Effective Innovation Management Support

Effective Innovation Management Support Case Examples of IMP³rove Innovation Management

Support Services for SMEs to Gain in Competitiveness

2016

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


Table of Content

Overview on IMP³rove services deployed by the key stakeholder groups 5

IMP³rove key stakeholder groups and their needs in innovation management support 5

IMP³rove key support services 7

Overview on case examples and lessons learned 8

Selection criteria for the case examples 8

Themes of selected case examples 8

Selected case examples 9

Collaborating with EEN partner in developing the innovation eco-system 9

Effective regional development: Large regional development agency, UK 12

Mobilizing SMEs with a national Innovation Award and creating awareness for innovation management as key for success 15

Coaching for better innovation management performance: Web-based coaching for EEN-members, EU 17

Developing a better understanding of firm´s innovation management capacities: Coaching managers on interpreting the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report 18

“IMP³rove for Students”: Engaging academia in the IMP³rove-powered innovation eco-system 21

Research on demand based on firm-level data on innovation management to support innovation policy development and implementation 25

Development of a targeted high-growth industry sector on a national level: Technical support to a public agency outside of Europe 27

Abbreviations 30

About the IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy 31


Executive Summary This collection of case examples of IMP³rove innovation management support services to gain in

competitiveness illustrates both the needs of the key stakeholders in the innovation eco-systems and how they

are addressed with a wide variety of effective support services utilizing the IMP³rove offerings.

Overall the knowledge about innovation management and its impact on competitiveness and future sustainable

growth has increased in the past. 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 convince and support the SMEs in developing innovation management capabilities. Policy makers

and financial actors require more transparency on the SMEs’ innovation management performance and

development potential to design effective innovation policies and investment strategies. And finally academic

institutions need to review their curriculum and teaching approaches to increase their students employability.

Figure 1 Stakeholders in the innovation eco-system and their specific requirements

The case examples that we have collected highlight how these needs can be addressed effectively and what

impact has been achieved. In a South-Eastern country national innovation management benchmarking data

from SMEs enriched the national annual innovation report and innovation award presented by the nation’s

president. In UK effective regional development builds on benchmarking of high-growth SMEs and on the

training in innovation management of SME managers as well as the intermediaries and business advisors. The

national innovation award in another large country with 80 million inhabitants initiated by the association for

export oriented companies has mobilised 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 in improving their innovation management support services and

delivery. Finalists of the International IMP³rove Award received feedback and coaching on how to further


improve their competitiveness building on better innovation management capabilities. Several academic

institutions have incorporated practical experience in innovation management benchmarking in their master

programmes. “IMP³rove for Students” brings together SMEs, the academic institution and the students as

future interns or even employees. Given the largest global databases on innovation management in SMEs

several public institutions make use of the insights that research generates here. In one case, they focused

their support services on the ICT sector.

These examples highlight the benefit that the innovation management support services offered by IMP³rove -

European Innovation Management Academy has developed addressing the different needs of the innovation

eco-systems key stakeholders.

Figure 2 IMP³rove service range

This IMP³rove service portfolio helps to develop a “common” language in innovation management, and hence

reduces transaction cost within the innovation eco-system. It also strengthens the interlinkages between the

various stakeholder groups.

The following case examples will illustrate the richness and the versatility of the IMP³rove innovation

management support services. They feature different challenges that selected stakeholders faced when trying

to generate impact from improved innovation management capabilities on economic development. An overview

on the IMP³rove services deployed by the various stakeholder groups demonstrates the breadth of the support

offered. The case examples presented in this document illustrate how the various IMP³rove services have been

implemented either in a singular way or as a combination of several IMP³rove services. Some case examples

show how more than just one stakeholder of the innovation eco-system benefited from implementing the

IMP³rove services.


Overview on IMP³rove services deployed by the

key stakeholder groups There are many different stakeholder groups with very different needs in innovation management support.

These needs are addressed with 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 the IMP³rove support services have very different

needs as they fulfil very different functions in the innovation eco-system and in the value chain of innovation

management support. The final customers are the enterprises. Given the origin of the IMP³rove – European

Innovation Management Academy, the focus has been on small and medium sized enterprises. They need

training, coaching, consulting in innovation management, networking with innovative business partners, and

recognition as innovative organization.

This demand it 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, intermediaries themselves need training, coaching, and consulting in innovation management and

how to deliver these innovation management support services most effectively to their clients. Investors –

whether private or public - would like to understand what type of innovative company is worth the money that

they want to invest in, preferably based on a rather objective assessment. Public investors develop policies

that provide the framework to finance enterprises in developing their innovation management capabilities for

competitiveness and sustainable growth. These policy makers need to understand the key success factors of

innovation management in the different types of enterprises (start-ups/established companies, high-growth

companies, small, medium-sized, large enterprises, 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 basics knowledge of what is innovation

management is and why is it is important for enterprises’ future, their competitiveness and development, how it

affects jobs’ creation and regional development, and what constituents in the innovation eco-system influence

the skill development in innovation management.

Achieving transparency in innovation management success factors and capabilities establishes the baseline for

support actions, both within organizations and within the innovation eco-system. It is of key importance to know

where enterprises, have their gaps and strengths 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 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 in high growth companies

Success factors in IM support

Building innovation eco-systems

Visibility

Highly relevant: Relevant to some degree: Not relevant:

Figure 3 Overview on the key stakeholders and their needs/demand 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 will allow the comparison within specific benchmarking classes.

It will provide 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.

Key success factors in innovation management support will help consultants, business advisors and

intermediaries to develop effective support services in this area. It will also support 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 countries.

Innovation and how organizations manage it, play a key role. Therefore, intermediaries and policy makers look

for effective approaches to building strong innovation eco-systems that have low transaction cost, attract high-

value jobs and create a sustainable economic environment.

The common denominator of these needs and demand is the creation of impact from effective innovation

management for competitiveness, job- and wealth-creation. Taking this demand and needs into account, the

IMP³rove innovation management support services have been developed and continuously refined to the

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,

IMP³rove Award and events. These services are geared towards creating impact for those who use these

services or introduce it within their respective area of responsibility, be it on the level of the

• individual staff member

• organization

• value chain or innovation eco-system

• 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 in high growth companies

Research, Assessment, Technical Assistance

Success factors in IM support

Research, Assessment, Technical Assistance

Building innovation eco-systems

Technical Assistance, Consulting, Coaching

Visibility Award, Events

Figure 4 Matching needs and demand with IMP³rove support services

In the following sections, some 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, to also benefit from these proven support services. Each case example will describe the stakeholder,

their need/demand for innovation management support, how this support was delivered, and what impact has

been 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 on 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 have been selected based on 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

They 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 rather different themes and illustrate the versatility of the IMP³rove support

services. The themes include:

• Collaboration with EEN partners in different activities

• Effective regional development

• Mobilizing 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, EU

• Developing a better understanding of firm´s innovation management capacities: Coaching managers on

interpreting the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report

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

• 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 up-take of

the IMP³rove innovation management support services.

Collaborating with EEN partner in developing the innovation eco-

system

The stakeholders

The EEN partner based in South-Eastern 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 organization has its own innovation

council consisting of national and international experts from academia. They offer innovation support to

enterprises, to public institutions in developing regional or national innovation policies. Each year they publish

the national innovation index and organize an innovation award.

The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support

Given the broad range of activities, the EEN partner was seeking support in very different areas. They were

looking for qualification of their staff members in the IMP³rove Approach to be able to deliver the services under

the grant on “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity” of SMEs. For their national innovation index and

their innovation award they were looking for enhancements in comparison to the previous editions.

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 South Eastern EU country that completed the IMP³rove

Assessment

These data were the basis to contribute a complementary chapter on in the annual innovation index2 building

on the IMP³rove benchmarking database. Following the introduction of the IMP³rove Assessment and the data

analysis, IMP³rove Academy also provided their experience in implementing an innovation award based on the

IMP³rove Assessment. This annual award ‘Innovative Enterprise of the Year’ is given by the country’s

President, to local companies or organizations for successful innovation.

The EEN partner was invited to the International IMP³rove Roundtable to share their view on developing

innovation eco-systems and to discuss with the experts successful approaches to foster cohesion with

innovation.

2 Innovate.bg, p.29-32


Figure 6 Completed IMP³rove Assessment by Bulgarian 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 reached even a score of 6.5 on

average. By assisting the SMEs during the IMP³rove Assessment and in 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 programs on actual data from SMEs and from the feedback they receive from the business

advisors. The macro level data of the national index, is complemented with first data on key characteristics

on the Bulgarian panel of 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 eco –system. 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 step-wise approach from training business advisors and intermediaries in innovation management related

topics, through supporting SMEs in developing their innovation management capabilities and competitiveness,

to including data analyses in the national innovation index and drawing on the expertise of 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 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.” Between 2015 and 2018 the regional development agency

aims at supporting between 2,400 and 3,000 SMEs “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 staff that is able to deliver them.


The regional development agency needs to identify and support those companies that have the potential to

contribute to the targets that they have set, in an effective and efficient manner. The challenge is to define the

right selection criteria that will be applicable to a wide variety of industry sectors and types of companies (small,

large, young, owner-led or managed by employed CEO, etc.). Only then the selection of the companies will be

considered objective and fair. Adequate tools for the assessment and selection of the companies were

necessary. Furthermore, staff members were required, who have the skills to approach companies for such an

assessment and conduct the assessments in a manner that both the company as well as the regional

development agency can benefit from it. 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.

Apart from the regional development agency, also the local SMEs required training in innovation management

to develop their skills and capabilities in this area. This need is partially covered by external training providers

and partially by the agency’s own staff.


IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy started with basic training to ensure appropriate

knowledge transfer on innovation management to selected staff members. 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 IMP³rove Assessment report. During the coaching the situation of the

client was analysed considering the industry sector specifics and the company size and level of the SME’s

ambition to grow by innovation. Selected team members participated in the beginner’s courses on “Introduction

to Action Plan Development” and on “Introduction to Innovation Strategy Development”.


Figure 7 Example of demand-driven, customized training support across stakeholders

In order to extend the knowledge transfer with an IMP³rove training directly to local SMEs and to their own

staff, the regional development agency organized 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. About 50% of the firms in UK that completed

the IMP³rove Assessment indicate that they do not have an innovation strategy. In other countries it is only

25% on average. During this one-day training, only a few aspects of the innovation strategy development can

be addressed. The “account managers” were asked to support the SMEs afterwards in detailing and finalizing

the innovation strategy. This revealed the need for further training of the account managers in innovation

strategy development. Some of them have 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 rendering innovation management support services, the regional

development agency provided ideas how the IMP³rove training courses can incorporate case examples from

their region. Thus the training program is customized even further to the agency’s specific requirements. During

the basic course on “Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach” the standard case example is replaced by a case

example from the local SME community. This case example that is used in the role plays 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 is more room for adapting the training format to

their specific needs. The groups appreciate the detailed discussion of the Assessment Questionnaire, which,

as they say, gives them the opportunity to reflect on how they experienced the assessment sessions prior to

the training. At the same time, as they have access to their clients’ reports, they are 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 has several win effects, mentioned in the section below.


Impact achieved

The impact is achieved within the agency’s organization as well as in within their stakeholders, the SMEs.

This is the starting point for the development of an innovation eco-system. 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 for 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 an asset.

Within the team they use a “common language” when discussing innovation management issues. This

increases the effectiveness and efficiency in the interactions and helps to offer consistent support services to

their clients.

With the use of case examples from local companies the IMP³rove training courses gain in relevance for the

participants’ day-to-day work, and help them to directly use the new knowledge and experience in practice.

Moreover, it gives them the opportunity to use the time during the training to prepare the work they would

have otherwise had to do anyway and receive 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 has been turned around 180 degrees and she is now feeling not only better prepared to give

her client constructive feedback, but also is excited about the work and convinced about the value of

assessing innovation management with a structured tool. The other participants in the training mentioned

that working on an example from among their own clients’ pool, has helped them understand the approach

they should use for other clients in a very concrete rather than abstract way. As the training was

concentrated on the “hands on” approach, they said it was probably the most practical training they have

ever participated in and no part of it was boring. They are already looking forward to participating in the next

levels of training and mentioned that they strongly believe 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 EEN

members on the IMP³rove Approach. They demonstrated how they have integrated it into their support

services to local SMEs. Thus the benefits and impact of the approach was presented by business advisors to

business advisors.


The regional development agency can gain in effectiveness by

• better integration of the different approaches they have selected for innovation management support

• integrating even more stakeholders if the innovation eco-system

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 more, effectiveness and

efficiency of their innovation management support services can be further increased.


Integrating the SMEs in their training activities is a first step in 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” program3. The master students supported the SMEs in

developing their innovation management capabilities. This is part of the master program, where the students

get credits and practical experience in innovation management as well as in assessing SMEs in this area. By

introducing such a program 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 export4 defined as strategic goal to “reach 500 billion dollar for

exports and 1.1 trillion dollar foreign trade volume in 2023.”5 This overall goal is detailed for each of the

sectors. The management of the association has 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 management of the member

companies had to be mobilised and had to understand the gaps their organizations might have in innovation

management compared to their international competitors. Reaching out to more than 60.000 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 will be a highly prestigious annual innovation award that recognizes outstanding

performance in innovation management in different categories.


For 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 3 months were left for the contest.

The companies applying for this award expected an objective assessment that is 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. This was essential to identify the international

competitiveness of the local companies.


The IMP³rove online innovation management assessment was translated into Turkish language to keep the

barrier, also for local SMEs, as low as possible. Local staff 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. Also local IMP³rove trained consultants and business advisors were

engaged in supporting companies during the assessment phase. The companies were asked to compare

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


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 build the basis for the selection of the winners.

In addition, international companies were mobilized 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” will be podcasted internationally.

As a result, a regional development agency is mobilizing local companies to prepare for the next year’s

innovation award. They are organizing 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 presented by the European

Commission.



For the association, the international character can be much more stressed by organizing the international

award ceremony that it is fully covered at least in English, ideally also in a few other languages. This will attract

even more international participants.

The approach of the association is a blueprint for similar national institutions. They will need the backing of the

national government to get the reach and the level of momentum to mobilize the companies and the other

stakeholders of the innovation eco-system.

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 the

IMP³rove web sessions. The IMP³rove Academy facilitates 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 of the past 13 months. Many out of

these 126 are participating regularly each month.


Most of the participants are seeking further knowledge transfer for effective innovation management support.

They are interested in additional insights into innovation management topics, but also into practical and hands-

on information 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 and place further questions and provide recommendations.


The web sessions are designed to address key issues of common interest, which refer to the IMP³rove

Assessment and its integration into the work package of the “Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity of

SMEs” programme. During the first series of web sessions, 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 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

A SME that has completed the IMP³rove Assessment was interested in better understanding 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 have not changed

significantly. However, the online business has evolved tremendously over time with increasing competition

from both, small specialists as well as large international online platforms dominating many business areas.

So far, 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, chances increase that players will

diversify and tap also into smaller market segments. Having recognized this potential threat, the company’s

management board decided to prepare for this with a more profound approach to innovation management.


The stakeholders’ need/demand for innovation management support:

The IMP³rove Assessment turned out to be an effective means for the company in order to evaluate its

innovation management system. Going through the online questionnaire step by step, did not provide a hurdle

for the management as the company´s firm size, its data tracking system, as well as the high level of

interaction among staff members allowed the leaders to provide proper 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 5 dimensions: innovation strategy, innovation organization and culture, innovation

life-cycle management, innovation-enabling factors, and innovation results. While the firm´s strengths and

weaknesses in each of these dimensions was apparent, the management did only partially identify the

improvement potentials within these dimensions, 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.

Envisioning that the full potential of the IMP³rove benchmarking report has not been utilized, the company

asked the IMP³rove Academy to support them in analysing and interpreting the results.

Support provided

Having received 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 SME´s innovation management capabilities and

performances. These findings were used to fuel the development of a presentation comprising 17 slides. The

presentation was structured in the following way. Firstly, 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 to catch the attention of the audience later on. 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 process. Thirdly, the findings were illustrated and summarized

along the innovation management system to showcase their interrelationships (Figure 9).


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

In the respective case, the company turned out to have a profound innovation strategy, which was not

translated into a sufficient number of innovation activities due to a lack of organizational involvement.

Furthermore, this was reflected in the innovation results that were comparably lagging behind the competitors

in the benchmarking sample.

Finally, the presentation ended with a potential set of three levers that addressed the core issues identified.

This section was added to reflect on the findings and encourage a preliminary 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 real case examples from 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 intuitively had in mind, but had neither formulated nor proven. In particular,

while interpreting the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report on its own, the management board did not fully

understand the linkages between the data provided and the actual business operations. Having an

independent third party confronting them with an objective interpretation of the benchmarking results, helped

the company to step back and reflect on it from a different perspective.

The presentation pointed at an empty pipeline of innovation projects despite a properly defined innovation

strategy, which was confirmed to stem from a lack of organizational involvement during the feedback

MARKET

MARKET

Business strategy

Innova-tion

strategy

Idea funnel

Innovation projects

Product / service /process / business model

improvement

TLaunch

T0

Time

TProfit

BusinessObjective A

StrategicMeasure X

BusinessObjective ...

Idea

Idea

Idea

Idea

Idea

Idea

Time-to-Market

Time-to-Profit

Idea

Idea

Idea

Idea

Customerneeds

Searchfield A

Industry life cycle position

Searchfield B

…

Summary of the findings

Preliminary conclusions

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

Findings along the innovation management system

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

For discussion


session. 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 firm´s growth in the long-run. Moreover, based on the hands-on levers proposed, the management

board was well equipped with as set of methods to improve their innovation management right away.

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 in dealing with innovation

management issues in general and using the IMP³rove Assessment as a baseline in particular.


For the SME, the external analysis of the IMP³rove Benchmarking Report turned out to be 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 – already scheduled 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 enormous value the

external analysis of the results provides. Thus, the IMP³rove Academy perceived this “feedback workshop” to

be a blueprint for non-assisted companies seeking support on interpreting their benchmarking report. The

finalists of the International IMP³rove Award 2015 in both categories – SMEs and large enterprises - benefitted

already 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

Key actors at academic institutions are an important stakeholder group when it comes to innovation

management capability development. Students, faculty members, researchers at academic institutions 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 and interested in

this topic. Companies as potential employers and sponsors seek solutions for their innovation management

challenges.


Students are looking for leading thinking in innovation and innovation management. Thy 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 organizational 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. In many universities, the key stakeholders complain about a lack of practical


experience in innovation management that academic education offers, and the missing collaboration between

academic institutions and the other stakeholders in the innovation eco-system, especially the SMEs.

Support provided

Building on the common denominator – innovation management – “IMP³rove for Students” educates students

during their master studies in assessing innovation management capabilities of enterprises in practice. Within

one course, students that had already some 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

them 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 as their decision-making processes 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 have already sufficient knowledge in innovation

management, in benchmarking and in business administration. Support from the tutor in case there are

knowledge gaps is essential. The introduction to the IMP³rove Approach takes 1 full day at the beginning of the

term. The students usually recruited their SME prior to the start of the semester so that they can start

developing the presentation to introduce the SME management to innovation management, the IMP³rove

Approach and its benefits with the national or international benchmarking in innovation management. This

presentation in front of the SME management the students will highlight the steps they propose to take with the

management, the data that is required to fill out the questionnaire and the functions required during the 2-3

hour IMP³rove Assessment to achieve meaningful results. The students will 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 on time. For the preparation of this

workshop, the students will have access to the IMP³rove trainings platform where they can complete a test

questionnaire and gain an understanding how to generate the IMP³rove Assessment report with the preferred

benchmarking criteria (industry sector, size and age classes of the companies, countries the companies in the

benchmarking class should be located). During this period questions on content or on technical issues might

arise that need to be resolved prior to the workshop with the management. During the workshop with the

management of the company, the students guide through the questionnaire, respond to the questions the

management might have regarding specific aspects of the assessment or some of the questions. At the same

time, the students will stimulate the discussion with the management on their evaluation: Why the company

thinks that they score rather high in a specific question and how this can be explained.


Figure 11 Steps in the “IMP³rove for Students” program

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 will be handed over to the students for detailed analysis as basis for their feedback to the

management. A date for this feedback workshop will be set. The students will prepare the feedback document

based on a thorough analysis of the 100-page benchmarking report. This analysis will be the basis for the

improvement measures that they will recommend to the management. Strong focus has to be 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

sanitized version in class for discussion. The results will be 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, the impact the recommendations will have on the company’s

competitiveness. The students will 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 they

will implement these recommendations and what business impact they expect. This feedback will be part of the

documentation or paper that the students have to submit as basis for their credits.

Impact achieved

The “IMP³rove for Students” has been introduced in several academic institutions. One technical university in

Germany offers this course every year now for the 4th time. In a business school in the Baltic States the

program has been conducted for several years and already presented in an academic paper on innovative

learning approaches. A master thesis there is building on the IMP³rove Assessment and the impact on the

assessed organization. In another German university, a foreign student is applying the IMP³rove Assessment

at SMEs in Kenia as part of his master thesis. A university of applied sciences with a strong focus on

medium sized enterprises has initiated a master program on innovation and entrepreneurship to develop


future employees for the enterprises in the region. The “IMP³rove for Students” program will be essential to

generate a high return on investment that these companies make by sponsoring some of the students’ fees

for the master program.

For students this program 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 program several times. The tutors and researchers see

the value of the program as it creates the cases that they can build upon in their lectures and their research

programs. It offers access to SMEs that are usually difficult to integrate in academic activities. For the

universities as institutions this program 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” program

For students this program 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 program several times. The tutors and researchers see the

value of the program as it creates the cases that they can build upon in their lectures and their research

programs. It offers access to SMEs that are usually difficult to integrate in academic activities. For the

universities as institutions this program enhances their profile as leading in academic education combining

theory and practice and enhancing the students’ employability.


“IMP³rove for Students” opens even more opportunities to develop the innovation eco-system than is currently

implemented by the academic institutions that have adopted this program. The participating SMEs can be

invited to share experience in innovation management and gain insights in current trends and successful

approaches to grow even more profitably with better innovation management.


Research on demand based on firm-level data on innovation

management to support innovation policy development and

implementation

The stakeholders

Research organizations, policy makers, and 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. Data on firm level on innovation management as key driver for

competitiveness often is missing.


When designing innovation policies, or developing specific innovation support schemes, or identifying high-

potential start-ups the decision makers require data on the enterprise population that they want to address or

support. Only then effective actions can be designed and implemented. The data should cover the different

sizes and age classes of enterprises, various geographies and industry sectors, and include a panel of

companies that also allow for a time series. The data should present parameters that have an influence on the

companies’ competitive development. Ideally these data are 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 program.


A regional development agency wanted to understand the capabilities that have a strong impact on the

enterprises’ competitiveness and innovation performance – and that the local SMEs in the regions lack most.

With the IMP³rove benchmarking databases the SME population within this region has been analysed

comparing the region’s growth champions6 with the rest of the population. This has been complemented with

the data from other comparable regions. In addition, the data have been analysed by 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 peers 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 up-take 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 program as well as the performance

differences between the growth champions and the other companies. For the ministry the growth in number of

employees during the past 4 years was one of the indicator for the economic development of the SMEs that

were supported.

6 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 internationalization of start-ups

complemented their knowledge with data from the IMP³rove innovation management benchmarking database.

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


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 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 web-site.7 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 as 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 program 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

internationalization 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+.


Research on Demand will help local, regional, national, and international institutions to base their innovation

policies on facts and data on firm level rather than on opinions. The existing cases will be used for 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 also applying “big data” approaches will provide

complementary insights in uncovered SME support areas.

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

level: 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, has identified the IMP³rove Approach as the best tool to implement their innovation

strategy for that sector. With the goal to operationalize the strategy effectively, the agency has planned to not

only develop internal capabilities of selected experts in innovation and innovation management support, but

also to create awareness among ICT companies nationwide and mobilise them to introduce innovation

management systems. The agency believes that systematic approach to innovation management will have a

long term sustainable impact on the growth of the sector as a whole.

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



The national agency needed to identify and mobilise best candidates (high potential companies) who would be

suitable for conducting the pilot programme, which included:

• Developing 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 plan of actions in various steps. On one hand, the team of

advisors need to be trained in order to develop the 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 have been combined.


In the first step, the IMP³rove Approach has been presented during a workshop organized 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 action. As the second step, the agency’s

internal team of advisors has been trained at the basic level of the IMP³rove training (“Introduction to Innovation

Management” and “Introduction to the IMP³rove Approach” – a total of 4 days of training). Followed by the

training, IMP³rove Academy has been in regular contact with the project manager and the head of the agency

in order to ensure smooth take up, 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 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 have prepared. In the fourth steps, the local IMP³rove Guides have

participated in the next level of IMP³rove training (“Introduction to Innovation Management Consulting I”) 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, 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 has then gone 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 has decided to

use the IMP³rove Assessment in further mobilization of companies by incorporating it into an innovation award

for ICT companies nationwide. The IMP³rove Assessment has been selected by the agency, as they “found

IMP³rove methodology is perfect for this purpose” (statement of the Project Manager of the group). The

companies which 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 have been 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 has been supported by IMP³rove Academy on

continuous basis.

Impact achieved

The strategic alignment of objectives has resulted in a successful implementation of a process in which the

team of IMP³rove trained advisers has been 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 can be seen as three-fold: the companies gained detailed insight and concrete

recommendations for improving their business performance on sustainable basis, the public agency

developed internal capabilities to provide effective innovation management support services, and the

national innovation strategy for ICT sector was being implemented despite the economic turbulences. By

introducing the element of innovation award, the agency has created an incentive, which triggered interest

among the ICT companies in the value of innovation management.

The intention of the agency is to continuously improve internal skills of the advisors and perfect the service in

the future. The success of the action depends largely on the sustainability in leadership of such public

organizations as well as the staff retention, which is a challenge in Egypt.


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 disproportionate focus on 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. Although, it has to be kept in

mind, that socio-economic situation in the country hinders the efforts, especially from the point of view of

companies, it should also be kept in mind 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 higher.


Abbreviations EEN Enterprise Europe Network

ICT Information and Communication Technologies

IM Innovation Management

SME Small and Medium-sized Enterprise


About 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 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

Effective Innovation Management Support

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Effective Innovation Management Support