IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services in Hungary€¦ · IMP³rove Innovation Management...

First Analysis of the Up-take of IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services 2012-2013 within the

Operative Programme Financed by the EU

February 2015

IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services in Hungary

www.improve-innovation.eu; IMP³rove is a registered trademark 20 Februar 2015 2

Table of Content

Management Summary 3

The IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services 4

The IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy 4

The IMP³rove Approach – a Holistic Approach to Better Innovation

Management 5

IMP³rove in Hungary – a Short Overview 9

Impact from the IMP³rove Services within the Operative Programme in Hungary 11

IMP³rove Services Rendered in Hungary 11

Impact of the IMP³rove Services on Hungarian Companies 12

Reach of the IMP³rove Services in Hungary between 2012 and 2013 12

Scores of the Hungarian SMEs that Completed the IMP³rove Assessment between 2012 and 2013 14

Hungarian Company Winning the International IMP³rove Award 2013 15

Feedback on the IMP³rove Services by Assessed Companies, Consultants and Business Advisors 15

IMP³rove Services as Starting Point for an Effective Innovation Eco-System in Hungary 18

Measuring the impact of the IMP³rove Services within the Operative Program 20

Table of figures 21

List of Abbreviations 22

Contact 23

IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services for Hungary 2012-2013


Management Summary The Hungarian Government completed the Operative Programme financed by the European Union 2007 – 2013. In some calls since 2012, companies received extra points in the evaluation phase if they submitted the IMP³rove Assessment report (www.improve-innovation.eu) as part of their application. After closing the program, the Ministry “NEMZETGAZDASÁGI MINISZTÉRIUM GAZDASÁGFEJLESZTÉSI PROGRAMOK VÉGREHAJTÁSÁÉRT, FELELŐS HELYETTES ÁLLAMTITKÁRSÁG” requested a short feedback from the IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy (non-profit) as the organization offering the IMP³rove support services. The high-level feedback should focus on the participating companies that benefitted from the IMP³rove services in the period from 2012- 2013.

During the period from 2012 – 2013, 173 SMEs completed the IMP³rove Assessment and 65 consultants and business advisors were trained to assist the companies in completing the IMP³rove Assessment successfully. We assume that most of these companies also applied for funding provided by the Operative Program.

The level of satisfaction with the IMP³rove services is high, with a noted 96 percent of the IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors who will recommend the IMP³rove services to their clients and business network partners. The companies that benefitted from the IMP³rove services, on average, gave a score of 5.6 (maximum 7 being very high) that the IMP³rove Assessment enhanced their innovation management performance.

The IMP³rove Assessment is designed as an online benchmarking tool. Consultants and business advisors are trained by the IMP³rove - European Innovation Management Academy to guide the companies in personal meetings through the five key dimensions of innovation management. Thus, the completion of the online assessment is designed as a learning experience for the management of the company. The IMP³rove Approach then requires the consultant or business advisor to analyse the detailed IMP³rove benchmarking reports. In a workshops with the company, they provide feedback to on the company’s strengths and weaknesses in innovation management as basis to develop and implement the improvement measures.

The calls launched in the context of the Operative Programme only incentivized the completion of the IMP³rove Assessment but not the definition and implementation of measures to improve the innovation management performance and competitiveness of the company. This should however become part of future innovation policies. Only then will they have a strong and measurable impact.



The IMP³rove Innovation Management Support Services The IMP³rove innovation management support services are offered by the IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy and build on a holistic approach to innovation management.

The 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 program "IMP³rove". It was supported by the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and receives continued support by Horizon 2020.

Figure 1: Overview on IMP³rove innovation management support services

For a more extensive overview, the IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy offers

• Enterprises a comprehensive online innovation management assessment that compares the company’s score with those of their competitors. Thus, the company gains insights in their innovation management performance and competitiveness. The IMP³rove innovation management benchmarking approach is compliant with the European standards on innovation management



(CEN TS 16555-11). IMP³rove workshops and training courses on innovation management related topics offered to enterprises focus on high business impact.

• Business advisors such as consultants or intermediaries are offered training, certification as well as approaches and tools for better innovation management support, mainly to SMEs. The training and certification program enhances the consultants’, intermediaries’ and business advisors’ proficiency in innovation management and innovation management support. Focus of the training is on improving the SME’s competitiveness and sustainable growth from innovation. Therefore, the tools for consultants, intermediaries and business advisors include the online benchmarking that starts with the IMP³rove Assessment and can be detailed with the IMP³rove Root/Cause Analysis and the IMP³rove sustainability-driven innovation management assessment. Furthermore, example of case studies and approaches to improve the various dimensions of innovation management at SMEs are offered to these innovation management support service providers.

• Policy makers are offered technical assistance, such as developing effective innovation management support programs. This usually includes the design and implementation of innovation management policies, design and implementation of national, regional or sectoral innovation awards, impact evaluation of innovation policies and programs.

• Financial actors receive support and tools to enhance the value of the enterprises they invest in by improving those companies’ innovation management performance and competitiveness.

• Academia gains insights in innovation management performance and benchmarks. The program “IMP³rove for Students” combines the academic education in innovation management with practical experience of an innovation management assessment at an SME

The IMP³rove Approach – a Holistic Approach to Better Innovation Management Sustainable and profitable growth of companies is only feasible with a continuous flow of successful innovation projects. Managing innovation, therefore, is a skill that each company needs to develop. Based on the experience with numerous enterprises, innovation management requires skills in five key dimensions:

• Developing the innovation strategy

• Establishing and fostering an innovation organization and culture

• Managing the innovation life cycle processes for short time to market and short time to profit

• Leveraging the innovation enabling factors such as IP and knowledge management, controlling of innovation projects, etc.

• Continuously improving the innovation results, mainly profitable growth from innovation in terms of growth in revenue, in profit and in number of employees

These five key dimensions of innovation management are illustrated in the figure below.

1 The managing director of the IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy, Dr. Eva Diedrichs, is also the convener of the CEN TC 389 Working Group 3 “Innovation Management Assessment”, and head of the German delegation to the CEN TC 389 Innovation Management, as well as to the ISO TC 279 Innovation Management System



Figure 2: The A.T. Kearney House of Innovation

With the focus on innovation results, the IMP³rove services differentiate from other approaches that focus either more on research and development (R&D) but not on innovation, or on technologies that are pre-requisite for innovation.

The IMP³rove innovation management assessment is embedded in a process that aims for continuous improvement of the SME’s competitiveness and profitable growth.

The IMP³rove online assessment is already a learning experience for the SME. Getting a comprehensive picture of the key dimensions of innovation management by completing the questions for each of these dimensions helps the management of the SME to learn what is included in a holistic approach to hence leverage innovation management for competitiveness.



Figure 3: The four steps of the IMP³rove process to support the SME’s continuous improvement for competitiveness and sustainable growth

The IMP³rove Assessment reports additionally highlight the SME’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the growth champions and the average. Thus, the SME gains transparency on the competitive position and their innovation management capabilities in relation to their competitors on a national or international scale.

Figure 4: IMP³rove Assessment – benchmarking with the Growth Champions



During a feedback workshop, the results of the IMP³rove benchmarking are analysed by the IMP³rove consultant/ business advisor and discussed together with the SME management. As a result, concrete measures are defined to improve the SMEs business performance and innovation management capabilities.

The IMP³rove online platform will invite the SME automatically after 12 months to a recurring IMP³rove Assessment to evaluate the achieved improvements and to gain insights in the actual competitive situation.

For policy makers the IMP³rove approach allows the comparison of the SMEs’ innovation management performance by industry sector, size or age class on national and international scale. The insights on the innovation management capabilities on firm level in an aggregated form complement the normal statistical analyses that innovation policies are currently based on.



IMP³rove in Hungary – a Short Overview Hungary as an EU Member State was included in the IMP³rove project from the very beginning. As of January 2015, there are 272 Hungarian SMEs that have benefited from the IMP³rove innovation management benchmarking services and 65 IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors who have assisted at least one SME in completing the IMP³rove Assessment.

In 2007, the first SMEs were included in the IMP³rove project to develop better innovation management support services.

Execution of operative programmein Hungary Introduction of

extra points for innovation management assessment

1. EU program “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs”Source: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

Use of the IMP³rove Assessment by Hungarian SMEs per year

108

65

73

14

272

2015(statusJan.)

2

2014201320122011

7

2010

1

2009

0

2008

2

2007 Total

Support of SMEs financed by EU

(IMP³rove project)

Complementary impulse by support of SMEs financed

by EU¹

Figure 5: Use of the IMP³rove Assessment by Hungarian SMEs

In 2009, the European Commission’s DG Regio introduced IMP³rove to the Hungarian Managing Authority of the Economic Development Operational Programme. In some calls since 2012 for public funding, SMEs could obtain “extra points” if they provided the IMP³rove Assessment report. Hence in 2012, the IMP³rove Assessment was completed by more than 100 Hungarian SMEs with the assistance of an IMP³rove trained consultant or business advisor to differentiate their application for public funding.

Since 2010, Hungarian consultants and business advisors showed interest in joining the IMP³rove international network of innovation management support service providers. They were trained in the IMP³rove Approach and how to best leverage it for creating impact on the SMEs’ business performance.



65

Execution of operative programmein Hungary

EU funded programme¹

2010

2%

Total2014

37%

2013

20%

2012

23%

2011

14%

1: “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs” managed by EASMESource: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

Development of the Hungarian Network of IMP³rove trained Consultants and Business Advisors

Figure 6: Development of the Hungarian network of IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors

The launch of the European Union’s programme on “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs” stimulated the interest of members of the Enterprise Europe Network partners in Hungary to join the IMP³rove network and get trained in this approach for better innovation management support for SMEs.



Impact from the IMP³rove Services within the Operative Programme in Hungary Given the general level of proficiency in innovation management, Hungary already has a solid position but there remains potential for further improvement. Currently, it is ranked on position 35 in the Global Innovation Index report 20142 following Latvia and outperforming the UAE. In this context, the IMP³rove innovation management support services can contribute to the further development of innovation management capabilities both on the SME level as well as on the level of innovation management support providers.

IMP³rove Services Rendered in Hungary By providing support during the innovation management assessment and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the SME’s innovation management capabilities, the companies learned about the key success factors of innovation management. In addition they can learn from others in regards to further developing their competitiveness. As of January 2015, 272 Hungarian companies successfully completed the IMP³rove Assessment on innovation management. Out of these 272 companies, 33 completed the IMP³rove Root/Cause Analysis to gain a better understanding of the underlying reasons why competitors might be better in innovation management. 25 Hungarian companies were interested in sustainability driven innovation management (SDIM) and benchmarked themselves against their competitors in this area to learn how sustainability can be leveraged as driver for innovation and how sustainable their innovation management is.

Figure 7: IMP³rove services delivered in Hungary

2 Global Innovation Index Report 2014 – The Human Factor in Innovation: https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/content.aspx?page=gii-full-report-2014



Most of the Hungarian companies involved an IMP³rove trained consultant or business advisor to perform the IMP³rove assessments. The 65 IMP³rove trained consultants participated in basic training on innovation management and some of them also on innovation management consulting.

With the SMEs and the IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors, a first community for an IMP³rove powered innovation eco-system is established.

Impact of the IMP³rove Services on Hungarian Companies The impact of the IMP³rove services on Hungarian companies is described by reach and by innovation management capabilities. Furthermore, the positive feedback that has been provided by the assessed companies as well as by the IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors is consolidated in the below sections.

Reach of the IMP³rove Services in Hungary between 2012 and 2013

The SMEs that benefitted from the IMP³rove services mainly came from the commercial centers in Hungary - with the highest population coming from the Budapest area.

Number of Hungarian SMEs benefitting from the IMP³rove services between 2012 and 2013 by postal code area

N = 173; first digit of postal codes provided by SMEs are indicated per region.Source: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

67

1

3

8

12

4

6

18

7

12

19

8

9

10

5

52

22

Figure 8: Geographic distribution of SMEs benefitting from IMP³rove between 2012 and 2013

The split by industry sector shows a high population in the knowledge intensive service sector followed by the sector of machinery and equipment including plant construction and the ICT/Electrical/ Optical sector. The SMEs that benefitted from the IMP³rove Assessment are from the smaller segment of SMEs. This translates to the majority having less than 20 employees whilst only very few are from the segment of 100 to 205 employees as illustrated by the below figures.



8

8

71

108

59(55%)

31(29%)

55

2013

65

28(43%)

17(26%)

31

2012

Bio Technology

Textile

Space and Aeronautics, Automotive

Knowledge intensive services

Machinery / equipment

ICT / Electrical / Optical

Food / beverages

9

7

2013

65

42(65%)

16(25%)

2012

108

53(49%)

46(43%)

21 - 100

<= 20

101 - 250

Distribution by industry Distribution by company size class

Companies by Industry and Size Class

Source: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

Figure 9: Overview on assessed Hungarian SMEs by industry and size class

The population of the Hungarian SMEs in the international IMP³rove benchmarking database shows an equal size of companies that are in their first decade since foundation and companies that are 11 or more years old.

Split of Hungarian Companies benefitting from the IMP³rove services between 2012 and 2013 by age in years

6-1022%

>252%

11-2547%

<=528%


Figure 10: Split of Hungarian companies that benefitted from the IMP³rove Services between 2012 and 2013

The evaluation of these companies has been based on the five dimensions of the IMP³rove Assessment. The results and scores of these companies are presented in the following chapter.



Scores of the Hungarian SMEs that Completed the IMP³rove Assessment between 2012 and 2013

The companies that completed the IMP³rove Assessment between 2012 and 2013 are compared to other companies within their size class based on the five key dimensions of innovation management. The benchmark is defined by the average of the 10 percent of the sample that reached the highest score in the dimensions “Innovation results”. This score is calculated based on the growth of the SME during the last 4 years in terms of revenue, profit, number of employees and organic growth (e.g. not by acquisitions).

The charts below show that all companies in the sample – growth champions and average SMEs – have room for improvement in all dimensions. Small SMEs with up to 20 employees score lower than the larger SMEs with 20 to 100 employees in terms of innovation strategy, innovation organization and culture, innovation life cycle processes and innovation enabling factors. A reason for this can be the fact that the larger SMEs have already in place some features for managing innovation.

In terms of growth in revenue, profit, and in number of employees, the smaller SMEs tend to achieve a higher value than the cohort of the larger companies would. This is related to the fact that the growth is measured in percentages and not in absolute values. Therefore, smaller companies with less than 20 employees can achieve a substantial growth rate in number of employees only by having an addition of one or two staff members. This could already translate to a 10 to 20 percent growth - while a company with 100 employees would need to hire 10 to 20 employees to reach the same level of growth.

In the dimensions of innovation strategy and innovation culture, there is hardly a difference between the “Growth Champions” and the average within the two cohorts. In the cohort of the larger SMEs, the growth champions outperform the average in the management of the innovation life cycle processes and a little less but still in the dimension of innovation enabling factors.

62%

68%

42%43%

30%

63%

68%

54%46%

49%

Innovation strategy

Innovationorganization and

culture

Innovation lifecycle processes

Enablingfactors

Innovationresults

Overview of IMP³rove Assessment Results of Hungarian SMEs (scores)

Companies having up to 20 FTE Companies having 21-100 FTE

Average

Growth Champions (leading 10% of companies in revenue growth, profit growth, employee growth and organic development)

1

2

34

5

1

259%

63%

40%38%

34%

59%

62%

43%43%

60%

Innovation strategy

Innovationorganization and

culture

Innovation lifecycle processes

Enablingfactors

Innovationresults

34

5

Note: 18 companies in the segment 101-250 employees do not meet the minimum sample size for benchmarkingSource: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

Figure 11: Overview on IMP³rove Assessment results achieved by Hungarian companies between 2012 and 2013

Only 10 companies have grown to more than 20 employees within the first 5 years and only 6 companies managed to grow to more than 50 employees within the first 10 years. Overall, the growth in income from sales over the last four years - from the time the benchmarking took place - was



rather high with an average rate of 14.2 percent in 2012 and 10.8 percent in 2013 (see figure below). This shows that the IMP³rove benchmarking approach has managed to reach particularly high-growth in companies.

2012

10.8

14.2

2013

Growth in income from sales per year(%, average over past four years)

11.6

20132012

12.8

Growth in employment per year(%, average over past four years)

Note: Sample size in 2012: 112; sample size in 2013: 67Source: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

Figure 12: Average growth rate in income from sales and in employment

The growth in number of employees also slightly declined from 2012 (12.8%) to 2013 (11.6%). The companies’ ambition to grow is rather conservative where the majority state, ”We don’t take giant steps; however, we seek to make rather small changes to existing products, processes, services and/or business models to add value”. Only a small group strives “for radical innovation by making significant changes in the business model products, services and processes of the organization to fundamentally change the competitive environment”3

Hungarian Company Winning the International IMP³rove Award 2013

In 2013, the International IMP³rove Award was launched for the first time. The winner of this contest was the Hungarian company IMPREGLON. They received the International IMP³rove Award from Dr. Sven Schade, Project Officer for IMP³rove at the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, during the INSME Annual Conference in Izmir, Turkey.

The criteria for this award were superior growth from innovation and excellence in innovation management. In this respect, IMPREGLON was a growth champion and outperformed other competitors in this contest.

Feedback on the IMP³rove Services by Assessed Companies, Consultants and Business Advisors

An integral part of the IMP³rove services is to collect regular feedback from the various user groups. Companies using the IMP³rove benchmarking services are invited to provide their short-term feedback immediately after completion of the IMP³rove Assessment and then nine (9) month later as

3 Source: IMP³rove database; Registration forms completed by the companies



part of the “long-term feedback” that measures the impact of the IMP³rove services received. The IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors are also invited to provide their feedback.

1. How do you rate the overall benefits of the IMP³rove Assessment for your organisation?

2. Did the IMP³rove Assessment meet your firm's needs and your expectations?

3. To what extent could you derive improvement measures from the results of the IMP³rove Assessment?

4. Would you agree that the IMP³rove Assessment enhanced your innovation management performance?

1. How do you rate the impact of the IMP³rove services?2. Did the assessment help you to quickly identify strengths and

weaknesses of the enterprise’s innovation management performance?

3. Did the benchmarking report provide you with sufficient insights into the enterprise’s innovation management performance?

4. I think the benchmarking report covers all innovation management topics relevant for enterprises

5. I would recommend the IMP³rove services to my clients and within my business network without hesitation

1. How do you rate the overall benefit of the IMP³rove services for your organization?

2. Did the questions in the IMP³rove questionnaire address your needs?

3. How useful was the information provided in the benchmarking report for your organization?

4. How do you rate the IMP³rove consultant's added value during the assessment?

5. To what extent did the IMP³rove consultant address the issues of your firm during the assessment?

Type of Feedback

Eco-systemactors

Short-term(within three

months)

Innovation consultants/advisors

Companies

Long-term(one year

later)

Types of feedback and quantitative questions1

1. Focus on assisted assessment involving consultants and innovation advisors; complementarily, feedback on non-assisted assessments are available Source: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy; Data January 2015

21

3

92 answers 69 answers

6 answers

Figure 13: Feedback on IMP³rove services from companies and advisors

The following examples will highlight the high satisfaction levels from consultants and business advisors as well as from companies.

On a scale of 1 (very limited) to 7 (very high) the IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors ranked the impact of the IMP³rove services on average with 5.8 out of maximum 7. They were even more satisfied with the IMP³rove Assessment and the IMP³rove benchmarking report whereby both helped them become more effective and efficient in their innovation management support services.

Question Average Rating

How do you rate the impact of the IMP³rove services? 5.8

Did the assessment help you to quickly identify strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise’s innovation management performance? 6.0

Did the benchmarking report provide you with sufficient insights into the enterprise’s innovation management performance? 6.0

Short-term feedback by consultants and business advisors(Likert Scale: 1: Very limited; …; 7: very high)

Average score between two and five Average score below twoAverage score above fiveAverage score above six

1

Share of consultants/advisors stating:

“I think the benchmarking report covers all innovation management topics relevant for enterprises”

Share of consultants/advisors agreeing:

“I would recommend the IMP³rove services to my clients and within my business network without hesitation”

96% 95%


Figure 14: Consultants’ and business advisors’ impact rating of the IMP³rove services



Almost all consultants and business advisors (96%) would recommend the IMP³rove services to their clients and business network without hesitation.

A similar positive feedback is provided by the companies that have completed the IMP³rove Assessment. They rated these services with at least 5.2 out of maximum 7.


How do you rate the overall benefit of the IMP³rove services for your organization? 5.3

Did the questions in the IMP³rove questionnaire address your needs? 5.2

How useful was the information provided in the benchmarking report for your organization? 5.3

How do you rate the IMP³rove consultant's added value during the assessment? 6.1

To which extent did the IMP³rove consultant address the issues of your firm during the assessment? 6.1

Short-term feedback by company (Likert Scale: 1: Very limited; …; 7: very high)

2



A1

Figure 15: Companies’ rating of the IMP³rove services’ short-term impact

The companies rated the support provided by the IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors on average on a very high score of 6.1 out of maximum 7.

Even nine (9) months after the IMP³rove services had been rendered to the companies, they had scored the impact of the IMP³rove Assessment on their innovation management performance on average very high with a score of 5.6 out of maximum 7. And the overall benefit of the IMP³rove Assessment reached a score of 5.1 out of maximum 7.


How do you rate the overall benefits of the IMP³rove Assessment for your organization? 5.1

Did the IMP³rove Assessment meet your firm's needs and your expectations? 5.3

To what extent could you derive improvement measures from the results of the IMP³rove Assessment? 5.6

Would you agree that the IMP³rove Assessment enhanced your innovation management performance? 5.6

Long-term feedback by company (Likert Scale: 1: Very limited; …; 7: very high)

3



Figure 16: Companies’ rating of the IMP³rove services’ long-term impact

The presented results indicate the achieved benefits for companies and innovation management support providers. Further analysis of these results, also in comparison with the international



population of the IMP³rove benchmarking database, can be provided upon request by the IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy.

IMP³rove Services as Starting Point for an Effective Innovation Eco-System in Hungary

The introduction of the IMP³rove innovation management support services have contributed to the development of the innovation eco-system in Hungary. Key players in this system have been involved and now have a common basis to develop this eco-system further.

Enterprises

Enterprises

Developing the Innovation Eco-System

Source: IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy 2015

Education in innovation management: IMP³rove for Students©

Benchmarking and improvementfor competitiveness

Training and coaching in better innovation management consulting

Learning how to develop effective innovation policies

Learning how to best support companies in innovation management

Identifying the investment targets with high growth potential

Consultants Intermediaries

Academia

Financial actorsPolicy makers

Enterprises

Figure 17: IMP³rove powered innovation eco-system

With the EU funded programme “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of SMEs” where Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) partners are expected to render effective innovation management support services, a good basis has already been established in Hungary. This programme facilitates the integration of publicly funded business advisors (EEN partners) with private consultants. Both types of innovation management support providers have been involved in the IMP³rove services in Hungary.

Furthermore, IMP³rove being compliant with the European standards on innovation management offers the (Hungarian) policy makers the opportunity to gain insight into the international competitiveness of the Hungarian companies in terms of innovation management. Even detailed level benchmarks can be provided such as the share of export (as an indicator for internationalization), or the number of long-term innovation projects defined in a specific sector by companies in a defined country or by companies of a defined number of employees (size).

Developing the innovation eco-system requires more in-depth support for SMEs. Assessing/ benchmarking the innovation management of a company is only a first step. The IMP³rove process integrates the continuous improvement of a company’s innovation management capabilities. This part has not been fully exploited by the companies in Hungary for several reasons:

• There were no incentives for companies to follow the entire process from innovation management assessment to improvement and to continuously monitor their competitiveness and growth from innovation as they received extra points only for submitting the IMP³rove Assessment report



• The companies addressed by the Operative Program were mainly SMEs – target group that usually does not invest in developing their innovation management capabilities

• The local consultants and business advisors focused on supporting the SMEs in writing their proposal/ application for the public funds. The consultants and business advisors did not concentrate on value-adding support services that would have a direct impact on the development of the SMEs’ innovation management capabilities on site of the SMEs.

These observations should build the basis for the design and implementation of an effective impact measurement approach and for the future design of innovation policies.



Measuring the impact of the IMP³rove Services within the Operative Program The above results provide only some first high-level insights into the impact of the Operative Program. However, a more in-depth impact study should be initiated.

This impact study should define clear impact measures to be assessed, and compare three reference groups:

• Companies that have received funding as well as the additional points for submitting the IMP³rove benchmarking report.

• Companies that have received public funding without the IMP³rove benchmarking.

• Companies that have not at all received public funding.

This impact study should build on the complete IMP³rove benchmarking approach – from innovation management assessment to defining and implementing the improvement measures – for the following reasons:

• The IMP³rove Approach focuses on the sustainable growth of companies from innovation.

• The IMP³rove benchmarking database allows for comparison with the SMEs from various industry sectors and from other (European) countries.

• The IMP³rove Approach will create direct impact on the SMEs innovation management capabilities and performance.

• Using the IMP³rove Approach will leverage and further develop the Hungarian IMP³rove powered innovation eco-system by integrating all stakeholders.

• The IMP³rove Approach is compliant with the EU standards on innovation management.

Such an impact study will provide the national authorities in Hungary as well as the European Commission with a sober picture on the impact of the Operative Programme. At the same time, it will help to design effective innovation policies in the future. It will also further develop the competitiveness of Hungarian companies and the Hungarian innovation eco-system.



Table of figures

Figure 1: Overview on IMP³rove innovation management support services 4

Figure 2: The A.T. Kearney House of Innovation 6

Figure 5: Use of the IMP³rove Assessment by Hungarian SMEs 9

Figure 6: Development of the Hungarian network of IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors 10

Figure 7: IMP³rove services delivered in Hungary 11

Figure 8: Geographic distribution of SMEs benefitting from IMP³rove between 2012 and 2013 12

Figure 9: Overview on assessed Hungarian SMEs by industry and size class 13

Figure 10: Split of Hungarian companies that benefitted from the IMP³rove Services between 2012 and 2013 13

Figure 11: Overview on IMP³rove Assessment results achieved by Hungarian companies between 2012 and 2013 14

Figure 12: Average growth rate in income from sales and in employment 15

Figure 13: Feedback on IMP³rove services from companies and advisors 16

Figure 14: Consultants’ and business advisors’ impact rating of the IMP³rove services 16

Figure 15: Companies’ rating of the IMP³rove services’ short-term impact 17

Figure 16: Companies’ rating of the IMP³rove services’ long-term impact 17

Figure 17: IMP³rove powered innovation eco-system 18



List of Abbreviations

EEN = Enterprise Europe Network

EU = European Union

IMP³rove = IMProving Innovation Management Performance with sustainable IMPact

SME = Small and Medium Enterprise



Contact

IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy EWIV (non profit) attn.: Eva Diedrichs, Martin Ruppert Dreischeibenhaus 1 D- 40211 Dusseldorf Germany

Email: [email protected]; [email protected] Tel.: +49 211 13 77-0 Web-site: www.improve-innovation.eu

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