Background In order to survive today SMEs need to be innovative. (in the needs analysis innovation was defined as any new way of doing business e.g. new business models, processes, products or technology). However innovation alone does not ensure success and the ability to turn ideas into value for a company and their customers is key. This requires an entrepreneurial mindset which turns ideas into action (Zhao, 2005) This was reinforced from a needs analysis with over 140 European SMEs that illustrated the need for skills that identified new opportunities for the business, new ways of doing business and using technology to deliver products/services. Many education programs in innovation do not focus on the business models and channels to exploit innovative ideas. Many entrepreneurial education programs are focused on generic business acumen, managing innovation and are targeted as SME owner managers or those wishing to start their own business. These programs often teach learners skills which are not contextualized to the individual needs of the SME. SMEs are diverse ranging from between 1-250 employees from wide ranging sectors, their individual needs are significantly different. A method of learning that teaches the learner how to gather the knowledge specific to their individual company is key. Research skills is an inquiry based approach that teaches learners a systematic method of gathering and interpreting information allowing the SME the knowledge relevant to their individual needs Reinnovate aims to address this gap by providing an inquiry based entrepreneurial education program for employees in SMEs to develop research skills allowing them to create the knowledge to develop new ideas to progress their company, implement these ideas and reflect on their success. Often SME owners are concerned with the short term survival of the company and find it difficult to have the time to reflect on new ideas Garland (1984) and Steward(1998). The Reinnovate program is focused on employees in SMEs and build an entrepreneurial mindset through inquiry, leveraging some of the responsibility from the owner-manager Objectives 1.Raise awareness of research as a transferable skill (enabling companies to create knowledge) 2.Develop a learning methodology to deliver research skills orientated around the entrepreneurial needs of SMEs 4.Develop ICT tools and learning material to support practice based research and provide a repository of best practice research projects. 5.Test and evaluate the learning material and ICT tools in 100 SMEs 6.Develop a methodology to transfer research skills development into a wide variety of sectors and VET programs 7.Illustrate the relationship between research capacity, innovation and entrepreneurial culture. Partners The consortium consists of VETs and SME representative bodies that through previous collaborations have identified the importance of research as a key skill to allow SMEs to develop context specific knowledge to enable them to become more entrepreneurial . They are: -University of Limerick, Ireland -IAT, Gelsenkirchen, Germany -ISME, Dublin, Ireland -Sialuai Chamber of Commerce, Lithuania -IPA Craiova, Romania -Chambers of Commerce Seville, Spain Methodology The project will be concerned with producing high quality research focused on the practical needs of the SME and building on best practices in learning used by VETs. An SME working group will contribute to the development of every output produced by the project and provide an evaluation of these. High quality research will be achieved by providing a methodology with detailed quality objectives for every intellectual output. The training outputs will be accredited by three Higher VET providers and an intellectual output has been dedicated to ensure the transfer of these results to other sectors and VET programs. Results -One accredited Online course in practice based research for SMEs accredited by three VETs to allow SMEs to develop research skills -Completion of 100 small scale research projects in SMEs -ICT platform to support the above and act as a repository of best practice approaches -Creation of a mentor network of 100 members -Report on on the ability of research skills to develop entrepreneurial culture Impact -100 SMEs learners in SMEs practice based research -100 small scale research projects - Transfer of methodology to a 18 VETs and 9 different industry sectors Long term benefits - Improve the entrepreneurial capacity of European SMEs - Improve the capacity of European SMEs to absorb external research - Provide SMEs with the ability to gather knowledge relevant to their individual needs - Improved understanding of the research and innovation needs of SMEs -Allow HEIs\VETs\SMEs and professional bodies to reach a wider target audience and adapt their services based on the research and innovation needs of SMEs
Small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, are the dominant form of business organisations in the EU. The new economy brings with it many challenges for SMEs. In order to survive SMEs, need to be innovative. However, innovation alone does not ensure success and the ability to turn ideas into value for a company and their customers is key. This requires an entrepreneurial mind-set which turns ideas into action (Zhao, 2005). A needs analysis with over 140 European SMEs reinforced this illustrating the need for skills that identified new opportunities for the business, new ways of doing business and using technology to deliver products/services. SME owner/managers are concerned about the survival of their organisations and find it difficult to forward plan (Garland et al, 1984). It is important for SMEs to develop an internal entrepreneurial culture (intrapreneurship) to support SME owners in growing the company into the future and become more innovative. The aim of the ReInnovate project was to address this gap by providing an inquiry based entrepreneurial education program for employees in SMEs to develop research skills allowing them to create the knowledge to develop new ideas to progress their company, implement these ideas and reflect on their success. Reinnovate focused on employees in SMEs and building an entrepreneurial mind-set through inquiry, leveraging some of the responsibility from the owner/managers. ReInnovate has developed a learning methodology and accredited curriculum to support the development of SME orientated practice based research skills in order to ensure research skills were orientated towards the needs of SMEs; developed the learning material for the ‘Smart Research as a 21st Century Skill for Business' programme and developed an ICT platform to support the delivery, mentoring and development of research skills in SMEs; has tested and evaluated the Smart Research as a 21st Century Skill for Business programme with SME learners in the EU to ensure it met with requirements. 178 SME learners registered for the programme, with a total of 68 SME learners completing all of the modules; has developed a methodology to transfer the development of research skills to a variety of sectors and VET programmes. A report ‘Integration of practical research skills into entrepreneurship education’ describes the process and the results of the programme developed and the recommendations for the transferability of the course and the platform. • An SME working group of 10 SME owner/managers provided feedback to ensure project outputs addressed the needs of SMEs in their sectors. • 178 SME learners across all partner countries took part in the pilot of the Smart Research as a 21st Century Skill for Business programme. • 16 SME owner/managers participated in a survey to evaluate how the Smart Research as a 21st Century Skill for Business programme met the needs of their sector. • 13 VET providers participated in workshops, online discussions and surveys to inform the development of the transferability model. For SME learners that participated in the pilot programme the impact has been the development of a new set of skills allowing them to fill knowledge gaps; develop an entrepreneurial culture; and also the development, implementation and evaluation of an opportunity to make their SME organisation more competitive. The SME learners noted the impact of the workplace project which had directly benefited their organisations (29% noted that it had improved the productivity of the process, 16% noted improved quality of a product, 16% noted that it solved a long standing problem, and 10% noted reduced number of defects in product/process). Participation in the programme has increased the work opportunities and progression of the SME learners and the analysis of the learner interviews and reflective learning journals all participants noted an improvement in their knowledge and skill level through participation in the programme, including communication skills, research skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills. All participants were unanimous that the learning experience had a positive impact on their professional development. For VETs the impact of Reinnovate has been to enable them to adapt their programmes to increase their target audience to individuals in SMEs as well as entrepreneurs. It has provided the potential to integrate teaching methods that develop research skills that are relevant to the needs of SMEs and to increase the number of SME learners undertaking their programmes. The project has raised awareness and improved recognition of work based research skills in SMEs. It has provided VETs with insight into the current learning needs of SMEs and a pathway for VETs to collaborate with SMEs and improve the working relationship between education and industry.