Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Innovation Denmark (Innovation Denmark)

Teaser

WP1 - Key Account Manager services: 10 packages were foreseen for the KAM services in the application. However, only 4 Danish SMEI applications were approved within the time period and as a result the target has not been reached. All 4 KAM phase 1 packages were initiated...

Summary

WP1 - Key Account Manager services: 10 packages were foreseen for the KAM services in the application. However, only 4 Danish SMEI applications were approved within the time period and as a result the target has not been reached. All 4 KAM phase 1 packages were initiated within the reporting period and were completed in March 2015. The budget however, only includes activities carried out in 2014. The general reception of the KAM services from the SMEs has been positive and the support mechanism was well received and in general seen as a good add-on to their business model.

WP2 - Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity: The first phase of the project focused on preparing and participating in the academy IMP3rove training, followed by a best practice workshops with Scottish Enterprise. An ABP person Claus Mortensen was trained at the event in Copenhagen. In WP2 AAK was foreseen to carry out 3 IMP3ROVE sessions with SMEs. However, due to the prolonged preparation phase for the SGA, it was not possible to complete the required training of the AAK personnel in time to commence working on WP2.

The recruitment phase was aimed at SMEs in the close network of the organisation ABP - companies that are known well and with whom ABP had worked with before. Out of more than 25 companies contacted, four interested companies were identified to be interested and suitable. Initial work was carried out with all four companies; Two companies were considered to be suitable for immediate IMP3rove assessment with the other two considered to be good candidates for a later assessment. During the course of 2014, two companies took part and completed the assessment. One is now finalised and the full workshop has been run internally, while the other business delayed the final workshop due to an internal restructuring. It is expected to complete the workshop in the 3rd quarter of 2015 and as a result, only a few steps in the plan have been carried out.

Work performed

WP1
10 packages was foreseen for the KAM services in the application. However, only 4 Danish SMEI applications were approved. Thus, the target of 10 has not been reached.
All 4 KAM phase 1 packages was initiated within the reporting period and was completed in March 2015.
Beginning of October 2014 the first information regarding beneficiaries under SMEI phase 1 was disseminated.
All beneficiaries were thoroughly researched in order to determine Financial capabilities and management structure. Furthermore the individual websites were checked and productinformation from each beneficiary was obtained.
Based on this information the 4 successful Danish applicants were contacted via email to congratulate them on their grant and to introduce the possibilities for KAM and coach services.
By mid November 2014 all applicants had replied and GAP analysis premeetings were set up via Skype.
These meetings were carried out in the final months of the reporting period. Towards the end of the reporting period and in cooperation with the KAM, all beneficiaries had created an individual GAP analysis. Through this the coaching needs of the SMEs were determined.
Based on these findings the KAM carried out a search for suitable coaches through the coach database. However, at this time, the database was not representative and due to the limitations of the coach database, the KAM utilised his EEN Network in UK, Germany, Sweden and Norway to locate suitable coaches.
Two of the coaches located has following the contact with the KAM signed up for the coach database another was found by a Norwegian colleague and only 1 of the 4 needed coaches were found thorugh the database.

The general reception of the KAM services from the SMEs has been positive and the support mechanism was well received and in general seen as a good add-on to their business model.
For one of the SMEs the cooperation with the Norwegian coach proved particularly fruitful, due to the fact that the IPR knowledge provided by the coach was a perfect match for the shortcomings of the the SME discovered in the GAP analysis.

Due to the fact that the phase 1 project is running for 6 months and thus until ultimo March 2015 the actual coaching of the SMEs took place following the timeframe of this reporting period (February-March).
All 4 cases have been succesfully completed and coach plan drafts submitted accroding to the described tasks for the KAM.

WP2
In WP2 AAK was foreseen to carry out 3 IMP3ROVE sessions with SMEs. However, due to the prolonged preparation phase for the SGA, it was not possible to complete the required training of the AAK personnel in time to commence working on WP2 - The target has therefor not been reached.

Final results

Based on the services carried out by the KAM it is expected that all 4 Danish SMEs will apply for phase 2 Funding and have worked intensively with the feasibility study in order to obtain the best and most exhaustive result.
The likelyhood of the SMEs to reach their full potential has only been increased by participating in phase 1.
If all 4 beneficiaries reach their full potential, the turnover benefits will exceed 100 million Euros meaning europewide growth due to the international capabilities of the products.