WP5: Follow up Plan for the Transnational space for realization of innovative ideas activities

Transcription

1 WP5: Follow up Plan for the Transnational space for realization of innovative ideas activities Author: Valentina Grillea, MFG Baden-Württemberg Contribution: FORT Partners This project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by the ERDF 1

2 Index 1. Introduction Description of the actions and Analysis Guidelines (and tools) to set up the FORT actions in other regions The gold rules

3 1. Introduction This document is one of the outputs of FORT Fostering Continuous Research and Technology Application, a research project within the Central Europe Programme The project partners are TechnoCenter at University of Maribor, (Slovenia - lead partner), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Štajerska (Slovenia), MFG Baden-Württemberg - Public Innovation Agency for ICT and Media (Germany), The Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (Slovakia), Amitié (Italy), Centuria (Italy), Ferrara Research Consortium University of Ferrara (Italy), University of Debrecen (Hungary), South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency (Hungary). The purpose of FORT is to contribute to the following general goals: to strengthen the transnational and regional innovation system; to support a higher level of innovation activity in SMEs; to improve the connections between relevant organizations and institutions in order to foster innovation; to promote initiatives and conditions for the development of a higher number of joint R&D projects; to spread a stronger innovation culture; to increase the level and depth of technology transfer managers and cluster managers competencies. A variety of activities have been performed by the project partnership in order to achieve such goals. Each activity is associated with one or more tangible outcomes and deliverables. One of the work packages in FORT (WP5), Transnational space for realization of innovative ideas, was focused on establishing concrete methods and tools to foster transnational cooperation amongst Central Europe actors; supporting them in a concrete testing and developing phase. Final action within this work package is the development of a Follow up plan to stimulate the adaptation of FORT activities in other regions. The Follow up plan is structured in three sections: 1) Description of the methods and tools adopted (Open House Event, Cross Innovation Voucher and Transnational Innovation Platform) and Analysis of the activities (based on partners comments and participants feedback) 2) Guidelines (and tools) to set up these actions in other regions 3) Gold rules to follow to organize and promote the actions in a successful way. The follow up plan is available for other stakeholders willing to establish the transnational space for realization of innovative ideas in their own region. MFG Baden-Württemberg and the partners involved in FORT will support the cooperation amongst interested actors exchanging the experience gained and sharing the sustainable tools such as, for example, the transnational innovation platform, which will be kept available in the close future. 3

4 2. Description of the actions and Analysis The main activities within this work packages are: A. Organization of the Innovation Open House Event (2 times per region involved, 12 in total) B. Selection of the winner of the Cross-Innovation Voucher and management of the cooperation (12 Vouchers in total) C. Establishment of the Transnational Innovation Platform (available at A. Innovation Open House Event Each region involved in FORT has organized two events where the best business ideas have been preselected and then presented to a wider audience (of potential business partners, investors, journalists). For each event a different topic has been defined. During the Innovation Open House Event an international jury of experts chose the winners of the Cross Innovation Voucher. The regions involved in FORT are really heterogeneous, as emerged also in implementing other activities (e.g. within WP3), for this reason each project partner decided to adapt the proposed methodology to the regional ecosystem. Nevertheless, 12 events have been organized and more than 50 SMEs and researchers have been invited to present their ideas in front of more than 500 people during the Innovation Open House Events. References to all Innovation Open House events are available here: Analysis: The Innovation Open House events were the main effective stimulation of inducing new technologies, innovations and inventions to be presented to a wider (most of the time international) and different audience. This matching event addressed both representatives of scientific institutions as well as representatives of innovative small enterprises working in technology areas. The main attractiveness of the Innovation Open House Event was, from the participants point of view, the opportunity to meet in one event the right people (business partners, investors and experts) on a specific sector. Moreover the press coverage was an additional attractive aspect for the participants of the events which gained media appearance at regional and international level. In addition, the internationality of the event and of the approach adopted was an innovative and valuable new input; opening the regional boarder to experts and business players from other region brought concrete new opportunity to the local players. Nevertheless the different languages (and the use of English) could have been a barrier in some specific areas, while the idea to have an international jury (not directly involved in the consortium) gave credibility to the events, especially in the winner s selection process. Finally the FORT partners experienced the positive impact in using broad marketing action to promote the event and the importance in selecting a topic for the event which has not to be too much sectorial and specific. 4

5 Analysis on the Sustainability of the action Based on the successful implementation many partners plan to keep organizing future Innovation Open house events in order to benefit on the long term from FORT goals and to attract as many as possible important players from innovation sector and to effectively induce collaboration between innovators/researchers and industry. On the long term, to reduce the organizational costs, a solution could be to have a unique Innovation Open House Event at European level where all business ideas will be aggregated and presented to an international audience, in this case the organization and staff costs will be centralized and reduced. Generally thinking, the financial support is the big barrier for this kind of activities. A solution could be the allocation of European, national or regional funding for few more years in order to consolidate the brand in each of the participating countries. After the consolidation of the methodology and the collection of success stories, the organizers could offer this tool to regional authorities to ensure healthy growth of regional innovation system. Another option could be the support of private stakeholders. In this case, to make this event sustainable, the partners involved will need to find private sponsor to enlarge the impact of the pilots tested in the frame of FORT. B. Cross-Innovation Voucher The winners of the Innovation Open House events have been awarded the Cross Innovation Voucher. Innovation Vouchers are designed to encourage businesses to look outside their current network for new knowledge and cooperation that can help them to grow and develop. Twelve cooperation s have been built across Europe and have been invested by Central Europe Programme to stimulate transnational exchange and cross-border support. References to all Cross Innovation Vouchers are available here: Analysis The Cross Innovation Vouchers have proven to be a very effective tool, especially due to its transnational nature, as the winners of voucher gain a chance to explore and use possibilities offered by other CE countries. Moreover, the money prize (in value of ) was really welcomed amongst the participants. It was a good incentive, but not the only reason to attend the Innovation Open House Event. It supported especially the young entrepreneurs to gain experience working with international players. Unfortunately, due to the specificity of the topic and request of service, sometimes it has been difficult to find in short time the right service provider. On this aspect, the collaboration and experience of the FORT consortium helped a lot. Another difficulty met in implementing this action was the public procurement procedure and criteria limitation which overloaded a lot the selection of the service provider. 5

6 Nevertheless, the idea of a voucher being able to stimulate new (international) collaboration to get closer to the market is a winning tool which has been adopted in the last years from different countries. Even the European Commission, within H2020, promoted new SME instruments which could be defined as micro-grants for company with a strong international orientation (in terms of markets and/collaboration). Analysis on the Sustainability of the action The Cross Innovation Voucher, seen as final step of the Innovation Open House Event, is an easy tool to maintain because not a lot of organization costs are needed to implement it. Nevertheless a money prize has to be foreseen for the Innovation Voucher. Moreover, based on the experience gained, it would be better to raise the amount of the prize to minimum in order to implement bigger part of the business idea with the cooperation of external experts. Finally, the sustainability of the cross innovation voucher is strongly linked to the availability of funds which could be allocated by public institution (via regional and international funding programmes) or private sponsorship. The opportunity of collaborating with international experts added value to the Cross Innovation Voucher. To keep available this international approach the bidder of the voucher has to refer and count on an international network. This role could be played, also on the long term, by the FORT consortium which, with the experience gained within the project, will be able to support the research of the service provider. C. Transnational Innovation Platform The Transnational Innovation Platform, available at is a virtual place for the continuously blended innovation and a tool for collecting, defining and matching business and innovation ideas across Central Europe. The platform shows profile, information and contacts of the most innovative actors from Central Europe collected by the FORT partnership. Moreover, in the Innovation Market section the final participants to the Innovation Open House Events and the winners have also a prominent space having showed their idea and their needs (looking for partners, investors etc.) The Transnational Innovation Platform is an open tool which will remain available after project termination and match innovative actors from all over Europe. Analysis Even if the human interaction seems to be more effective than online interaction, the participants of the Innovation Open House Events welcomed the opportunity of being part of the Transnational Innovation Platform having the chance to share and promote their innovations, to be found by other international players and to look for potential partners. The advantage of the Transnational Innovation Platform is to be a free-of charge service with strong European approach, compering to the overload of networks and platforms which offer similar services. Finally it has been proved that the dissemination actions promoted within FORT (e.g. during the Innovation Open House Events) stimulated the growth of the platform. 6

7 Analysis on the Sustainability of the action The Transnational Innovation Platform is an open tool which will be available also after the conclusion of the project. The FORT consortium agreed in keeping it alive to offer this service to the players from all European regions. To make this action more effective (stimulating the growth of the platform data) a permanent administrator could be assigned and a financial support (public or private) could be found. Finally, dissemination and marketing action could be planned to support the sustainability of the platform. On this, the cooperation of the FORT consortium could play a useful role. 7

8 3. Guidelines (and tools) to set up the FORT actions in other regions This section is conceived to play as guidelines for the players which would like to set up the Innovation Open House Events and the Cross-Innovation Vouchers in their own environments. MFG Baden- Württemberg, WP leaders and all FORT Consortium 1 will be available for additional questions and support. With regards to the three main actions, the Consortium developed methodologies and tools which will be easily transferable to third regions following the guidelines explained in the following section. 1 The list of partners contact is available here 8

9 3.1) How to organize a successful IOHE Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Definition of the date, topic and format of the pitching event Publication of Call for Proposals and application form with a clear deadline A neutral jury selects best business ideas which will be presented at pitching event The planning of the event should start at least 6 months before the pitching event will take place. Each partner has to decide a topic (e.g. a business sector) and a format; it could be a closed job (just entrepreneurs and investors) or open to audience (e.g. public financial operators, potential business partner). The duration of the event has also to be defined Methodology Once the topic is fixed, a short teaser text should be written which describes the scope and content of the topic. In addition, the text indicates which business ideas are eligible for submission. Templates for the application form and call for proposals could be shared by the FORT consortium. The call for proposals should be sent to as many companies and researchers as possible (mailing) and it should be published online. MFG recommends finding media partners (magazines, blogs, websites etc.) who will promote the call. To guarantee added value to the event, between 10 and 20 business ideas has to be selected for the pitching event. The jury should (ideally) consist of the following experts: - Expert on the topic (green tech or ecoinnovation) - Expert on business model - Investor or other expert on access to finance The jury meets once the call for proposals is over, the companies are then informed of the jury s decision and the selected ones are invited to the event. Please find typical selection criteria below. 9

10 Phase 4 Logistical organization and invitation of investors or external partners Phase 5 (optional) Coaching Day or Coaching Event to prepare entrepreneurs for pitching Phase 6 Pitching Event and selection of best business idea (optional) Once the call for proposal is over and the business ideas are selected, another mailing is needed to invite investors, external partners and project partners to the event. Press and media partners should be invited as well. A registration form should be provided to track the number of participants The programme of the pitching event has to be finalized and printed; a brochure or flyer for all participants is a good idea. Optional: A coaching day can be provided to prepare the participants for the pitching and to optimize the presentations to ensure a high quality of the event. External coaches on communication, business modelling and finance need to be invited if it is decided to have a coaching event. Typical sessions of a coaching day: - Pitching: Dos and Don ts - Test your business model - Test your financing - Test pitching battle (if possible in front of a small jury which gives feedback) Pitching event: The selected entrepreneurs present their business idea to the audience (investors and potential partners) in a 6- minute pitch - the presentation should be short and comprehensive. Afterwards, there should be a very short Q & A sessions (2-3 questions). During the breaks, the SMEs need time for networking with investors. It is a good idea to have little booths for each company where they can present their idea and talk to investors. Link to the Cross Innovation Voucher: A jury (similar to the one above) may select the best business idea of the pitching event. Eventually, the startup may receive a certificate or a reward. 10 A brochure with the programme and all selected business ideas and photos of the entrepreneurs is useful to inform the investors which business ideas will be presented. Similarly, a brochure of all investors present at the event could be given to the SMEs so that they can recognize the investors easily.

11 Phase 7 Follow-up Feedback: A feedback questionnaire should be sent to all participating companies to find out how they profited from the matchmaking event/publicity and if they managed to establish sustainable contacts with investors or even financial deals. Typical questions: - Did you follow up with any of the participants of the event (strategic partnerships, new projects etc.)? - Did you follow up with an investor / business angel? - Did you raise money as a direct consequence of the pitching event? - Do you expect to raise money as a direct consequence of the pitching event in the future? - Did you profit from publicity as a direct consequence of the event (e.g. press release, video etc.)? - Did the Coaching Day help you to you get new insights for your business that you have already implemented? Link to the Transnational Innovation Platform: To ensure that participants stay in touch the transnational innovation platform could be promoted as open tool. Example selection criteria Degree of innovation Market potential, attractiveness of the market Creativity in the implementation / design Unique selling point Functionality / Ease of use Feasibility (time to market) Competitive advantage Quality of management, highly committed, organization Quality of the business concept (success factors), scalability Strong partnerships High international growth potential Attractive exit strategies 11

12 3.2) How to organize a successful Cross-Innovation Voucher Within the Project FORT a complex methodology have been developed and adopted 2. Here below an overview is shared. Based on the feedback collected, we propose for the sustainable plan a lighter version of the one settled within FORT. The main reasons are the difficulties in meeting the public procurement rules at transnational level and some constrictions related to the type of service. In general there could be two types of Cross Innovation Vouchers: Prize money Prize money to be used for specific service In both case, our suggestion is to associate the Cross-Innovation Voucher to an event/competition, such as the Innovation Open House Event, in order to have a transparent process for selecting the winner, which will benefit from the Voucher. Nevertheless, the two types of Prize require a different involvement of the organizer of the Voucher. 2 Please refer to FORT_WP5_Innovation Voucher Criteria.pdf to have a look to the complete methodology. 12

13 In the first case the bidder of the Cross Innovation Voucher just forwards the money prize to the winner. In the second one, once a winner has been selected, the bidder of the prize shall support the beneficiary in identification the service to be implemented and the potential collaborator. Based on FORT experience our suggestion would be to follow the second option. Even if the supply of the award has to put more effort in supporting the winners, the benefits from the vouchers could be bigger (establishing for example international long term collaboration). To be helped in this phase, the bidder of the Cross Innovation Voucher could refer to the FORT consortium which will be happy to share the experience and the contacts with potential service providers to stimulate transnational cooperation. Finally the players interested in setting up the Innovation Open House Events and/or the Cross Innovation Voucher could benefit from the Transnational Innovation Platform. 3.3) A practical open Tool: the Transnational Innovation Platform As mentioned above the Transnational Innovation Platform is an open tool which will be available to any interested player. It will be an additional service from which European players could benefit on the long term offering an international networks to their partners. To add new profiles in the platform it will be necessary to contact the administrator (for the moment refer to TechnoCenter at University of Maribor Contact: Peter Alešnik, peter.alesnik@tehnocenter.si ). Cooperation among the platform and other players (in terms of dissemination and marketing) could also be foreseen. 13

14 4. The gold rules Here below are listed some rules which could help other institutions in setting up the Transnational space for realization of innovative ideas activities. The list is not thorough but shows some basic rules to be followed for successful activities. Adapt the methodologies (shared in this document) to the regional needs: each region has a specific ecosystem. Find financial support (public or private): to run the actions Create public-private partnership cooperation (a regional environment able to support these kinds of actions): work in groups is better! Choose broad topic (with regard to the Innovation Open House Events): to address more stakeholders. Establish cooperation at international level (with participants, experts and/or potential service providers): to benefit from it High commitment in terms of personal and staff: to organize high quality action. (International) External jury : to keep transparency in the selection of winners Use marketing tools/ actions and dissemination: to raise awareness about the event and to address more participants. Benefit from the Transnational In novation Platform : a free-open tool Benefit from FORT experience: FORT Partners are available to support you! 14