The Economic Developer's’ University in Centre-Val de Loire Region
Published on 25 June 2018
France
This is the good practice's implementation level. It can be national, regional or local.
About this good practice
The complexity of the innovation support ecosystem is very difficult for SMEs to understand, induces a global lack of visibility of the intermediaries action and the support they offer. Innovation intermediaries need skills to provide high-quality advice to issue companies with a diagnosis of innovation potential and assistance in the innovation process. One of the main issues of the management of the regional intermediaries was to provide the ecosystem with an effective governance.
- Formalization by an agreement between the network management team and each intermediary member .
- Involvement of the highest managers of the organizations which employ the intermediaries (through the agreement).
- Creation of a network spirit shared among the intermediaries
- Coordination of the intermediaries at regional and local level.
- Nomination of a responsible for the network (Dev'up agency).
Secondly, we put in place actions from the economic development support ecosystem towards the companies to help them to choose the right tool for their specific situation.
- Mapping of the services provided by the intermediaries.
- Visibility to the intermediaries action through a digital portal Thirdly we implemented measures to allow intermediaries to provide highest quality added value services that meet entrepreneurs expectations.
- Design of tools to simplify the tasks of the network members - Design and providing the training for the members.
- Formalization by an agreement between the network management team and each intermediary member .
- Involvement of the highest managers of the organizations which employ the intermediaries (through the agreement).
- Creation of a network spirit shared among the intermediaries
- Coordination of the intermediaries at regional and local level.
- Nomination of a responsible for the network (Dev'up agency).
Secondly, we put in place actions from the economic development support ecosystem towards the companies to help them to choose the right tool for their specific situation.
- Mapping of the services provided by the intermediaries.
- Visibility to the intermediaries action through a digital portal Thirdly we implemented measures to allow intermediaries to provide highest quality added value services that meet entrepreneurs expectations.
- Design of tools to simplify the tasks of the network members - Design and providing the training for the members.
Expert opinion
The practice provides a good example of a regional network for business/innovation support intermediaries as it has been practiced for some time in France, for instance in the framework of so-called “réseaux de développement technologique” (networks for technological development).
The key idea is to develop within the member organisations of such networks the capacity to deliver adequate support to businesses, mostly SMEs, and to create a cross-organisational team sharing objectives and tools.
The practice focuses on a key aspect of such a governance model for business support delivery, i.e. the coordination and capacity building efforts (within the intermediary organisations) necessary in order to reach a high and stable level of support being provided to businesses. The creation of a common identity for all members of the network is therefore critical.
Such practices present a significant potential for channelling rapidly and efficiently innovation support practices and tools towards regional SMEs.
The key idea is to develop within the member organisations of such networks the capacity to deliver adequate support to businesses, mostly SMEs, and to create a cross-organisational team sharing objectives and tools.
The practice focuses on a key aspect of such a governance model for business support delivery, i.e. the coordination and capacity building efforts (within the intermediary organisations) necessary in order to reach a high and stable level of support being provided to businesses. The creation of a common identity for all members of the network is therefore critical.
Such practices present a significant potential for channelling rapidly and efficiently innovation support practices and tools towards regional SMEs.
Works at
Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform
Resources needed
The creation of the network and is coordination involved 4 people. The development of tools needs some financial and human resources: 2 web developers (in Dev’up). The organisation of training session mobilised external expertise, which represents an annual budget of roughly 30.000 €.
Evidence of success
It could be translated in terms of benefits: better visibility of intermediaries ‘offer; capacity building of their team; SMEs’ needs really taken into account; added value supports received; increased effectiveness of the funds dedicated to regional economic development policy.
To prove success we can retain 2 indicators:
‐ events organised by the Economic Developer university (32 events for 749 attendees in 2017)
‐ companies met by the network (1012 in 2017 and 6634 since 2010)
To prove success we can retain 2 indicators:
‐ events organised by the Economic Developer university (32 events for 749 attendees in 2017)
‐ companies met by the network (1012 in 2017 and 6634 since 2010)
Potential for learning or transfer
This approach has a positive impact not only on the public services organization but also how is perceived the public intervention by the regional companies for example. The transferability of this good practices is totally linked with a local politic decision and a global involvement of the stakeholders in the policy implementation in the region. Beyond the methodology explained above, these following criteria seem necessary to put in place an intermediary management: • Trustability to build consensus among stakeholders • Legitimacy of the coordinator and of the approach • Efficient tools • Incentives • Recognition • Outputs (monitoring/ assessment) • Capacity building (of the innovation support ecosystem).