualitative variables provide a useful addition to financial ratios.

Selecting core parameters of the intended model: The theory-driven approach Existing performance models treat firms as closed systems in isolation from their external environments.

The way I approached the usage of the two core parameters was to relate them to the external environment of the firm through two concepts:

The clustering I chose for the parameters in the intended model is based on the understanding that the parameters in each subset are interconnected closely.

where data are analyzed and interpreted (Brannen 2005). Traditionally quantitative methods are concentrated more on input issues.

The dominant method in my qualitative research approach was to compile data into review articles and conceptual papers.

That is why I saw, in the case study, a methodical approach to retrieve empirical data and to satisfy both forms of logic.

In quantitative research, observation is not generally 55 considered a very important method of data collection for two reasons.

Two of the papers (3 and 7) of this thesis used case study methods with textual analyses and analyses of accounting data.

Qualitative methods such as case studies allow for multiple data-collection methods under the same study, unlike quantitative research studies (Chetty 1996.

One of the best methods of collecting data is indepth interviews (Welch and Comer 1988.

Data can be analyzed using different techniques (Chetty 1996. The writer recommended using a single case study method in SME research.

The argumentation and reasoning carried in the paper is general in its nature (d). 2 Coverage Intensity

the data was taken directly from the accounting reports of the firm and the analysis was performed while

The technology intake data can be taken directly from the financial records or deducted from this information.

The IBM analysis was performed on Arab countries where the level of differentiation between the intensity of innovation capital components is exaggerated.

the data was delivered from the firm management for the period of the analysis; and I have good access to the situation of the firm.

their coverage intensity (the vertical axis), and their information intensity requirements (the horizontal axis). Both of these parameters are valid measures for the nature of the output generated from the different SME performance models.

In paper 3, the validity of the data used in the analysis of the firm stems from two facts:

60 and the data was taken directly from the accounting reports of the firm for the period of the analysis. Also,

In paper 7, the data used in the analysis of the firm is valid for three reasons:

the data was delivered from the firm's management for the period of the analysis; and the owner of the firm is a close friend of mine

and have defined its limits within a specific context determined by the data input. In the case of the SIV model

Such evaluation should utilize the existing data and complete it with more new data reflecting the additional years of analysis incorporated.

It is important to highlight that reliability should be understood in relation to the research method used in this case

The technology intake data can be taken directly from the financial records or deducted from the accountancy information

The technology intake data can be taken directly from the firm's financial records. In this particular case

and provided all the necessary input data. This secured the reliability of the analysis in paper 7. There are problems related to granting reliability of measurement in the papers of the thesis. Basically,

which included Z-Scores, ZETA Scores, and Neural networks (NN). The strengths and weaknesses of each model were exposed

Contribution of paper 1 to the purpose of the thesis The paper displays a topological analysis of SME performance models.

and Neural networks are examples of models that relate to internal factors. Utilizing SMES indiscriminately will negatively affect the outcome of the majority of SME studies.

The vertical axis indicates the coverage intensity of the model, varying from an individual firm up to a whole group of firms.

The vertical axis indicates the coverage intensity of the model. The first parameter considers the information requirements of the models,

such as the ZETA and Neural networks models, require a high level of information intensity. That implies the need for detailed data,

which is something that SMES generally lack. The desired model requires a reasonably moderate data input to counter the issue of SMES'accounting

and reporting techniques, which provide less intensive information input than those of large firms. The SIV model has a moderate information level.

As the coverage intensity (the vertical axis) becomes lower the analysis becomes more focused on the internal environment of the firm.

Examples for such models are the ZETA model, the Neural networks model, and the SIV model.

When coverage intensity is high, the models have more focus on the external environment. Examples of those models include the stochastic models and Hazard modeling.

The learning model has a relatively intermediate level of coverage intensity indicating a dual focus. 71 Paper 3:

which require a larger number of business ratios, the SIV analysis uses basic accountancy data, without advanced statistical methods of variable elimination.

Managing Innovation in e-Globalized Economy Defining the Open Capital This paper was published in Allam Ahmed (ed.),World Sustainable Development Outlook 2009, The Impact of the Global Financial crisis on the Environment, Energy

The other group includes Z-Scores, ZETA Scores, Neural networks, and the SIV model. These are more suitable to the investigation of firm performance in relation to the internal environment of an enterprise.

The vertical axis indicates the coverage intensity of the model. The first variable represents the information requirements of the models

such as the ZETA and Neural networks models, require a high information intensity level. Such a requirement can be a problem

and does not use sophisticated statistical methods to eliminate input data. Rather, it uses limited accountancy information in an efficient way.

the SIV analysis can use basic accountancy data and does need not advanced statistical methods. The fishery firm had no innovation or development activities,

The desired model should have a reasonably moderate data input to counter the issue of SMES accounting

In that sense, graphical statistics play an important role in the interpretation of the data output of the model.

The first dimension is the SME model coverage level known as coverage intensity. The dimension of intensity ranges from a group of firms to a single SME.

The coverage intensity is presented by the vertical axis. The second dimension is the information intensity requirements of the model, known as the information intensity requirement.

It indicates the level of information input required by the performance evaluation model. The information intensity requirement is presented by the horizontal axis in the diagram.

In Irene Johansson (ed.),the Uddevalla Symposium 2002 Anthology (Research Reports 03:1), Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Regional Development and Public Policy in the Emerging Digital economy, University of Trollhättan

Open source biopharmaceutical innovation a mode of entry for firms in emerging markets. Journal of Business Chemistry 6 (1), 11 30.

Regression for longitudinal even data. Beverly hills, California: Sage Publications. Altman, E. I. 1968. Financial ratios, discriminant analysis and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy.

Comparisons using linear discriminant analysis and neural networks (the Italian experience. Journal of Banking and Finance 18 (3), 505 529.

Neural networks versus logistic regression in predicting bank failure. In R. P. Srivastava (ed.)Auditing Symposium. Vol:

Data mining with neural networks: Solving business problems from application development to decision support. Mcgraw-hill, Inc. Hightstown, New jersey, USA.

Neural networks and the mathematics of chaos an investigation of these methodologies as accurate predictors of corporate bankruptcy.

The First International Conference on Artificial intelligence Applications on Wall street (Proceedings. IEEE, 52 57. Cainelli, G.,Evangelista, R. and Savona, M. 2004.

Generalization with neural networks. Decision Support systems 11 (5), 527 545. Edvinsson, L. and Malone, M. S. 1997.

) Global entrepreneurship monitor: National entrepreneurship assessment United states of america. Kansas city, Missouri: Kauffman Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership, 4. 112 Gentry, J. A.,Newbold, P. and Whitford, D. T. 1985.

Forecasting small air carrier bankruptcies using a neural network approach. Journal of Financial Management and Analysis 13 (19), 44 49.

Accounting data and the prediction of business failure, the setting of priors and age of data.

Performance evaluation of neural network decision models. Journal of Management Information systems 14 (2), 201 216. Jaques, E. 1951.

The changing culture of a factory. London, UK: Tavistock. Jorgenson, D. W. and Griliches, Z. 1967.

Using artificial neural networks to pick stocks. Financial Analysts Journal 49 (4), 21 27. Kumar, M. S. 1985.

How open source software works: Free user-touser assistance. Research Policy 32 (6), 923 943. Laven, F. 2008.

An empirical investigation of some data effects on the classification accuracy of probit, ID3 and neural networks.

An artificial neural network approach to predicting the outcome of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Journal of Business and Economic Studies 4 (1), 57 73.

and a realistically proportioned data set. Journal of Forecasting 19 (3), 219 230. Mcpherson, M. A. 1995.

OUTLOOK, Doi: 10.1038/nrd2131, Advanced Online Publication published 18th august, pp. 1 7. Neale, W c. 1984.

and the structure of returns in the Internet economy. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 14 (1), 141 164.

Presented in The Uddevalla Symposium 2002, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Regional Development and Public Policy in the Emerging Digital economy.

Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. London, UK: SGAE Publications Ltd.

Trading equity index futures with a neural network: A machine learning-enhanced trading strategy. The Journal of Portfolio Management 19 (1), 27 33.

Trist, E. I. 1981. The evolution of sociotechnical systems as a conceptual framework and as an action research program.

Information technology management: Making connections for strategic advantages. 2nd Edition. John Willey & Sons Inc.,Hoboken, New jersey, USA.

Testing Gibrat's law with establishment data for Lower saxony, 1978 1989. Small Business Economics 4 (2), 125 131.


INNOVATION AND SOCIETY - BROADENING THE ANALYSIS OF THE TERRITORIAL EFFECTS OF INNOVATION.pdf

Télé-université 4750 Henri Julien, Montréal, Québec, Canada fax: 1-514-843-2160 phone: 1-514-843-2015 email:

dgtrembl@teluq. uquebec. ca Biographical note Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay is the Canada Research Chair the Socio-Organizational Challenges of the Knowledge Economy.

She is professor and director of research at the Télé-université of the Université du Québec. She is a member of the Committee on Sociology of Work of the International Sociological Association, the Executive council of the Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics,

Also Co-chair of the Bell canada Research Chair on Technology and work organization professeur associé with Ecole nationale d'administration publique and UQAM, she has published many articles and books on employment and types of employment, job training, innovation in the workplace and work organization,

See websites for details: www. teluq. uquebec. ca/chaireecosavoir www. teluq. uquebec. ca/chairebell www. teluq. uquebec. ca/interventionseconomiques www. teluq. uquebec. ca/chaireecosavoir

He may use retrospective data, but these bring little certainty since nobody is using them the way he suggests.

For Schumpeter, at first small or medium-sized firms were the initial sites of innovation, whereas the concentration of capital over the years has given rise to the domination of large firms and their research and development departments.

the social entrepreneur sets out to tame social networks of influence. In this respect, what is extremely important for us is not so much the particular type of strategy used by an actor but the significance of this strategy,


Innovation capacity of SMEs.pdf

The authors are entirely responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented. 1 Foreword:

We have analysed carefully the seven core projects which have identified 93 Good Practices (GP) and worked on their transferability.

Project fact-sheets drafted with data based on interviews and desk research (one per project analysed) Telephone interviews with project lead partners

These are presented in figure 3. 7 OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2012, Highlights 8 Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011, Research and Innovation Union Scoreboard, EU

in particular, through analytical studies and EU-wide data and statistics. The overall objective of the programme is to foster a business-friendly environment for SMES with a view to ensuring

It offers a website (including calls for tenders), a forum and a resource centre. The initiative is supported by the European commission.

Weaknesses in networking Lack of internal research capabilities Shortage of financial resources Shortage of innovation management skills Insufficient marketing of innovation ERIK ACTION Upgrade the innovation capacity

way (Figure 5). This figure particularly shows that the INTERREG IVC projects that have tackled objectives related to the theme of‘Innovation Capacity of SMES'offer a good and uniform coverage of the barriers identified.

and Wireless Broadband good practices E-government Young SMES http://www. youngsmes. e u/about/Sharing Interregional knowledge to define Supporting Programmes for Young SMES Development strategies

and transfer of E-government and Wireless Broadband good practices. It identified GPS specifically addressing the inclusion of online services and management In public Administrations,

For the‘Wireless Broadband'part of the project, it dealt with GPS to be implemented by local governments

Breakdown of sub-projects, GPS and other measures in terms of barriers addressed The bar chart shows that the seven projects under analysis offer a complete coverage of the most relevant barriers to the Innovation Capacity of SMES.

When this coverage is compared with the initial coverage in terms of the original objectives of the projects (Figure 5,

But for a project such as INNOMOT, this wider coverage in terms of barriers addressed by the Good Practices identified

http://interreg-minieurope. com/29 GP described on the DISTRICT+website: http://districtplus. it/30 GPS described in the ERIK ACTION Good Practices Report:

The different approaches followed by the projects in this regard have highlighted that many skills may be needed 34 GPS described on the DISTRICT+website:

http://interreg-minieurope. com/41 GPS described on the DISTRICT+website: http://districtplus. it/42 GPS described in the ERIK ACTION Good Practices Report:

It creates a business to business environment in a regional context. It is a flexible but simple concept.

The students are selected annually via a database of at least 350 students from all over the world (mostly Swedes).

Each local design project costs €75 000 for the cost of the office, material, phones, cars, documentation, including salaries for Project manager, Supervisor,

or core competencies and resources in order to better respond to business opportunities, and whose cooperation is supported by computer networks.

It is a manifestation of Collaborative Networks and of Virtual Organisation (VO: a productive organisational entity that uses telecommunication tools to enable,

maintain and sustain members'relationships in distributed work environments). The VE/VO was tested particularly in the field of technological innovation and technology transfer,

Information is provided to companies through a website containing business opportunities, reports on the business environment and selected sectors such as water, energy, construction in 22 countries.

Eligible costs include stand space, the catalogue entry, printing and translation costs for information and marketing material and travel costs.

to establish a web presence and to enhance their digital skills. 37 3. 2. 4 Lack of internal research

in establishing a web presence and in enhancing their digital skills. The target was well-defined,

while several programmes and measures exist in many forms across Europe to assist SMES with the transition towards a digital economy,

and CSR practices through a website. 38 Technology transfer promotion Three projects identified GPS related to the promotion of technology transfer

http://www. eriknetwork. net/erikaction/index. html 46gps described in the project's final publication and on the DISTRICT+website:

but also includes marketing, website and e-commerce development and product design. The Creation of R&d departments GP from PERIA helps SMES to recruit new staff in R&d.

http://www. unicreds. eu 51 GP described on the project's website: http://www. cross-innovation. eu/GPS addressing access to finances via grants for collaborative R&d activities (section 3. 2. 1) also address the lack of internal research

public and business sectors) 54 Sub-project described in the project's final publication and on the DISTRICT+website:

sector in developing websites for international sales(§3. 2. 3). High Public Procurement INNOMOT IVEX Support for participation in international procurement processes from multilateral organisations

and cooperation Cluster management MINI-EUROPE Cluster Support Environment Model Clustering physical infrastructure requirements to facilitate growth

and internationalisation(§3. 2. 5). Medium Cluster policies SMART+SMESGONET Clustering management activities supporting the internationalisation

The INTERREG IVC website has a GP database, which is useful for an initial benchmark,

Partners in the analysed projects would like to see a more sophisticated capitalisation tool with a regularly updated database

the two regions need to go on site. During the capitalisation 56 http://s3platform. jrc. ec. europa. eu/home Regional Policymakers can build on this favourable framework of the INTERREG IVC programme,

http://www. know-man. eu/61 GP described on the Cross Innovation website: http://www. cross-innovation. eu/62 http://urbact. eu/49 Whereas the INTERREG programme supports Regions to work together

a user searching for GPS would not have to look into the INTERREG database and the URBACT database,

he would search one global database). ESPON65: The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion aims to support policymakers by providing territorial evidence as well as support.

and represent the demand for data to support policy development. Therefore, these projects are not about GPS,

but about data and case studies. Specific knowledge available from ESPON can help managing authorities including regional authorities to improve their policies.

INTERREG IVC project partners could include these data when defining their work programme, identifying GPS and analysing their conditions of transferability.

These three networking programme have a wealth of data relevant to regional policy improvement, especially for URBACT II and ESPON;

A capitalisation tool allowing easy access to these data would be beneficial to the future INTERREG EUROPE project partners.

a capitalisation tool including an up-to-date database and personnel to provide professional advice could include data from these networks.

Another way to improve synergies would be for the programme to require a benchmark analysis of the GPS that exist

a region wishing to import an innovation voucher scheme from one of the project partners would benefit from analysing all the different innovation voucher schemes in the database. 3. 4. 3 Synergies with other European Funds

The seven INTERREG IVC projects analysed offered a complete coverage of these barriers both in terms of initial objectives and activities actually carried out by the projects.

which partners have assisted directly these businesses to develop a web-presence in order to capture international clients.

such as peer-to-peer lending services or crowdsourcing (fund-raising for specific projects from individuals, normally using web platforms to reach scale).

or trans-regional cooperation (INTERREG IVA or B) or national structural funds. 4. 3. 5 Networking A‘missing link'is the use of social media

This trend towards‘virtual'support through web-based platforms seems promising for support programmes, and should help them to reach a larger number of SMES. 67 H2020 SMES innovation call:‘

01/01/2010-31/12/2013 Website: www. districtplus. eu BUDGET Total budget: €4 600 000 ERDF contribution:

and cooperation with external parties 72 GPS described on the DISTRICT+website: http://districtplus. it/KNOW-ECO sub-project (workshops) Pioneers (coaching) Inno assistants (coaching) Product Competence Center (coaching) Net of Competence (Tech Transfer) NICER sub-project (internationalisation

) Mercia Fund Mgmt (public-private VC) Fondo Toscana (public VC) Expert Panel (public grants) Lw Sil Trust fund (public VC) R&d

The Tuscany Region has selected this good practice to potentially contribute to its 2014-2020 regional programming

including those based on massive volumes of data or processing, to SMES with limited resources. 73 DISTRICT+focus on‘transfer of good practices and policies improved'65 Main conclusions and recommendations:

and web/cloud platforms for improved provision of services that could be followed by other projects. 66 Upgrading the innovation capacity of existing firms:

01/07/2008-30/06/2010 Website: www. eriknetwork. net/erikaction BUDGET Total budget: €1 893 783 ERDF contribution:

by moving towards concrete transfer of identified good practices (already available in the ERIK database) into mainstream Structural Funds programmes in regions wishing to improve policies.

The ERIK Action project was the 3rd consecutive project from the same core partnership, following ERIK and ERIK+(complemented by ERIK Network under Innovating Regions in Europe programme).

or ended previous cooperative initiatives promoted by the same core partnership under INTERREG IVC. In other words, it refined the selection of GPS from previous projects.

or core competencies and resources in order to better respond to business opportunities, and whose cooperation is supported by computer networks.

It is a manifestation of Collaborative Networks and of Virtual Organisation (a productive organisational entity that uses telecommunication tools to enable,

maintain and sustain member relationships in distributed work environments). The VE/VO was experimented particularly in the field of technological innovation

01/01/2010-31/12/2012 Website: www. innohubs. eu BUDGET Total budget: €1 469 086 ERDF contribution:

and market research/business intelligence services are available. Company growth is associated always with product or process innovation.

01/01/2012-31/12/2014 Website: www. innomot. net BUDGET Total budget: €2 274 728 ERDF contribution:

Information is provided to companies through a website containing business opportunities, reports on the business environment and selected sectors such as water, energy, construction in 22 countries.

Hence, complementary to the ongoing review of existent good practices, it is recommended to also put focus on the design of new policies (through‘think tanks',‘crowdsourcing methods'or similar.

01/09/2008-30/11/2011 Website: www. interreg-minieurope. com BUDGET Total budget: €1 991 640 ERDF contribution:

The students are selected annually via a database of at least 350 students from all over the world (mostly Swedes).

Each local design project costs 75 000 euros for the cost of the office, material, phones, cars, documentation, including salaries for Project manager, Supervisor,

01/01/2010-31/12/2012 Website: www. peria. eu BUDGET Total budget: €1 669 643 ERDF contribution:

Eligible costs include stand space, the catalogue entry, printing and translation costs for information and marketing material and travel costs.

01/01/2010-31/12/2013 Website: www. smartplusinnovations. eu BUDGET Total budget: €4 004 000 ERDF contribution:

SMES Go Global networks (SMESGONET: SMEGONET targeted SMES and HE & Research staff in the life sciences and related sectors,

and R&d institutions to effectively collaborate within local and international networks, through a web-based training programme and a service website.

to establish a web presence and to enhance their digital skills. The target was defined well

while several programmes and measures exist in many forms across Europe to assist SMES with the transition towards a digital economy,

Expert panel report. 2009. Link. Innovation to strengthen growth and address global and social challenges.

OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2012. Link. PERIA Good Practice Report. Link Public Procurement for Innovation (PPI) as Mission-oriented Innovation Policy, Charles Edquist.

Websites URBACT Programme. ESPON Programme. INTERACT Programme. S3 Platform. INTERREG Programme. COSME Programme. Innovation Union.

+33 (0) 3 28 14 41 09 info@interreg4c. eu www. interreg4c. eu Download all reports at:


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