Description
INNO-4-AGRIFOOD was set to co-design and demonstrate a new generation of innovation support services aimed at assisting European SMEs active in the Agri-food ecosystem to:
- Create and capture value from online collaboration for innovation;
- Access a broader range of innovation partners beyond their functional borders; and
- Mobilise their networks to timely seize opportunities for launching concrete innovation projects.
The innovative services developed by the project were provided by leading innovation intermediaries and support networks in Europe such as the Enterprise Europe Network. They were platform-independent and supported by a suite of smart ICT tools, based on well-established and mainstream web-technologies. In order to equip the staff of innovation intermediaries across Europe with the expertise and skill-set required to deliver its novel innovation support services, INNO-4-AGRIFOOD also developed a qualification profile, complemented with a dedicated curriculum as well as a series of e-training courses provided via an interactive e-learning environment. The design, testing and validation of all INNO-4-AGRIFOOD value propositions took into account the needs of agri-food SMEs and their innovation intermediaries both of which were effectively integrated along with stakeholders into a co-creative process to generate demand-driven, desirable and sustainable project outcomes.
Q-PLAN responsibilities
- Project management and coordination
- Analysis of agri-food SMEs extracting their profiles in terms of on-line collaboration for innovation support.
- Development, testing and validation of innovation support services and ICT tools customised to the needs of agri-food SMEs.
- Development of case-based training material aimed at enhancing the capacity of agri-food innovation consultancies and networks to support the online collaboration endeavors of their clients.
- Provision of well-tailored, rapid e-training courses to innovation support intermediaries and professionals of the European agri-food sector.
- Awareness creation on project activities and dissemination of results via EU-wide connections and networks.