Facilitating Organisational Innovation Erasmus Project

Project Title

Facilitating Organisational Innovation

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Creativity and culture; Research and innovation

Project Summary

CONTEXT
The globalisation, the high degree of interconnectivity and new technological advances have forced many SMEs to reinvent not only their products and services, but also their business and organisational models, in view of staying competitive in a fast-paced economy. Considering this FLOURISH project seeks to address:
+The challenge of the EU and its Member States to adopt a much more strategic approach to innovation.
+The challenge of the fragmented and insufficiently innovation-friendly EU market.
+The demand for innovation exposes a critical gap: a lack of innovation skills, knowledge and training across most organizations. Given that the majority of European SMEs are involved in global value chains, constant innovation and efficiency are a must to ensure competitiveness in a global context.

AIM & OBJECTIVES
The general aim of the FLOURISH project is to support the uptake of organisational innovation by SMEs across Europe through the development, piloting and implementation of a holistic innovation coaching methodology using a multilevel approach – individual, group and organization.
This aim will be achieved through the accomplishment of several specific objectives:
1. To create the professional profile of Organisational Innovation Coach for SMEs
2. To develop a holistic training course for Organisational Innovation Coaches based on APGICO’S participative innovation model and Creative Problem-Solving protocol
3. To create an effective refresher training tool for Innovation Coaches
4. To create a solid foundation for ensuring the usability of the course for a wider VET audience
5. To increase the awareness of EU business and VET community about the importance of organizational innovation and create the necessary supporting culture for that
6. To provide EU SMEs with open educational resources in the field of organizational innovation

ACTIVITIES & RESULTS
The project partnership developed 4 Intellectual Outputs:
O1: Organisational Innovation Coach for SME – Professional Profile
Describes the importance of coaching for the development of innovation at SMEs, determines who the innovation coach is, defines the tasks and responsibilities of the innovation coach and the respective knowledge, skills and competences an innovation coach should have.
O2: FLOURISH Curriculum, Course and Manual for learners
The Curriculum describes in detail the overall course design for training of Organisational Innovation Coaches for SMEs, including training sessions, session objectives and intended learning outcomes, class layout, procedures and timings. The Manual for Learners details the content of each module, proposing activities and structuring ways of knowledge evaluation.
O3: FLOURISH Educational Video
The Video serves the purpose of refresher training, aimed at recalling and reinforcing the knowledge and skills acquired during the FLOURISH training course.
O4: FLOURISH Guide for VET providers and Compendium of Good Practices
The Guide is a focused methodological document aimed at supporting VET providers in the process of using the innovative training content developed under the FLOURISH project as part of the training services offered.
The Compendium of Good Practices presents 23 good and proven examples for organisational innovation in SMEs of various industries, sizes and age, which can be used as a source of inspiration for SMEs and as examples during the FLOURISH training.

NUMBER & PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS
FLOURISH is targeted at: SMEs top and middle managers, employees, innovation consultants, training and VET providers, people responsible for innovation or HR management, and business-related young graduates.
For the development of IO1 in-depth interviews with 28 matter experts from the five partner countries were conducted. During the pilot courses of IO2 representatives from 86 SMEs and VET providers were trained. IO3 was screened by 38 experts. IO4 was reviewed by 22 VET providers.
A joint-staff training event “Organisational Innovation Transfer Workshop” with 16 participants took place in December 2018 in Kaunas.
Partners conducted 7 multiplier events (2 online and 4 F2F), reaching 379 stakeholders.

IMPACT & LONGER TERM BENEFITS
Local and regional impact: Following the FLOURISH methodology SMEs will be able to introduce new forms of work organisation, ensure stronger employee participation in innovation processes, advance the managerial techniques and draw lessons to build on in their continuous improvement.
National impact: Partner countries will benefit from raising the number of SMEs adopting organisational innovation and producing products with a higher added value. FLOURISH open-access training content will be an easy way for VET providers at national level to modernize their programmes without investing additional funds.
European impact: The FLOURISH outputs are widely applicable, available in 6 languages (IO3 in 13) and can be further developed beyond the countries involved in the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 216150 Eur

Project Coordinator

EUROPEAN CENTER FOR QUALITY OOD & Country: BG

Project Partners

• Apgico – Associação Portuguesa de Criatividade e Inovação
• CSONGRAD COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
• Aidlearn, Consultoria em Recursos Humanos Lda.
• SPOLECZNA AKADEMIA NAUK
• Kauno mokslo ir technologiju parkas