Educational package for SMEs to increase their innovation capabilities and productivity

The importance of innovation for SMEs is widely recognised. Innovation boosts productivity and facilitates substantial growth in sales. Survival rates are also higher in SMEs that innovate, for the simple reason that they are flexible and better able to adapt to challenging market conditions.In order to operate effectively, a systematic approach is needed if improvement efforts are to succeed and businesses are to remain competitive in dynamic markets. Capacity enhancement trainings must meet the needs of the small firm and have to be easy to apply. However there are already some innovation standards on the market, the current approaches based on these do not satisfy the total requirements of the SME. Most solutions fail to provide a holistic, practical and effectively integrated approach to innovation management; the available ones too are prescriptive, overly complex and do not meet the needs of the organisation. It is clear that this deficit must be addressed.To meet the urging need, the EPIC project consortium is planning to develop a complex educational package that helps SMEs to increase their innovation capabilities and productivity based on the content of the technical specification of the CEN/TS 16555 1-7 “Innovation management” European standard family for both middle/top and innovation managers of SMEs and for any employees taking part in innovation projects or processes. It will enable SMEs to establish and manage an innovation management system as well as to implement successful innovation projects. Hopefully, this will help them to overcome the economic challenges that might get more difficult given the current pandemic situation around the word.Within the 24-month duration of the project, we foresee the development of the following Intellectual Outputs by implementing the described vertical activities:O1: Study of innovation management skills/competencies/knowledge- A1 Face to face interviews- A2 Quantitative research- A3 Desk research- A4 Research summary reportEPIC aims to improve the capacity of European SME’s to implement effective innovation initiatives. To do this, we must adopt a user-centric approach so that the intellectual outputs we develop aligns well with the needs of the end user. To ensure this, we will conduct research to assess the needs of innovative SMEs regarding the competences, skills and knowledge their employees are lacking or should improve in terms of innovation management to be able to carry out successful innovation projects; methods and parameters (length, depths, design) of a training that would be suitable and motivating for employees to do.O2: Online self-assessment tools - A1 5 self-assessment tools - A2 Facilitator guides- A3 Internal testing (Joint Staff Event)- A4 Corrections and translation- A5 Digitalization- A6 External testing- A7 O2 finalizationBased on the findings of research (O1) we prepare 5 online self-assessment tools and facilitator guides. These materials will be tested first by the partnership and secondly by the members of the target group.O3: Training package- A1 Templates for training material- A2 Training material development- A3 Offline interactive training kit development- A4 Internal testing (Joint Staff Event)- A5 Corrections and translation- A6 External testing- A7 O3 finalization and printingThe training material includes 6 chapters, 12 best practices and 18 practical group exercises. It is complemented with an offline interactive training kit.The training material and the offline interactive training kit will be tested internally and externally (by the target groups).The main short-term impacts on partners and end-users of EPIC results are that they will acquire new ways of thinking and acting and be equipped with the competencies, methods and skills to implement effective innovation management structures tailored to their specific needs.Long-term impacts – among others:- the partners’ extended networks, (e.g. educators, SMEs and clusters) will be better connected, which this bridges the gap which often divides the fields of education and industry.- participants will be able to pinpoint personal and organisational development needs to improve and develop their approach to innovation especially if supported by training resources.The EPIC project is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners – an innovation consulting company, an adult training and consulting provider, three training and business consultancy organisations, a manufacturing company and a business association - from 7 countries (Hungary, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovakia, Romania).