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Effective Innovation Management Support Case Examples of IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services for SMEs to Gain Competitive Advantage 2nd Edition 2016

IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy www.improve-innovation.eu 1


Table of Contents

Executive Summary 4

Overview of IMP³rove services deployed by key stakeholder groups 6

IMP³rove key stakeholder groups and their needs in innovation

management support 6

IMP³rove key support services 8

Overview of case examples and lessons learned 9

Selection criteria for the case examples 9

Themes of selected case examples 9

Selected case examples 10

Collaborating with EEN partners in developing the innovation

ecosystem 10

Effective regional development: large regional development agency,

UK 13

Mobilizing SMEs with a national Innovation Award and creating

awareness for innovation management as key for success 16

Coaching for better innovation management performance: web-based

coaching for EEN-members, EU 18

Developing a better understanding of firm´s innovation management

capacities: coaching managers on interpreting the IMP³rove

Benchmarking Report 19

“IMP³rove for Students”: engaging academia in the IMP³rove-powered

innovation eco-system 22

Research on demand based on firm-level data on innovation

management to support innovation policy development and

implementation 26


Development of a targeted high-growth industry sector on a national

level: providing technical support to a public agency outside of Europe 28

Abbreviations 31

About IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy 32

Contact 32


Executive Summary This collection of case examples of IMP³rove innovation management support services for SMEs to gain competitive advantage illustrates the needs of key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. The case examples show how a wide variety of effective support services utilising the IMP³rove offerings address these needs.

Over the past years, knowledge about innovation management and its impact on competitiveness and future sustainable growth has increased. However, SMEs still lack awareness of the benefits of a strong innovation management capacity. Business advisors and intermediaries are therefore in need of effective approaches and tools to support SMEs in developing innovation management capabilities. To design effective innovation policies and investment strategies, policy makers and financial actors require increased transparency on SMEs’ innovation management performance and development potential. Lastly, academic institutions need to review their curriculum and teaching approaches to instil innovation management knowledge and skills in the future work force e.g. of SMEs.

Figure 1 Stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem and their specific needs

The case example collection highlights how the stakeholders’ needs presented in Figure 1 can be addressed effectively and the impact that has so far been achieved. In a South-eastern country, national innovation management benchmarking data from SMEs enriched the national annual innovation report and an innovation award presented by the nation’s president. In the UK, effective regional development builds on benchmarking of high-growth SMEs and on the innovation management training offered to SME managers, intermediaries and business advisors. In another large country, the association for export oriented companies initiated a national innovation award which enabled hundreds of enterprises within two years to benchmark and improve their innovation management performance. Across Europe a network of several hundred business advisors used the opportunities for online coaching to improve their innovation management support services and


delivery. Finalists of the International IMP³rove Award received feedback and coaching on how to further improve their competitiveness by building on better innovation management capabilities. Several academic institutions have incorporated practical experience in innovation management benchmarking in their Master’s programmes: “IMP³rove for Students” brings together SMEs with academic institutions, in particular with students as future interns or even employees. Given that the IMP³rove Database is the largest global database on innovation management within SMEs, several public institutions make use of the insights that research based on the database generates. In one case, a national development agency focused their support services on the ICT sector.

These examples highlight how different innovation ecosystem stakeholders benefit from the innovation management support services offered by IMP³rove - European Innovation Management Academy.

Figure 2 IMP³rove service portfolio

This IMP³rove service portfolio helps to develop a common language in innovation management, reducing transaction costs within the innovation ecosystem and strengthening interlinkages between the various stakeholder groups.

The following case examples will illustrate the richness and versatility of IMP³rove innovation management support services. They feature different challenges involved in generating economic development impact from improved innovation management capabilities. An overview of IMP³rove services deployed by the various stakeholder groups demonstrates the breadth of the support offered. IMP³rove services have been implemented either as a stand-alone service or by combining the benefits of several IMP³rove services. Furthermore, the case examples show how multiple stakeholder groups of the innovation ecosystem can benefit from implementing IMP³rove services.


Overview of IMP³rove services deployed by key stakeholder groups There are many different stakeholder groups with very different needs in innovation management support. These needs are addressed by a wide variety of IMP³rove services.

IMP³rove key stakeholder groups and their needs in innovation management support The key stakeholder groups that are the main beneficiaries of IMP³rove support services fulfil different functions within the innovation ecosystem and in the value chain of innovation management support. Accordingly, each stakeholder group has different needs in innovation management support. The final customers are the enterprises. Given the origin of IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy as a project focused on developing support for small and medium sized enterprises, the services focus on strengthening innovation management capabilities of SMEs. SMEs need training, coaching and consulting in innovation management, networking with innovative business partners, as well as recognition as innovative organisations.

This demand from SMEs is met by business advisors (e.g. EEN partners), consultants, intermediaries, investors from the public and private sector, academia, as well as other SMEs or large companies. Business advisors, consultants and intermediaries themselves need training, coaching, and consulting in innovation management and guidance on how to deliver innovation management support services most effectively to clients. Investors – whether private or public – targeting innovative companies, seek objective data as a basis for their investment decisions. Public investors develop policies that provide the framework to finance enterprises to develop their innovation management capabilities for competitiveness and sustainable growth. These policy makers need to understand the key success factors of innovation management in different types of enterprises i.e. in start-ups and established companies, high-growth companies, small, medium sized and large enterprises, as well as companies in the different industry sectors, markets (new/mature), regions and countries.

A deeper analysis reveals the needs and demand of the stakeholder groups:

Gaining knowledge in innovation management includes the basic knowledge of what innovation management is and why it is important for the enterprises’ future competitiveness and development, how it affects job creation and regional development, and which constituents of the innovation ecosystem influence the skill development in innovation management.

Achieving transparency concerning innovation management success factors and capabilities establishes the baseline for support actions, both within organisations and within the innovation ecosystem. It is of key importance to know in which areas enterprises show strengths and weaknesses in innovation management to develop and implement effective improvement measures. The same is also true for the innovation management support service market. Knowing the level of proficiency in innovation management support of consultants, business advisors, and intermediaries will help to find the most suitable business partner.


SMEs Large firms

Consul-tants

Inter-mediaries

Financial actors

Academia Policy makers

Knowledge in IM

Transparency on IM success factors and capabilities

Benchmarks

Insights into high growth companies

Success factors in IM support

Building innovation ecosystems

Visibility

Highly relevant: Relevant to some degree: Not relevant:

Figure 3 Overview on the key stakeholders and their needs/demands in innovation management

Benchmarks in innovation management are a powerful means to create this transparency provided they build on a large database and cover all industry sectors, all types of enterprises (small, medium, large; young, established, mature), and many countries. This allows the comparison within specific benchmarking classes. It provides insights into the differences in innovation management performance of high growth companies, the average and the individual company, as well as the key success factors of innovation management.

Identifying key success factors in innovation management support helps consultants, business advisors and intermediaries to develop effective support services in this area. It also supports enterprises, financial actors and policy makers to evaluate the effectiveness of business advisors’, consultants’, and intermediaries’ innovation management support services.

Intermediaries and policy makers have an interest in developing the economies of their region or country. Innovation and the management of innovation play a key role. Therefore, intermediaries and policy makers look for effective approaches to build strong innovation ecosystems that lower transaction costs, attract high-value jobs and create a sustainable economic environment.

The common denominator of these needs and demands is the creation of impact from effective innovation management for competitiveness, job- and wealth-creation. Taking these demands and needs into account, the IMP³rove innovation management support services have been developed and continuously refined according to changing requirements of specific stakeholder groups in different sectors, geographies or innovation ecosystems.


IMP³rove key support services The IMP³rove innovation management support services today include: innovation management assessment, training, certification, coaching and consulting in innovation management, technical assistance and research, the IMP³rove Award and events. These services are geared towards creating impact for those who use these services as enterprises or introduce it within their respective area of responsibility as intermediaries, be it on the level of the

• individual staff member

• organisation

• value chain or innovation ecosystem

• region

• country

Need/demand IMP³rove support services

Knowledge in IM Training, Coaching, Consulting

Transparency on IM success factors and capabilities

Assessment, Certification, Coaching, Consulting, Research

Benchmarks Assessment

Insights into high growth companies

Research, Assessment, Technical Assistance

Success factors in IM support

Research, Assessment, Technical Assistance

Building innovation ecosystems

Technical Assistance, Consulting, Coaching

Visibility Award, Events

Figure 4 Matching needs and demands with IMP³rove support services

In the following, selected cases will be presented that illustrate the impact of IMP³rove innovation management support services and can serve as an example for other stakeholders, with the same or similar demand, that may be able to benefit from these proven support services in the future. Each case example will describe the stakeholder, the need/demand for innovation management support, how this support is delivered, and the impact achieved. Given the fact that IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy mainly interacts with the business advisors, consultants, intermediaries, financial actors, academia, and policy makers and less with SMEs or large enterprises, the examples will mainly focus on innovation management support services that indirectly address SMEs and large companies.


Overview of case examples and lessons learned The cases examples presented here have been selected based on five selection criteria featuring different themes in each of the examples.

Selection criteria for the case examples The case examples were selected based on the following criteria:

• Relevance for Europe based on impact achieved

• Breadth of IMP³rove services and stakeholders covered

• Scalability of the cases

• Creativity of the cases

• Innovativeness of the cases

The cases usually include more than one of the IMP³rove service offerings and often also more than one of the stakeholder groups.

Themes of selected case examples The selected case examples cover different themes and illustrate the versatility of the IMP³rove support services. The themes include:

• Collaboration with Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) partners in different activities

• Effective regional development

• Mobilising SMEs with a national Innovation Award and creating awareness for innovation management as key for success

• Coaching for better innovation management performance: web-based coaching for EEN-members in the EU

• Developing a better understanding of an enterprise’s innovation management capacities: Coaching managers on interpreting the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

• “IMP³rove for Students”: engaging academia in the IMP³rove-powered innovation ecosystem

• Research on demand based on firm-level data on innovation management to support innovation policy development and implementation

• Development of a targeted high-growth industry sector on a national level: technical support to a public agency outside of Europe


Selected case examples The following examples represent only a small collection of cases that will illustrate the benefit and uptake of IMP³rove innovation management support services.

Collaborating with EEN partners in developing the innovation ecosystem

The stakeholders The EEN partner based in Southeast Europe is an innovation policy and research institute “actively involved in the efforts to shape policies and developments towards information society and knowledge economy in a national, regional, European and global context”1. The organisation has its own innovation council consisting of national and international experts from academia. It offers innovation support to enterprises and to public institutions developing regional or national innovation policies. Each year it publishes the national innovation index and organises an innovation award.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support Given the broad range of activities, the EEN partner was seeking support in different areas. On the one hand, qualification of staff members in the IMP³rove Approach was needed to be able to deliver the services under the grant on “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity” of SMEs. On the other hand, enhancements were sought for a new edition of the national innovation index and the innovation award.

IMP³rove support provided During the training on “Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach” the staff members received the necessary qualification to render the services to local SMEs. By providing innovation management support to local SMEs, the staff members started accumulating practical experience in innovation management support while at the same time building a national database on innovation management capabilities in SMEs.

1 Institute’s web-site


Figure 5 Distribution of local SMEs based in the Southeast European country that completed the IMP³rove Assessment

Building on the IMP³rove benchmarking database, the data presented in Figure 5 formed the basis of a complementary chapter in the annual innovation index2. Following the introduction of the IMP³rove Assessment and the data analysis, IMP³rove Academy was also able to share its experience in implementing an innovation award based on the IMP³rove Assessment. This annual award ‘Innovative Enterprise of the Year’ is bestowed upon local companies or organisations for successful innovation by the country’s president.

The EEN partner was invited to the International IMP³rove Roundtable to share their view on developing innovation ecosystems and to discuss with the experts successful approaches to foster economic cohesion of regions with innovation.

2 Innovate.bg, p.29-32


Figure 6 Completed IMP³rove Assessment by Local Companies

Impact achieved

Building on an already very solid level of knowledge in innovation and innovation management on macro level, the capabilities in innovation management support based on the IMP³rove Assessment were further developed. The SMEs considered the overall benefit of the IMP³rove Assessment Report very high on average (6.4 on a Likert Scale (1= low; 7 = highly useful)). The value of the consultants’ support in assisting the SMEs during the IMP³rove Assessment and in providing feedback even reached a score of 6.5 on average. By assisting the SMEs during the IMP³rove Assessment and by identifying the gaps based on the IMP³rove Assessment report, the intermediaries and business advisors gained insights into the local SMEs’ specific needs in innovation management support. The policy makers can now build their innovation policies and support programmes on actual data from SMEs and from the feedback received from the business advisors. The macro level data of the national index is complemented with first data on key characteristics of the local companies that completed the IMP³rove Assessment. Their strengths and weaknesses in innovation management are highlighted and can be monitored over time. This creates a basis for developing the proficiency of the business advisors, intermediaries, policy makers, academia etc., and the connectivity of the various stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. Continuing the support will help to grow the national panel of SMEs to gain more detailed insights into the development needs of SMEs in innovation management. It will also create a broader basis of highly proficient business advisors, intermediaries, and policy makers.

Potential way forward This stepwise approach of first training business advisors and intermediaries in innovation management related topics, then supporting SMEs in developing their innovation management capabilities and competitiveness and lastly including data analyses in the national innovation index and building expertise by selecting the winners


for the innovation award, is scalable in many other regions and countries. It gives the decision makers the possibility to define the most effective support services based on the experience and insights gained after each step.

Effective regional development: large regional development agency, UK

The stakeholders A large public institution in the UK is the regional development agency “to stimulate the region’s economic ambition – creating an innovative, high-wage and highly productive economy with a competitive, international market presence and a focus on high value opportunities.”3 Between 2015 and 2018 the regional development agency aims at supporting between 2,400 and 3,000 SMEs towards “becoming innovation active”. This is expected to increase the turnover of these companies by £700-850m and efficiency by £300-360m. These ambitious targets require effective and scalable innovation support services and tools as well as skilled staff that is able to deliver them.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support In 2015, the regional development agency was looking for an effective and efficient way to identify and support those companies that had the potential to contribute to the targets that were set. The challenge was to define adequate selection criteria that would be applicable to a wide variety of industry sectors and types of companies (small, young, owner-led or managed by employed CEO, etc.). Only then the selection of the companies would be considered objective and fair. Adequate tools for the assessment and selection of the companies were necessary. Furthermore, staff members were required to have the skills to approach companies for such an assessment and conduct the assessments in a manner that mutual benefit was created for the company and the regional development agency. The staff members needed to be motivated in order to become familiar and confident in delivering services in the area of innovation and innovation management - topics new to many of them.

IMP³rove support provided IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy started with basic training to ensure appropriate knowledge transfer on innovation management to selected staff members of the development agency. This basic training was complemented by individual coaching sessions via phone and email. Some staff members used this service to a large extent with more than 4 hours per case. During the coaching, the situation of the client was analysed considering the industry sector specifics, the company size and level of ambition to grow by innovation. Selected development agency staff members participated in the IMP³rove beginner’s courses on “Introduction to Action Plan Development” and on “Introduction to Innovation Strategy Development”.

3 www.scottish-enterprise.com


Figure 7 Example of demand-driven, customized training support across two stakeholder groups

In order to extend the knowledge transfer with an IMP³rove training directly to local SMEs and to their own staff, the regional development agency organised a workshop with 15 high-potential clients. The staff members were the “account managers” for these clients. The topic of the training was innovation strategy development as this area seemed to have significant room for improvement. Based on IMP³rove data, about 50% of the firms in the UK that completed the IMP³rove Assessment indicated that they do not have an innovation strategy. In other countries an average of only 25% of companies do not have an innovation strategy . During this one-day training, only a few aspects of the innovation strategy development could be addressed. The “account managers” were asked to support the SMEs afterwards in detailing and finalising the innovation strategy. This revealed the need for further training of the account managers in innovation strategy development. Some of them subsequently participated in the full course on “Introduction to Innovation Strategy Development”. The regional development agency is now considering to offer this course to a larger number of staff members as an in-house training.

With more practical experience in delivering innovation management support services, the regional development agency provided ideas on how the IMP³rove training courses could incorporate case examples from their region. Thus the training programme was customised even further to the agency’s specific requirements. During the basic course on “Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach” normally a standard case example is used. For this agency the standard case example was replaced by a case example from the local SME community. This customised case example now offers a “real case” very similar to the one the training participants might encounter when working with the local SMEs. As this agency’s staff participating even in the basic course (“Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach”) already have ”observer’s” experience in the IMP³rove Assessment, there was room for adapting the training format to their specific needs. The groups appreciated the detailed discussion of the Assessment Questionnaire, which, as they said, gave them the opportunity to reflect on how they experienced the assessment sessions prior to the training. At the same time, as they had


access to their clients’ reports, they were able to prepare for the analysis of an example report session based on a concrete case rather than an abstract one used in other training sessions. This had several win effects, mentioned in the section below.

Impact achieved

The impact was achieved within the agency’s organisation as well as in within their clients, the SMEs. This was the starting point for the development of an innovation ecosystem. Building on a team of 15 trained staff members, selected internal innovation experts were encouraged to take part in more advanced courses and in the exam to become an IMP³rove Expert. These were motivated by public acknowledgement of their achievements when they received their IMP³rove Certificate from their team leader. For some jobs at the regional development agency, the status of “IMP³rove Expert” is recognised as formal qualification.

Within the team of innovation experts a “common language” was used when discussing innovation management issues. This increased the effectiveness and efficiency of interactions and helped to improve the consistency of support services to clients.

With the use of case examples from local companies provided by the development agency, the IMP³rove training courses gained increased practical relevance for the participants and helped them to directly apply the new knowledge and experience in practice. Moreover, it gave them the opportunity to use the time during the training to prepare the feedback to their clients - the work they would have otherwise had to do anyway. They received input not only from their colleagues (who would have to dedicate additional time for it) but also from the training facilitator. One of the training participants mentioned that her thinking was turned around 180 degrees and after the training she felt not only better prepared to give her client constructive feedback, but was also excited about the work and convinced about the value of assessing innovation management with a structured tool such as the IMP³rove Assessment. The other participants in the training mentioned that working on an example from among their own clients’ pool helped them understand the approach they should use for other clients in a very concrete rather than abstract way. As the training was delivered in a “hands on” approach, they said it was probably the most practical and interesting training they had ever participated in. They already looked forward to participating in the next levels of training and mentioned that they strongly believed that it will enhance their consulting skills and increase the value of their work for their clients.

IMP³rove trained staff members of the regional development agency also provided a training course to other intermediaries on the IMP³rove Approach. This demonstrates how the development agency integrated the acquired knowledge and skills into its support services to local SMEs. Thus the benefits and impact of the approach was presented by intermediaries to intermediaries.

Potential way forward The regional development agency can gain effectiveness by

• further integrating the different approaches previously selected for innovation management support

• integrating additional stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem

The regional development agency has selected “best practices” in innovation management support from different sources with different models of innovation management. The integration of these different


approaches into a consistent and coherent innovation management model is currently missing. This bears the risk for the SMEs that contradicting approaches are introduced that minimize the impact on company’s innovation management performance and competitiveness. By integrating them to a greater extent, effectiveness and efficiency of their innovation management support services can be further increased.

Integrating the SMEs in their training activities is a first step towards developing the innovation eco-system. With involvement of academic/research institutions, the regional development agency can lower the barrier of SMEs to collaborate with academia and support academia in understanding the specific demand of SMEs better. Here a first step could be the “IMP³rove for Students” programme4. The Master’s students support the SMEs in developing their innovation management capabilities. This is part of the Master’s programme, where the students get credits and practical experience in innovation management by assessing SMEs in this area. By introducing such a programme, the regional development agency can increase their reach and impact.

Mobilizing SMEs with a national Innovation Award and creating awareness for innovation management as key for success

The stakeholders A large national trade association with focus on export5 defined the strategic goal to “reach 500 billion dollar for exports and 1.1 trillion dollar foreign trade volume in 2023.”6 This overall goal was detailed for each sector. From the outset, the management of the association had a strong interest in achieving these targets. Their members, as a key stakeholder group, needed to understand the importance of innovation and how it can be managed for continuous innovation success in international markets. This meant that the managers of the member companies had to be mobilised and had to understand the gaps their organisations might have in innovation management compared to international competitors. Reaching out to more than 60.000 association members to improve their international competitiveness and increase their export volume required support from the media, from the public administration, and many other stakeholders. The association’s management decided that one of their major initiatives would be a highly prestigious annual innovation award that recognizes outstanding performance in innovation management in different categories.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support To introduce this award the association required a methodology to assess the applicants that came from very different industry sectors, size and age classes, and regions of the country in comparison to their international competitors. The evaluation of the contestants’ applications had to be highly automated and yet based on thorough analysis. At that point, less than a 3 month time period was left for the implementation of the innovation award.

The companies applying for this award expected an objective assessment that was time-efficient, appropriate for their respective business, and easy to access. A manual completion of paper-based questionnaires was not manageable. Only a web-based innovation management benchmarking tool that offered benchmarks from companies outside the country fulfilled these requirements. International benchmarking was essential to identify the international competitiveness of the local companies.

4 https://www.improve-innovation.eu 5 60,000 members in 26 sectors (association’s web-site 2016) 6 Association’s web-site 2016


IMP³rove support provided The IMP³rove online innovation management assessment was translated into the local language to keep the barrier to participation as low as possible for local SMEs. Local staff of the association and supporting intermediaries were trained in the IMP³rove Approach and the specifics of the IMP³rove questionnaire. They served as the first level helpdesk for the Turkish companies that took part in the contest. These staff members were supported in the second level support to respond adequately to inquiries of the contestants. Furthermore, local IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors were engaged in supporting companies during the assessment phase. The companies were asked to compare themselves against their peers in the international IMP³rove database from the same industry sector and size class. They received their individual, automatically generated, comprehensive, and detailed IMP³rove Assessment reports that built the basis for the selection of the winners.

In addition, international companies were mobilised to take part in the International IMP³rove Award as the “Champions League in Innovation Management”.

Figure 8: Winners of the International IMP³rove Award at the Award Ceremony 2015

Impact achieved

In 2015, more than 400 companies participated in the innovation award. The International IMP³rove Award was presented in the category of SMEs and large companies. The national award was presented differentiating between large and small companies and by the different dimensions of innovation management (innovation strategy, innovation organization and culture, innovation life cycle management, innovation-enabling factors, and innovation results).

The award ceremony was the highlight of the national innovation week and was covered by national and international media motivating the companies to engage in innovation for international competitiveness. Not only the business community was involved but also universities, start-ups and other national institutions were present during the 2 day final event of the national innovation week. The winners in the category “large companies” were podcasted internationally.


As a result, a regional development agency is mobilising local companies to prepare for the next year’s innovation award. They are organising a workshop for 20 SMEs to introduce the success factors of innovation management and to complete the IMP³rove Assessment in preparation for their application for the innovation award.

The winner of the International IMP³rove Award 2014 launched a coin celebrating the 25th anniversary of the company and the 1st anniversary of the International IMP³rove Award.

Potential way forward For the association, the international character of the innovation award can be further emphasized by organising the international award ceremony in a way that it is fully covered in English, ideally also in a few other languages. This will attract increased international participants and recognition.

The approach of the association is a blueprint for similar institutions in other countries. An important requirement for such a large scale innovation award is the backing by the national government to achieve adequate reach and level of momentum to mobilise a large number of companies and other stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem.

Coaching for better innovation management performance: web-based coaching for EEN-members, EU

The stakeholders Eligible EEN staff members who have been trained in the IMP³rove Approach are invited to participate in IMP³rove web sessions. The IMP³rove Academy hosts one web session each month and sends out invitations for each web session to the entire network of eligible trained IMP³rove network partners. Overall, 126 partners showed their interest in participating in the web sessions over the past 13 months. Many out of these 126 partners are participating regularly each month.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support Most of the participants are seeking further knowledge for effective innovation management support. They are interested in additional insights into innovation management topics, but also into practical and hands-on information on how to apply the IMP³rove Assessment. Furthermore, they are interested in learning from their peers who are facing similar challenges. Therefore, the web sessions also offer them an interactive platform where they can exchange their experiences, ask questions and provide recommendations.

IMP³rove support provided The web sessions are designed to address key issues of common interest related to the IMP³rove Assessment and its integration into the “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs” programme. During the first series of web sessions to date, the IMP³rove Academy took a deep dive into each dimension of the A. T. Kearney House of Innovation (Innovation Strategy, Innovation Organization and Culture, Innovation Life Cycle Processes, Innovation-enabling Factors, and Innovation Results). In the second series, the web sessions covered the entire process of assisting an enterprise in the context of the “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs” programme.


Figure 9: Slide from the IMP³rove Academy used to visualize the topics of various web sessions in line with the whole process of an assisted IMP³rove Assessment

Developing a better understanding of firm´s innovation management capacities: coaching managers on interpreting the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

The stakeholders An SME that had completed the IMP³rove Assessment was interested in gaining an improved understanding of the results of its benchmarking report.

The company started its online business in 2003 focusing on a niche market. Today, it employs more than 10 people. Since its inception, the company´s business model as well as its service offerings had not changed significantly. However, the online business had evolved rapidly over time with increasing competition from both small specialists as well as large international online platforms dominating many business areas.

An analysis of the situation revealed that the need for close client-relationships turned out to be a market entry barrier in the respective niche market. However, with increasing competition and more saturated main markets, the threat of players diversifying and tapping into smaller market segments had increased. Having recognized this potential threat, the company’s management board decided to prepare for it with a more rigorous approach to innovation management.


The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support

The IMP³rove Assessment to evaluate a company’s innovation management capabilities turned out to be an effective means for the company to evaluate its innovation management system. Going through the online questionnaire step by step represented no great hurdle, as the company´s firm size, its data tracking system, as well as the high level of interaction among staff members allowed the management to provide answers to the in-depth questions. However, analysing the resulting IMP³rove Benchmarking report provided a challenge for the SME´s management.

The IMP³rove Benchmarking report is structured according to the dimensions of the A.T. Kearney House of Innovation, which comprises five dimensions: innovation strategy, innovation organisation and culture, innovation life-cycle management, innovation-enabling factors, and innovation results. While the firm´s strengths and weaknesses in each of these dimensions were apparent, the management only partially identified the improvement potential within each respective dimension, the linkages between the dimensions and ultimately the implications of the gaps between the company´s scores and the ones from their selected benchmarking class.

Recognising that the full potential of the IMP³rove benchmarking report had not been utilized, the company asked the IMP³rove Academy to support them in analysing and interpreting the results.

Support provided After receiving a digital copy of the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report, the IMP³rove Academy conducted an extensive analysis of the results. The analysis included a preliminary company and market research to interpret the results in light of the specific firm and industry characteristics.

The analysis yielded a number of findings concerning the SME´s innovation management capabilities and performance. These findings were used to fuel the development of a presentation comprising 17 slides. The presentation was structured in the following way. First, a high level overview on the performance in each of the innovation management dimensions was provided. This was enriched by stating upfront the key findings within and across the dimensions. Secondly, the presentation incorporated a section that provided a deep dive into each of the innovation management dimensions. Most notably, the slides highlighted only the most relevant results within these dimensions. The relevance was assessed based on the gaps between the company and the benchmarks from the selected peer group as well as the degree to which a certain overarching issue was reflected across the innovation management dimensions.

Following this approach, the management could better follow the analytical steps taken to identify the most critical aspects in their innovation management system. Thirdly, the findings were illustrated and summarized along the innovation management system to showcase their interrelationships (Figure 10).


Figure 10 Slide from the IMP³rove Academy used to summarize key findings of the IMP³rove Assessment Report

In the present case, the company turned out to have a strong innovation strategy, which had not been translated into a sufficient number of innovation activities due to a lack of organisational involvement. This was reflected in the innovation results that were comparably lagging behind the competitors’ results in the benchmarking sample.

Finally, the presentation ended with a set of three potential levers to address the core issues identified. This section was added to reflect on the findings and encourage a discussion on potential next steps.

Having prepared the presentation, IMP³rove Academy aligned with the SME´s management on a date for a web-based feedback session. In particular, IMP³rove Academy presented their slides to the management in an interactive session via the online tool. The session lasted one hour during which intensive discussion took place in order to link the findings to innovation management practice within the SME, validate the findings, enlarge and refine the set of levers for improvement.

Impact achieved

Receiving a fact-based review of their management approaches from an external party confirmed some hypotheses that the management had intuitively had in mind, but had neither formulated nor proven. In particular, while interpreting the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report on its own, the management board had not fully understood the linkages between the data provided and the actual business operations. Having an independent and expert third party providing an objective interpretation of the benchmarking results helped the company to step back and reflect on it from a different perspective.

The presentation pointed to an empty pipeline of innovation projects despite a properly defined innovation strategy, which was confirmed by the management during the feedback session to stem from a lack of

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projectsProduct / service /

process / business model improvement

TLaunch

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BusinessObjective A

StrategicMeasure X

BusinessObjective ...

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Customerneeds

Searchfield A

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…

Innovation strategy:

Key insights from the IMP³rove Bench-marking Report

Enabling factors: Key insights from the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

Innovation organization and culture: Key insights from the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

Innovation results:Key insights from the

IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

Source: A.T. Kearney, IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy 2015

Innovation life cycle:Key insights from the

IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

Maximize EBIT

TEnd of Life

Turnover

Product / serviceextensions


organisational involvement. Based on these insights and the discussion with the IMP³rove Academy, the managers realized the need to change their practices and already envisioned an extension of their business model and services to secure the firm´s long-term growth. Moreover, based on the levers proposed, the management board was well equipped with as set of methods to immediately begin improving their innovation management system.

Besides this immediate impact, the analytical approach presented helped the managers to better interpret the results of a potential reoccurring assessment, which was recommended by IMP³rove Academy to evaluate their progression over time. Thus, they also enhanced their capacities of using the IMP³rove Assessment as a baseline in particular and in dealing with innovation management issues in general.

Potential way forward For the SME, the external analysis of the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report was very helpful to better understand the firm´s innovation management strengths and weaknesses. The management perceived the suggestions on potential improvement levers to be very helpful in order to develop an action plan to enhance the firm´s innovation management system and prepare for the future. As a next step, the SME´s managers decided to discuss the presentation with their team during a workshop to develop a joint vision for the next years.

For the IMP³rove Academy, the feedback session provided new in-depth insights into SMEs needs and demand concerning the interpretation of the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report and the considerable added value the external analysis of the results provides to SMEs. Thus, the IMP³rove Academy perceived this “feedback workshop” to be a blueprint for companies seeking support on interpreting their benchmarking report. The finalists of the International IMP³rove Award 2015 in both categories – SMEs and large enterprises - have already benefited from this service and helped to refine it further. Trained IMP³rove consultants – both from the private and public sector – who have the required business background and consulting experience can offer this service.

“IMP³rove for Students”: engaging academia in the IMP³rove-powered innovation eco-system

The stakeholders Academic institutions are an important stakeholder group when it comes to innovation management capability development. Students, faculty members and academic researchers with focus on business administration, engineering, science, political sciences, arts/creative studies, and the responsible marketing/PR experts or curricula developers – just to name a few - are exposed to and interested in this topic. Companies as potential employers and sponsors seek solutions for their innovation management challenges from the various actors in academia.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support Students are looking for leading thinking in innovation and innovation management. They want to understand how to adopt it in the day-to-day business in practice. Faculty members are in search of content and case examples on innovation and innovation management for their classes, researchers are interested in research areas such as organisational development in innovative companies, and the university administration is in search for differentiating offerings that will attract both students, high-profile faculty members as well as leading companies as sponsors. University students and faculty complain about the lack of practical experience in


innovation management that academic education offers, and the low level of collaboration between academic institutions and other stakeholders in the innovation eco-system, notably SMEs.

Support provided Building on the common denominator – innovation management – “IMP³rove for Students” educates students during their Master’s studies in assessing innovation management capabilities of enterprises in practice. Within one course, students with some previous theoretical education in innovation management are introduced to the IMP³rove Approach. The students are required to support a company of their choice during the IMP³rove Assessment. Within the course, the students build teams of 2-4 members to recruit a company and support it during the IMP³rove Assessment, analyse the IMP³rove Assessment report and provide feedback to the company’s management.

In practice, the students are asked to focus on SMEs rather than larger companies as decision-making processes within SMEs are fast enough to be able to complete the IMP³rove Assessment, the analyses and feedback session within the course of the semester.

“IMP³rove for Students” works best if the students already have sufficient knowledge in innovation management, in benchmarking and in business administration. Supervision and support from the tutor are essential in case knowledge gaps arise within the student teams. The teaching session “Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach” takes 1 full day at the beginning of the term. The students usually recruit their SME prior to the start of the course so that they can start developing the presentation to introduce the SME management to innovation management, the IMP³rove Approach and its benefits of national or international innovation management benchmarking. During this presentation in front of the SME management the students highlight the steps they propose to take with the management over the course of the term, the data that is required to fill out the IMP³rove questionnaire and the SME staff required to participate during the 2-3 hour IMP³rove Assessment to achieve meaningful results. The students agree with the management on the date when the IMP³rove Assessment will take place and prepare the session for a smooth and timely workshop with the management to complete the IMP³rove online questionnaire. For the preparation of this workshop, the students have access to the IMP³rove training platform where they can complete a test questionnaire and gain an understanding on how to generate the IMP³rove Assessment report with the preferred benchmarking criteria i.e. industry sector, size and age classes of the companies, and geographical scope of the benchmarking class selected. During this period questions on content or on technical issues might arise that need to be resolved prior to the workshop. During the workshop, the students guide the management through the questionnaire, respond to the questions regarding specific aspects of the assessment. At the same time, the students stimulate the discussion with the management on their evaluation of individual assessment questions e.g. why the management selects a particular score for a specific question and what evidence supports the selection of this score.


Figure 11 Steps in the “IMP³rove for Students” programme

Once the questionnaire is completed, the students support the management in defining the most suitable benchmarking class for the IMP³rove Assessment report and in generating the report as pdf. A copy of this document is handed over to the students for detailed analysis as basis for their feedback to the management. A date for this feedback workshop is set. The students prepare the feedback document based on a thorough analysis of the 100-page benchmarking report. This analysis is the basis for the improvement measures that are subsequently recommended to the management. Strong focus is put on the expected business impact of these recommendations.

Before the students present their recommendations to the management, they are required to present them in a sanitised version in class for discussion. The results are challenged regarding the suitability for the specific company in terms of level of ambition to innovate, competitive pressure the company is in, the company’s ability and track record to change, and the impact the recommendations are likely to have on the company’s competitiveness. The students collect the feedback they receive from the tutor, their classmates and the IMP³rove Academy facilitator to incorporate it into their final presentation to the management. After the presentation to the management, the students collect the feedback from the management to what degree the recommendations will be implemented and what respective business impact the management expects. This feedback is part of the documentation or paper that the students have to submit as basis for their course credits.

Impact achieved

The “IMP³rove for Students” has been introduced in several academic institutions. One technical university in Germany has been offering this course every year now for four years running. In a business school in the Baltic States the programme has been conducted for several years as well as evaluated in an academic paper on innovative learning approaches. A Master’s thesis has been written on the IMP³rove Assessment and the impact on the assessed organisation. In another German university, a foreign student is applying the IMP³rove Assessment to SMEs in Kenia as part of his Master’s thesis. A university of applied sciences with a


strong focus on medium sized enterprises has initiated a Master’s programme on innovation and entrepreneurship to develop future employees for the enterprises in the region. The “IMP³rove for Students” programme will be essential to generate a high return on the investment that these companies make by sponsoring some of the students’ fees for the Master’s programme.

For students this programme is very attractive because of the combination of theory and practical application of innovation management approaches. There is more demand than available seats in some of the courses, especially at academic institutions that have run the programme several times. The tutors and researchers see the value of the programme as it creates the cases that they can build upon in their lectures and their research programmes. It offers access to SMEs that are usually difficult to integrate in academic activities. For the universities as institutions this programme enhances their profile as leading in academic education combining theory and practice and enhancing the students’ employability.

Figure 12 Experienced benefits of the “IMP³rove for Students” programme

Potential way forward “IMP³rove for Students” opens further opportunities to develop the innovation ecosystem beyond what is currently implemented by the academic institutions that have adopted this programme. The participating SMEs can be invited to share their experiences in innovation management and to provide insights into current trends and successful approaches to grow profitably by means of sound innovation management practices.


Research on demand based on firm-level data on innovation management to support innovation policy development and implementation

The stakeholders Research organisations, policy makers, intermediaries, financial actors, etc. base their research results, policies, support mechanisms, or investment decisions on analyses that are built on data that is available only on macro level and/or often rather outdated. Insights from firm level data on innovation management as a key driver for competitiveness is often missing.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support When designing innovation policies, developing specific innovation support schemes, or identifying high-potential start-ups, decision makers require data on the enterprise population they are looking to address or support. Only then effective actions can be designed and implemented. The data should cover different sizes and age classes of enterprises, various geographies and industry sectors, and include a sample of companies that also allow for a time series analysis. The data should present parameters that have an influence on the companies’ competitive development. Ideally this data is already presented in meaningful graphs to highlight the need, the development or the success of the targeted enterprise population. The research results should contribute to the verification or falsification of the hypotheses that were developed in preparation of the policy development, support or investment programme.

IMP³rove support provided A regional development agency wanted to understand the capabilities that have a strong impact on the enterprises’ competitiveness and innovation performance and identify the capabilities that the local SMEs in the region lack most. With the IMP³rove benchmarking databases the SME population within this region was analysed comparing the region’s growth champions7 with the rest of the population. This was complemented with the data from other comparable regions. In addition, the data was analysed according to the five key dimension of innovation management innovation strategy, innovation organization and culture, innovation life cycle management, innovation-enabling factors and innovation success. The result showed that the companies in the region significantly lagged behind in the dimension of innovation strategy in comparison to their competitors in other countries.

In another case, the national ministry of economic development that had supported SMEs’ innovation projects and the assessment of their innovation management capabilities, wanted to understand the uptake of this support service by the companies. An analysis by size, sector, geographic spread and the difference between the growth champions and the average highlighted the reach of the programme as well as the performance differences between the growth champions and the other companies. For the ministry the growth in number of employees over the past 4 years was one of the indicators for the economic development of the SMEs. As basis for this analysis the IMP³rove benchmarking database was analysed along various criteria such as size of the companies, their age, and their industry sectors.

7 Growth Champions are defined by the average of the 10% that has the highest growth rate in terms of growth in revenue, growth in profit and in number of employees


Figure 13 IMP³rove innovation management benchmarking database

An international policy maker in discussion about the best approach to stimulate internationalisation of start-ups complemented their existing knowledge with data from the IMP³rove innovation management benchmarking database (Figure 14).

Figure 14 Impact of export on sales growth in start-ups


According to the analysis of the IMP³rove database, the start-ups’ level of ambition, the country (especially its market size), the EU membership, and the industry sectors influence the export orientation of start-ups. Due to the low number of start-ups in a delineated time period, the impact over time could not be evaluated.

Complementing the research on demand, IMP³rove Academy publishes insights from the IMP³rove database analysis on the IMP³rove website.8 These monthly updates provide insights into the innovation management approaches in different industry sectors, in different types of companies (start-up, growing, mature, etc.) or in different geographies to inform the communities. These insights are also shared via social media.

Impact achieved

The regional development agency continued and intensified their support of SMEs in developing effective innovation strategies with their SME clients. These actions were in line with the objectives set in the overall region’s development strategy. The national ministry for economic development gained complementary data to evaluate the effectiveness of their support programme in order to further refine the policies on innovation management support in the future. The international policy maker received up-to-date data regarding the internationalisation of start-ups to challenge the opinions that were expressed during the discussions on the most effective policies.

The publication of selected research results on social media helps to continuously strengthen and grow the community. From Oct. 2015 to Dec. 2015 the number of page views increased by more than 40% up to more than 7,600 page views on google+.

Potential way forward Research on demand will help local, regional, national, and international institutions to base their innovation policies on facts and firm level data rather than on opinions. The existing cases will be used as illustration for other institutions on a global scale. This might also stimulate programmes to collect data on SMEs. With the growing IMP³rove database, more detailed analysis by applying “big data” approaches will provide complementary insights in hitherto uncovered SME support areas.

Development of a targeted high-growth industry sector on a national level: providing technical support to a public agency outside of Europe

The stakeholders An Egyptian agency acting under the auspices of a national ministry, in charge of developing capabilities and capacity of the ICT sector, identified the IMP³rove Approach as the best tool to implement their innovation strategy for that sector. With the goal of operationalising the strategy effectively, the agency planned to not merely develop internal capabilities of selected experts in innovation and innovation management support, but also to create awareness among ICT companies nationwide and encourage them to introduce innovation management systems. The agency believed that a systematic approach to innovation management would have a long term sustainable impact on the growth of the sector as a whole.

8 https://www.improve-innovation.eu/wp-content/uploads


The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support The national agency needed to identify and mobilise best candidates (high potential companies) who would be suitable for conducting the pilot programme, which included:

• Development of internal capacity of future innovation management advisers,

• Assessment of status quo of innovation management systems of ICT companies,

• Delivery of advisory services to improve companies’ performance, and

• Scaling the impact for the entire sector.

With this in mind, the agency developed a full action plan in various steps. On the one hand, the team of advisors needed to be trained in order to develop its internal capacity; on the other hand, awareness needed to be raised and interest captured among the ICT companies in the country. Therefore, the combination of training, awareness workshops, information events, and launch of a national innovation award for ICT companies were combined.

IMP³rove support provided In the first step, the IMP³rove Approach was presented during a workshop organised by the agency, raising awareness among various groups: ICT companies, business advisors, development agencies, and academic institutions. This event created visibility for the new service, soon to be added to the agency’s public offerings with the strong reference to the economic impact of such an action. As the second step, the agency’s internal team of advisors was trained at the basic level of the IMP³rove training to become IMP³rove Guide (“Introduction to Innovation Management” and “Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach” – a total of 4 days of training). Followed by the training, IMP³rove Academy was in regular contact with the project manager and the head of the agency in order to ensure smooth take up, to support the newly trained team members in conducting the first IMP³rove Assessments, and align next steps of the action. As a third step, the team of IMP³rove Guides had the opportunity to benefit from the insights from a highly experienced IMP³rove practitioner from Europe, who conducted a group coaching session followed by individual coaching meetings reviewing and jointly developing consulting approaches to each case the IMP³rove Guides had prepared. In the fourth step, the local IMP³rove Guides participated in the next level of IMP³rove training (“Introduction to Innovation Management Consulting”) to further develop their consulting skills in the area of innovation management. The training session was adapted to the group needs, focusing on the situation of local ICT SMEs and keeping in mind the volatile socio-political situation in Egypt at the time, which had a profound impact on the business environment and economic implications. The group of trained advisers then went through the elaborate IMP³rove certification process (written exam, submission of case study papers, and presentation – all facilitated on site when needed).

With the experience gained, and the entire learning process involved in the project, the agency decided to use the IMP³rove Assessment in further encouragement of companies by incorporating it into an innovation award for ICT companies nationwide. The IMP³rove Assessment was selected by the agency, as they “found [the] IMP³rove methodology [] perfect for this purpose” (statement of the Project Manager of the group). The companies who applied to participate in the contest needed to self-assess their innovation management performance with the IMP³rove Assessment tool. As the agency rightly concluded, “(…) Recognizing Innovative firms and offering a package of awards to help them grow their innovation management capabilities would be important to fuel the next phase of future Egyptian innovation that would compete in different markets and add to national competitiveness and economic growth.” The winners in the contest were awarded in-kind prizes (including equipment, possibility for access to exclusive services offered by the agency, among other).


In the last stage of the project, the IMP³rove trained team was supported by the IMP³rove Academy on a continuous basis.

Impact achieved

The strategic alignment of objectives resulted in a successful implementation of a process in which the team of IMP³rove trained advisers was able to include almost 200 companies within the first year of the action. This shows a clear benefit for such support services and their applicability not only in Europe but also outside. The benefit was threefold: the companies gained detailed insight and concrete recommendations for improving their business performance on a sustainable basis, the public agency developed internal capabilities to provide effective innovation management support services, and the national innovation strategy for the ICT sector was implemented despite the economic turbulences. By introducing the element of the innovation award, the agency created an incentive, which triggered interest among the ICT companies in the value of innovation management.

The intention of the agency was to continuously improve internal skills of the advisors and enhance the service in the future. The success of the action depended largely on the sustainability in leadership of such public organisations as well as the staff retention, which represented a challenge in Egypt.

Potential way forward Higher impact can be achieved when a larger team with higher level of skills and longer term business experience (as opposed to technical experience and skills relevant for the industry) are involved or developed in the long term. This would enhance the outreach beyond Cairo geographical area, improve the quality of the advisory services, and ensure higher growth of ICT companies. The Egyptian ICT sector is growing fast and competes on national, regional (MENA), and international markets, especially in ICT services. If the focus could be placed on companies ready to scale-up, rather than disproportionately focusing on early start-up companies, the international competitiveness could shift from price competition to high quality service competition.

Ensuring consistency and continuity in providing this type of service is essential. Despite the fact that the socio-economic situation in the country hinders efforts, especially from the point of view of companies, it is to be noted that reliance on in-kind/service oriented support is often more effective than access to funding. Therefore, if the agency continues their approach of focusing on the support in development of companies’ capabilities and raising awareness of the value of innovation management, the chance of achieving sustained and positive impact is highest.


Abbreviations EEN Enterprise Europe Network

ICT Information and Communication Technologies

IM Innovation Management

SME Small and Medium-sized Enterprise


About IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy The IMP³rove - European Innovation Management Academy, non-profit (www.improve-innovation.eu) offers innovation management support services to enterprises, consultants and intermediaries. It also provides financial actors, policy makers and academia with consulting support and technical assistance related to innovation and innovation management. The services include innovation management benchmarking for enterprises, training and certification in innovation management, research on innovation management issues and promotion of best practices in innovation management. With its global network, the IMP³rove Academy has set the standard for innovation management assessment. The IMP³rove- European Innovation Management Academy emerged from the European Commission's flagship programme "IMP³rove". It was supported by the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and receives continued support by Horizon2020.

Contact IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy EWIV (non profit)

Dr. Eva Diedrichs Dreischeibenhaus 1 D-40211 Dusseldorf Germany

Tel.: +49 211 1377 2266 Email: [email protected]

Dr. Martin Ruppert Dreischeibenhaus 1 D-40211 Dusseldorf Germany

Tel: +49 211 1377 2390 Email: [email protected]

Web-site: www.improve-innovation.eu

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