After years of economic and political crisis, resilient economic growth has returned to Europe, unemployment is falling and Europe is ready to set the foundations for its future. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs are crucial for identifying new avenues to more sustainable and inclusive growth, because of their twin roles in creating and diffusing innovation and providing employment (OECD, 2014). Changing demographics, in an ageing population, climate change, the rise of globalisation and notably with digitalisation and digital technologies, that are merging the digital and physical spheres, are drastically altering the nature, mechanisms and impacts of the innovation process. To fully reap the benefits of innovation, a change in business model is needed. Many disruptive innovations are being introduced quickly on to the market, bringing about complete game change scenarios into increasingly converging industries and markets. The 2018 European Innovation Scoreboard ranked all the countries partnering in the InTraRed project as either modest or moderate innovators; therefore the introduction and implementation of the proposed InTraRed project offers real exploitation potential. The aim of the InTraRed project is to foster the innovation management within SMEs through the building of new learning partnerships between the world of work and the world of VET provision. VET providers are the key educational bridge between SMEs and education. There is a fragmentation in the innovation management process and the onus is on VET providers as key education stakeholders to address it. To meet these challenges, the InTraRed project will develop and provide the following: (1) a bespoke, modular curriculum to support business owners and functional team leaders in the SME sector develop the required skills and competences in innovation management to enable them to introduce formalised innovation processes in their companies and rapidly bring new innovative products and services to the market (2) a tailored in-service training programme to ensure that VET professionals are equipped to deliver the new innovation management curriculum tailored to the needs of their SME client group (3) a mobile-friendly learning platform built to maximise interaction and engagement providing instant access to our high-impact learning materials namely the InTraRed Innovation Management Curriculum and the In-service Training Programme for VET professionals, trainers and coaches. (4) a library of real-life case stories of innovation leaders in the SME sector (5) a thought-provoking Policy Paper titled Innovation Management in the Age of Disruption The consortium consists of 6 partner organisations from six EU member states (GR, IE, MT, ES, SI and CY) and between them cover a wide range of expertise and experience related to the scope and aims of InTraRed and have a pan-European outreach in their activities. These partners represent a range of geographical, social and educational backgrounds which will help to ensure the successful implementation of the project.
The following were INTARED's main objectives: 1. Development of an innovation management curriculum for SMEs 2. Producing an in-service training program for VET professionals in order to empower and support them in understanding and implementing innovation 3. Initiating an observatory of best practices to demonstrate case studies of innovation management and implementation 4. Generating a dynamic policy paper on the topic of disruptive innovation in the context of SMEs 5. Addressing the needs of SMEs for smaill-bite type of knowledge and easy access in a timely manner 6. Disseminating the collaboration between SMEs and VET into a wider audience
The main reasoning for INTRARED is to strengthen the linkage among three pillars within the SMEs environment, namely innovation management, workplace and VET provision. The consortium has long regarded innovation as the backbone of any form of sustainable development and growth in Europe. The abovementioned context is especially helpful during the post-pandemic era, where Europe is steadily ushered into, in which digital innovation is becoming exceedingly important. Furthermore, SMEs provide the perfect professional context for applying and expanding innovative ideas while improving employment. Finally, VET providers are crucial stakeholders in the sense that they facilitate as well as implement tailor made educational opportunities to enhance productivity and growth. The seamless cooperation among the aforementioned components guarantees a large scale sustainable growth.