A total number of Twenty-four (24) SMEs, Startups or Spin-offs from Greece, Jordan, Spain, Lebanon, Egypt and Italy will be supported tackle sustainability challenges and turn them into business opportunities through external cross-border partnerships at EUROMED level, during a 7-month period (September 2022 – April 2023) through the EMPHASIS set of innovation support services.

These Innovation Support Services will include:

Innovation Audit: Investigate SMEs’s innovation potential and capacity and Guidance for improving the performance of its innovation/technology/product/service, as well as achieve its needs for open innovation cross-border collaborations. Coaching Provision.

Benefits for SMEs

• Clear and accelerated path to improve the performance of its innovation/technology/product/ service
• Customized support from experts in the field of innovation in order to jointly determine the potential and capacity of the company for innovation and the steps to be done for improving it
• In-depth analysis of the Open innovation needs of the company and in-detail description of the partnership aspects
• Knowledge on what’s working and what needs to be improved comprehensive view of the company current capabilities, strengths & weaknesses, and opportunities

Exploitation Roadmapping: Identification of potential partners for SMEs

This service will support the SME to acquire a list with potential contacts, that could support the further development of its technology and define the next steps in EMPHASIS journey. Coaching Provision.

Benefits for SMEs

• Identified twin partners that could potentially collaborate with the company and develop joint projects
• Well-described Joined projects ideas per identified twin partner to support the development of the beneficiary SME
• Detailed action plan with the activities, the involved persons, and the timeline, to achieve cross-border collaboration partnerships

Training Seminars: The service aims at building SMEs’ technical, commercial, financial & legal skills related to innovation & technology transfer and prepare them to establish OI partnerships.

Benefits for SMEs

• Upgraded technical, commercial, financial & legal skills
• Clear view on what an open innovation partnership needs

Twinning Activities: High quality facilitation support services to SMEs and other organizations operating in the partners’ Regions in order to support them design jointly new innovative market oriented or high-risk R&D concepts in the targeted sectors.

Benefits for SMEs

• Explore the targeted market and potential collaborations
• Development of contacts with key players abroad
• Reach out to potential external partners which can help them for their OI process

Open Innovation Missions: The services will enable the open innovation management by an SME, which combines internal innovation activities (the SMEs innovation project) with the external innovation activities (the Open Innovation project) in various kinds of open innovation initiatives. The SME will work in-place with a potential partner at an OI project.

Benefits for SMEs

• Support in decision making and action planning regarding open innovation
• Open Innovation brokerage services addressing both the internal innovation activities within the SME and the external innovation ones
• Reach out to potential external partners which can help them for their OI process.
• Increased awareness on existing open innovation tools to tap into external knowledge for innovation in a flexible way
• Free travel to one of the project countries to meet a potential partner in person

___________________

The EMPHASIS project, in which six organizations from Greece, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan are involved, aims to assist small and emerging businesses in using the concept and philosophy of Open Innovation to sustain their business, while also benefiting from a Euro-Mediterranean network that will help these companies expand to new markets. So, if your business idea is competitive, addresses one of the EMPHASIS sustainability priorities, and has the potential for cross-border innovation, this is the call for you! 
Apply NOW to be selected as one of 24 innovative SMEs, startups, or spin-offs for the EMPHASIS Open Call!