The project aims at offering specific services to 2 different groups of SMEs based in the Brussels Capital Region: the SME Instrument beneficiaries and the SMEs having a high potential for growth and internationalisation by the enhancement of their innovation management capacity. These services will be an integral part of Enterprise Europe Brussels services. Although for the SME Instrument beneficiaries, the proposer depends on the number of successful SMEs granted, a funnel approach will be adopted for both SMEs Groups in order to have an upstream estimation and selection of the SME potential existing in the region. This funnel and selective approach will also take into consideration the permeable frontiers which divide one SME group from the other, in light of the innovation needs and capacities at a given time of the SME lifecycle. The service provision for Group2 will be ensured via a structured process of SMEs pre-selection, set up according to a pre-defined methodology which relies on ad-hoc tools and processes, designed with the aim to select only those SMEs with the capacity, clear intent and ambition to benefit from the innovation management assessment. The pre-selection tool is based on 8 criteria: each of them has been attributed a weight according to its importance. In function of the score obtained in these different areas, the SME will be selected (or not) to benefit from the innovation management capacity assessment through the Imp³rove methodology. The I²BENE proposal addresses the obstacles which hinder Brussels-based SMEs from being more competitive, from growing and creating new jobs, thus having a real impact in the regional economy, and establishing a link between the research development process and the uptake of innovative products by SMEs. The identified obstacles or barriers are mainly linked to the difficulty SMEs have got in bringing their R&D efforts to the market and this with a sound exploitation strategy.

The project aims at offering specific innovation services to 2 different groups of SMEs based in the Brussels Capital Region: the SME Instrument beneficiaries on the one side, and the SMEs having a high potential for growth and internationalisation by the enhancement of their innovation management capacity on the other side. These services will be an integral part of the Enterprise Europe Brussels services. Although for the SME Instrument beneficiaries the proposer depends on the number of successful SME granted and notified by EASME, a funnel approach will be adopted for both groups of SMEs in order to have an upstream estimation and selection of the SME potential existing in the region. This funnel and selective approach will also take into consideration the permeable frontiers which divide one SME group from the other, in the light of the innovation needs and capacities existing at a given time of the SME lifecycle. The service provision for Group 2 will be ensured via a structure process, relying on a contest approach, SME pre-selection, set-up according to a predefined methodology, which relies on ad-hoc tools (and based on 9 criteria) and methodologies, designed with the aim to select only those SMEs with capacity, clear intent and ambition to benefit from the innovation management assessment. In function of the score obtained in the different criteria, the SME will be selected (or not) to benefit from the innovation management capacity assessment held with one of two retained tools, both complaint to EU standard CEN/TS 16555-1 “Innovation management system”. The BENEI2 2017-2018 proposal addresses the obstacles which hinder SME from being more competitive, from growing and creating jobs, thus having a real impact in the regional economy.

The project aims at offering specific services to 2 different groups of SMEs based in the Brussels Capital Region: the SME Instrument beneficiaries and the SMEs having a high potential for growth and internationalisation by the enhancement of their innovation management capacity. These services will be an integral part of Enterprise Europe Brussels services. Although for the SME Instrument beneficiaries, the proposer depends on the number of successful SMEs granted, a funnel approach will be adopted for both SMEs Groups in order to have an upstream estimation and selection of the SME potential existing in the region. This funnel and selective approach will also take into consideration the permeable frontiers which divide one SME group from the other, in light of the innovation needs and capacities at a given time of the SME lifecycle. The service provision for Group2 will be ensured via a structured process of SMEs pre-selection, set up according to a pre-defined methodology which relies on ad-hoc tools and processes, designed with the aim to select only those SMEs with the capacity, clear intent and ambition to benefit from the innovation management assessment. The pre-selection tool is based on 8 criteria: each of them has been attributed a weight according to its importance. In function of the score obtained in these different areas, the SME will be selected (or not) to benefit from the innovation management capacity assessment through the Imp³rove methodology. The I²BENE 2015-2016 proposal addresses the obstacles which hinder Brussels-based SMEs from being more competitive, from growing and creating new jobs, thus having a real impact in the regional economy, and establishing a link between the research development process and the uptake of innovative products by SMEs. The identified obstacles or barriers are mainly linked to the difficulty SMEs have got in bringing their R&D efforts to the market and this with a sound exploitation strategy

The use of online collaboration platforms facilitates the access of SMEs to Open Innovation environments where they can collaborate, co-create and co-participate in innovation projects. Despite these benefits, European SMEs have so far failed to embrace the use of online platforms to facilitate open innovation. The Europe Enterprise Network, the most widespread innovation support service in Europe, is successfully addressing this challenge mainly by organising brokerage events or clusters around interested stakeholders. However, EEN support services are very labour intensive, and the resources available are small, meaning many agents are unable to offer the level of support they believe is necessary. This often results in collaborations being set up, but then failing to realise their potential due to the lack of ongoing monitoring, support and management. The NIR-VANA project will tackle these drawbacks through the design of a new service that will be provided by innovation agents. This service will promote the online collaboration for SME during the entire innovation process using an innovative approach based on ICT solutions, training and novel methods to support SMEs. Three members of the EEN a two other innovation organisations will collaborate in the design of the services that will be later tested by other 10 EENs and innovation agencies. The project will develop an ICT-based layer that will facilitate the work of the innovation agents and will also promote a change of mentality of the SME. Some services will be provided online using a novel Networking and Innovation Room (NIR) where the innovation agents and the SMEs interact to develop innovation partnerships. These services will allow direct and ongoing support provided by the innovation agents to the SMEs, links to other platforms/social networks, increased efficiency for the management and monitoring, and services aimed at encouraging SMEs involvement.