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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INNO DK (Innovation Denmark II)

Teaser

Summary

The objectives of the Innovation Denmark project were to provide KAM services to 79 Danish businesses under the SME Instrument and to provide EIMC services to 79 SMEs. Clients were to be assessed via the IMP3rove or IHC tools and depending on results, referred on to relevant organisations in the wider innovation eco-system.

Denmark has a high degree of innovation, a strong business and innovation support infrastructure and as a result, has a large number of potential clients for this programme. Overall, the Inno.dk project continued the same pattern from the previous period, with a high number of KAM cases worked out throughout the year, with many Danish companies coming through as a direct result of assistance under the EU-DK Support programme, where the EEN plays a central role. A number of cases had been accepted at the end of the working period from 2015-2016, which were mostly worked on in 2017-2018, and added to this were a large number of new Danish cases. In total, the network worked on 120 different KAM cases during this period, completing 90 of them within the 2017-2018 programme.

EIMC cases are subordinate to KAM cases under the contract and the network staggers the programme, focusing on the KAM in the initial phases, starting EIMC work at a later stage, to make sure there is sufficient resources for them. A total of 44 EIMC cases were completed by the consortium during the period.

Overall, the network has a strong cooperation with the business and innovation support infrastructure, including EU-DK Support, which means that there is a useful exchange of contacts and referrals in both directions, benefitting the SMEs who have increased access to support services.

Work performed

Due to the high number of cases, and the heavy imbalance favouring companies from the Copenhagen region, a number of extra KAMs were brought in during the programme. Having more KAMs, allowed a much better division of work between the H2020 and COSME projects, with more companies benefitting.

Although there is a target for each partner, the network operates a more pragmatic solution, with client allocation being subjective, depending on a combination of geography, sector, previous experience of the company and so on. Companies coming through both phases 1 and 2 are usually given to the same KAM from the earlier phase, although there are several which have changed KAM if the original one left the network. KAMs were permitted a free choice of tools to carry out the needs analysis of the companies, and used a wide range, including Growth Mapper, Growth Wheel, IMP3rove, Innovation Health Check, Innovation Tree, SMe-MPOWER and others.

A total of 120 KAM cases were worked on by the Danish consortium, with 90 completed within the programme period, with the remained being completed in the 2019 period.

For the Innovation Management work, the network started the period licensed to carry out both IMP3rove and IHC benchmarking but it was increasingly obvious that only one tool was being used and the IMP3rove license was allowed to lapse. The IHC is considered to be a more appropriate tool for small start-up companies which form the majority of clients under the EIMC element of the programme. The network held back for the first period, ensuring that there were sufficient resources for KAM cases, but submitted 44 cases during the period.

Final results

There were a number of positives from the project:

There is increasingly good cross-over between COSME and H2020 programmes, for the benefit of SMEs. Using KAM and EIMC staff, who are actively involved in the COSME programme at operational level, means that opportunities are maximised for participating SMEs.

A good example from KAM work is the company HPNow - It was EEN work under the COSME programme that got them involved in innovation funding for their new biocide, which led to successful SME Instrument projects in phases 1 and 2. The EEN helped the coach and company through the process, which led to a 20% stake from German corporate investor Evonik, guaranteeing sufficient capital to the company to scale up and commercialise the technology.

Under EIMC, a good example of this cooperation is the company Phidan Engineering, which is a small Danish engineering company developing smart ideas and equipment in the agricultural sector. The process started with an idea owner Kim Krongaard had for a mechanical system for weeding root crops. During 2017, EEN provided the company with a full Innovation Health Check and subsequent coaching support under the Horizon 2020 contract, including a series of EEN facilitated internal innovation workshops, where key staff members evaluated the companyâ€™s innovation culture, business model, strategy, structure, capacity, resources and innovation processes. The EEN then followed up by providing the company with advisory services on financing, which led to a successful start-up grant of 460.000 kroner (ca. â‚¬ 62.000). A second lead from the EEN led to a commercial contract for a further 390.000 kroner (ca. â‚¬ 52.000), which allowed the company to complete their design. In December 2018, the machine was launched at Agromek, the largest agricultural trade fair in Northern Europe, where it was awarded one of the top 3-star news awards, guaranteeing publicity and the EEN is helping follow up on commercial opportunities.

Another positive change in the 2017-2018 programme, was the concept of running joint workshops for smaller groups of SMEs as part of the recruitment process. Rather than selling the concept of Innovation Management to companies individually, it proved better to run joint first workshops together, allowing companies to encourage each other to participate and overcoming any reservations. This was followed up by internal, more traditional workshops in the companies on an individual basis, but it was a good way to start and increase the ratio of companies going forward with an innovation management course.

A final positive gain from the project was the concept of running financial workshops for the benefit of small, innovative companies. It is well known that small spin-out companies have a good understanding of their technologies, but are often commercially weak, but a common thread is also that there is a poor understanding of business economics and finances. As a result, Agro Business Park organised a series of joint workshops for EIMC clients, allowing them to learn basic business finance structures. The courses were taught by Kurt Ebbe Knudsen, the financial controller for Agro Business Park, and have since been made into a series of online self-help videos. The films in Danish can be seen on https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kek+talk+-+det+Ã¸konomiske+ and include separate short sections on basic understanding of financial control, investment calculation, unit costing, operational budgets, liquidity, financial planning, risk analysis, putting a value on a company and the financial life cycle of a start-up. It is foreseen to make versions with English subtitles available during the course of 2019 in order to share them with a wider audience, since this is now considered a standard and basic part of a small business business process.