Lack of innovation management capacity is recognised as an important barrier to creating economic impact (competitiveness, growth and jobs) from innovation activities in SMEs. Horizon 2020’s SME-instrument foresees offering mentoring and coaching services to beneficiaries to address the need of SMEs of consulting service offers enhancing the innovation management capacity. Moreover, in a survey undertaken in 2011 for DG Enterprise and Industry, SME´s and SME support organisations considered the inability to manage innovation processes efficiently and effectively as the second most important barrier to SME innovation (after 'lack of financial resources').The two partners of the consortium for the present project, IVACE and INFO MURCIA have both more than 20 years’ experience in providing services of Enhancing innovation capacity to SMEs in their regions. More recently as members of EEN-SEIMED Network they have both been leading in their Region the provision of services in order to help small business to make the most of the European marketplace. Specifically services provided are supporting: • Technology transfer • Access to finance • Advice on EU law and standards • Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) • Research funding • Going international The Enterprise Europe Network SEIMED is therefore a suitable structure to introduce services “Enhancing the innovation management capacity of SMEs” and make available to SMEs higher quality innovation support services where these are absent or unaffordable on local markets.

"<< Background >>During the last decades, technology has been evolving rapidly at an ever-increasing pace. The retail sector is among the most affected ones, with the customer experience changing dramatically. Online purchases in e-shops, cashless transactions, social media campaign promotions, omnichannel retail strategies have invaded the sector.Larger scale retail corporations tend to be way ahead regarding know-how and implementation of innovative digital tools. Retail has changed significantly over time, the introduction of the Internet and other technology has had a significant impact on shopping behaviour. Malls are struggling as foot traffic is down, due to changing consumer behaviour and an increase in internet retailing. Retailers are investing in the omnichannel so that their customers can have a seamless shopping experience between the retail store, mobile, and web divisions. The retail changes as a result of technological change are immense and rapid. Information, people, and objects will be continually linked and networked. The consumer has easy access to mobile devices and has access to relevant information which will more fully integrate the physical and virtual retail shopping experiences, as always the future retail environment will be very different from retailing today. Nearly every element of the customer experience will be altered and businesses will be challenged to adapt. Change is not only cost reduction and increased efficiency. 21st century retailers have challenges like customer experience management, multi channelling, marketing intelligence, seamless and short supply chain, inventory optimization, assortment management, collaborative information sharing and finally a complete business intelligence system.“RetRail – New trends in Retail Commerce” project aims at introducing retail SMEs in the world of digital business innovation, helping them to keep up with their larger counterparts and to boost their sales.The needs that we’re addressing through this project is a transition from the analog to the digital era, not for the large scale companies but for the SMEs, the need of the customer to have an easier and faster purchase experience and, most of all, the need for universal access to such knowledge regardless of a company’s fiscal level. The target groups that we address are SMEs with retail activities, salesmen in retail, sales managers and staff working in retail whose efficiency can be upgraded through digital innovation as well as trainers, VET institutions providing retail SMEs with training and Entrepreneurs’ Associations, Chambers of Commerce and Industry etc.<< Objectives >>“RetRail – New trends in Retail Commerce” project aims at introducing retail SMEs in the world of digital business innovation, helping them to keep up with their larger counterparts and to boost their sales.The expected result and impact to the target groups are:- Owners, managers and trainers of retail SMEs will be up to date on the most important innovations of the sector, and will be motivated to implement them in their respective businesses.- Employees of retail SMEs will hold a higher level of both digital and on-site tools, methods and innovations.- VET teachers and institutions will have a new innovative curriculum at their disposal which will be a hybrid of digital and on-sight retail education that will equip learners with all the new skills that the sector demands.- Retail SMEs will survive the devastating effects of the pandemic by keeping on generating income.- Digital upskilling of these SMEs.- Upgrading of SMEs employees skillset on both digital and on-sight tasks.- Customers will receive a better digital and in-site shopping experience.- VET institutions and trainers will incorporate the project’s innovative approach into their curricula, shortening of the digital skills gap between SMEs and corporations.<< Implementation >>Partners will implement the following activities:- Development of PR1 ""New Trends in Retail"" Guide for Retail shop managers & owners. Partners will identify New Trends in Retail and develop the Guide, along with video series showcasing new trends in retail. The materials will underdo peer review, will be improved and translated in partner languages and then released to retail SMEs executives & owners, who will evaluate them. Based on their feedback partners will finalise the Guide.- Development of PR2 ""New Trends in Retail"" e-learning course for Retail employees. Partners will design the course's curriculum and will develop the e-learning course in the English language, which will undergo a thorough peer review. it will then be translated and uploaded to the e-learning platform. Once ready it will be released for pilot testing. Based on the pilot participants feedback, partners will finalise the course.- Development of PR3 ""New Trends in Retail"" Training for VET & Company Trainers course. Partner will define the curricula and learning outcomes of the course and then will proceed with the design and writing of the contents. Once ready, it will be peer reviewed and then translated in partner languages. Once ready it will be released for pilot testing and then finalised.- Partners will have the opportunity to have 3 face to face partners meetings in Greece, Slovenia and Spain.- All partners will organise 1 multiplier event in their own country, in total 7 events.- In order to support the implementation of the project, all partners will participate in activities related to project management, quality assurance and evaluation and dissemination.<< Results >>- Development of the ""New Trends in Retail"" Guide for Retail shop executives & owners which will be aimed at retail SMEs executives and owners, and it will enlist in detail all the latest innovations, trends and changes in the retail sector, along with examples and cases studies. It will help them stay up to date and motivate themselves in order to implement these changes into their own businesses.- Development of the ""New Trends in Retail"" e-learning course for Retail employees, which will aim at retail employees take the form of a series of modules that will be hosted on a specially designed platform. These Modules will revolve around the main new trends in retail, and will indicateviley be: social commerce — shopping experiences on a social media platform, influencer marketing, online stores in offline spaces – offline shops becoming brick-and-mortar stores, AR-Powered Shopping Experiences - as so many shoppers continue to rely on online shopping during the pandemic, retailers leverage AR (Augmented reality) technology to bridge the gap between the digital and the physical, ethical and values-based brands on the rise, same-day (or faster) delivery, increased use of chatbots, data science-based personal interaction, pop up stores, customer experience onsite.- Development of the ""New Trends in Retail"" Training for VET & Company Trainers course which will aim at VET and company trainers and will guide them on how to implement the above 2 outputs into their curricula and effectively motivate and teach their learners on how to properly use the latest innovations in the retail sector.Some immediate results from the implementation of the project outputs are:- Owners, executives and trainers of retail SMEs will be up to date on the most important innovations of the sector, and will be motivated to implement them in their respective businesses,- Employees of retail SMEs will hold a higher level of both digital and on-site tools, methods and innovations,- VET teachers and institutions will have a new innovative curriculum at their disposal which will be a hybrid of digital and on-sight retail education that will equip learners with all the new skills that the sector demands."

FAIR Action wanted to change mind-sets of SMEs towards apprenticeships, through the activation of a broad network bringing together companies, key stakeholders from employment and education sectors and relevant policy makers. The project was conceived for three countries Italy,Romania and Spain where traditionally apprenticeship and dual system, until recently, were not part of the educational system like in other EU countries. All the partners demonstrated a genuine committment in implementing activities and received great participatory feedback from project targets such as SMEs, students, potential apprentices, schools and policy makers.FAIR project was implemented in a very important moment of transition from the point of view of national and regional regulatory frameworks that launched new forms and rules for apprenticeship and WBL schemes, very often unknown by companies. The FAIR project objectives and achievements have been focused on 3 components: The first component is related to Networking and Dialogue between stakeholders for a SMEs supporting policy framework. The core of Erasmus+ KA3 – Policy Reform, has been reached throught the very succesful activities of the Think Tanks established at regional level and Roundtables where stakeholders had the opportunity of dialogue and interaction with relevant policy makers. The main achievement is the signature of a “Statement of Apprenticeship” which is an output that was not foreseen in the project, but it summarises both a process and a vision to create favourable conditions for the diffusion of apprenticeship.The second component is related to Information and Services delivery to SMEs where,thanks to FAIR Action, Formaper, Valencia Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Commerce of Giurgiu, in coordination with the other partners,have became permanent territorial landmarks for the delivery of SMEs information and support services and for fostering the WBL culture in enterprises.The main result of the project was the development of a FAIR Promoting Apprenticeship Model which is based on various steps from the first informative contacts to SMEs up to customized assistance to SMEs and students /schools to develop succesful learning paths. The model has created a FAIR Good Practice which can be replicated and disseminated in other projects and activities, generating sustainability for the action. A very rich FAIR website Help Desk has been developed, and continously updated, where stakholeders can find guides, matching databases,videos and webinars on apprenticeship for different targets: www.fairapprenticeship.euUseful documents and elearning modules and videos were made available on the website help desk and they will be available to a much wider audience than the one directly touched by the project.An extensive FAIR campaing, launched by 4 workshops in each country, has been carried out through social media (https://www.facebook.com/Erasmus.FAIR.Project/)and institutional communication channels reaching around 300.000 SMEs in the three countries.The FAIR key message to the 2.500 SMEs participating in events, pilot activities, workshops, was focused on how the involvement of students and young people can represent grow and innovation factors for companies. The FAIR key learning issue for the 2.600 young potential potential apprentices and 100 teachers involved in FAIR activities, was centered on the importance of soft skills development to bring value at workplace.The FAIR Brand based on the CSR value of SMEs engaged in apprenticeship was launched and is now recognizable at local level.FAIR project has exercised a strong capacity building action-third component-both for beneficiaries and targets: 24 Chambers’ Apprenticeship Promotion Angels have been trained and delivered pilot activites in each region, involving more than 600 SMEs.The Action, its activities and results have generated a notable impact both at policy level and at target level.

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT:Collaborative/Sharing Economy (SHE) and New Forms of Employment (NFE) could facilitate the achievement of increasing job creation through Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship.Sharing Economy, characterized by peer-to-peer based sharing of access to goods and services, has emerged in the business world. Emergence of community dynamics and the use of ICTs are main agents of transformation guiding the Sharing Economy. It´s accompanied by a conceptual transformation that sees the collaborative work or participatory consumption as an important potential source of employment in the coming years, giving access to the labour market for those who have failed in finding a job through conventional ways.New Forms of Employment have also emerged characterized by unconventional work patterns and places of work or by the irregular provision of work that have transformed the traditional one-to-one relationship between employer and employeeOBJECTIVESThe project has achieved the most of the objectives initially pursuedMain objective of the project was to increase the competences of Long Term Unemployed Persons and Young Work Seekers, and Human Resources (HR) Directors or Technicians, about how to exploit the Sharing Economy and New Forms of Employment to increase Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship opportunities. Only some parts of the training program were finally applicable to Human Resources (HR) experts, because Sharing Economy Platforms are not so applicable to their activity.Main specific objectives were:•Provide the trainees with the necessary awareness and knowledge about Sharing Economy and New Forms of Employment dynamics, including the functioning of related ICT tools and platforms.•Facilitate to the trainees the development of their own Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment Plans using Sharing Economy and New Forms of Employment concepts and ICT Platforms.•Facilitate to the trainees the acquisition and improvement of competences to boost their EPS and SE Plans (creativity and innovation, digital skills, management of social networks and personal branding).•Facilitate to the trainees the acquisition and improvement of knowledge to deal with specific topics like: access to funding, regulatory environments and access to markets.•Connect both sides of the labor market, employers and work seekers in the same training environment.•Provide the trainees real and collaborative work approaches where they can apply the trained skills and increase their employability immediately during the training courseNUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS:A total of 6 partners from 5 countries have participated in the project, covering all the needed competences:•4 Entities addressed to Long Term and Young Unemployed (CHAMBER COMMERCE VALENCIA, ARKADIA, RCCI and CPU) •1 Knowledge Partner (FORBA) working in the field of research and innovation in the labour market including application of Sharing Economy (SHE) and New Forms of Employment (NFE•1 Knowledge and Training Partner (COORDINA) specialized in developing innovative training programs and contents trough practical and collaborative methodologies, addressed to unemployed persons and students.Description of undertaken main activities:DESCRIPTION OF UNDERTAKEN MAIN ACTIVITIES:•Development of a Co-Created Methodological Guide (I.O.1)•Development of Training Materials (I.O.2)•Development of Designed Experiential Training Activities (I.O.3)•Development of co-LABOURative LAB e-Training Platform (I.O.4), including the implementation of Validation of all the Intelectual Outputs developed through Pilot Actions involving around 160 traineesProject Activities has been completed with Management and Implementation Actions including:•Technical and Administrative & Financial Management •Quality Assurance •Dissemination & ExploitationRESULTS AND IMPACT ATTAINEDThe achievement of objectives is divided between objectives in terms of results and impact:Results:The project has developed and validated all the foreseen Intellectual Outputs:-I.O.1 Co-Created Methodological Guide-I.O.2 Training Materials-I.O.3 Experiential Training Activities-I.O.4 e-Training Platform- 4 CO-LABOURATIVE LAB UnitsThe project has developed 4 Multiplier Events in Spain, Slovenia, Bulgaria and GreeceImpact:The project has created a direct impact in the target group through the implementation of Co-Creation Sessions and Pilot Actions, according to the objectives estimated in the Application Form involving 154 unemployed and HHRR expertsThe project has created an indirect impact in the target group through the implementation of Dissemination Actions, , according to the objectives estimated in the Application FormLonger-term benefits; Through the sustainability plan defined, 750 persons in Europe will improve their professional position yearly

The project aims to establish services enhancing the innovation management capacity (EIMC) of SME's of the Enterprise Europe Network. Lack of innovation management capacity is recognised as an important barrier to creating economic impact (competitiveness, growth and jobs) from innovation activities in SMEs. Horizon 2020’s SME-instrument foresees offering mentoring and coaching services to beneficiaries to address the need of SMEs of consulting service offers enhancing the innovation management capacity. Moreover, in a survey undertaken in 2011 for DG Enterprise and Industry, SME´s and SME support organisations considered the inability to manage innovation processes efficiently and effectively as the second most important barrier to SME innovation (after 'lack of financial resources').The two partners of the consortium for the present project, IVACE and INFO MURCIA have both more than 20 years’ experience in providing services of Enhancing innovation capacity to SMEs in their regions. More recently as members of EEN-SEIMED Network they have both been leading in their Region the provision of services in order to help small business to make the most of the European marketplace. Specifically services provided are supporting: • Technology transfer • Access to finance • Advice on EU law and standards • Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) • Research funding • Going international The Enterprise Europe Network SEIMED is therefore a suitable structure to introduce services “Enhancing the innovation management capacity of SMEs” and make available to SMEs higher quality innovation support services where these are absent or unaffordable on local markets.