“The unique contribution of management in the 20th century was the productivity of the manual worker. In the 21st century it will be the productivity of the knowledge worker.” Peter Drucker, The Management Challenges of the 21st Century. FLOURISH partnership comprises 6 partners from 5 EU countries (BG, PT, PL, LT & HU): ECQ – an SME, APGICO - an association, AidLearn - a VET provider, KTU - a regional science park, SAN - a university & CSMKIK - a chamber of commerce. CONTEXT & NEEDS ANALYSIS 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 following needs identified at EU level: +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. Providing the right conditions in which SMEs can flourish is paramount for ensuring a sustained recovery and achieving prosperity for all EU citizens. +Many SMEs continue to struggle to adopt the right strategy, business process, skills, or other resources. +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. That has implications for skills and work organisation practices. 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. The main goal will be reached 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 the 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 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. TARGET GROUPS FLOURISH is targeted at: SMEs top and middle managers, employees, management and innovation consultants, training companies and VET providers, people responsible for innovation or HR management, and business-related young graduates. ACTIVITIES & RESULTS A1 Management and Coordination A2 Quality Management A3 Dissemination and Exploitation A4 Development of project Intellectual Outputs, comprising: O1: Organisational Innovation Coach for SME - Professional Profile O2: FLOURISH Curriculum, Course and Manual for learners (75 people will be trained during the project) O3: FLOURISH Educational Video O4: FLOURISH Guide for VET providers (30 VET providers will be involved) A joint-staff training event “Organisational Innovation Transfer Workshop” will take place in the first project month with 18 participants. Partners will conduct 5 multiplier events, reaching 290 project stakeholders. EXPECTED IMPACT Local and regional impact: The adoption of the FLOURISH training material by SMEs will result in their improved flexibility and quicker adaptability to the changes imposed by the dynamic environment in which they operate. The improved skills and competences concerning innovation will have as an effect more competitive companies prepared to face the challenges of globalization, internationalization and mobile labour force. 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. The more VET institutions adopt the products, the greater the impact will be on the VET system as a whole. European impact: The FLOURISH outputs will be widely applicable, available in 6 languages and can be used beyond the countries involved in the project. They may serve as a basis for further development.
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.