Dissemination, marketing & design of innovation

Dissemination, marketing & design of innovation

DISSEMINATION & MARKETING OF INNOVATIONS – CLUSTER, REPORT DECEMBER 2ND, 2003

Questions in the morning

In the morning session, the following questions were discussed:

How much do we have to work in the cluster?
5% is considered to be a minimum. But the Commission wants to strengthen the IP community. Lifestyle AM will not be available from January 2004 on to carry the process. This will be a matter of the IPs. There should be an interest of the cluster to seek the resources needed for continued successful work together.

THE THREE AREAS OF WORK
Three areas of work have been identified:
- Marketing & dissemination
- How to involve SMEs?
- How to exploit IP results (generation of economic impact)?

Marketing and dissemination
– Inventory of a project
– How to find new markets, industries and end-users
– How to disseminate to other countries
– How to disseminate to governmental bodies
– Specific marketing activities

Analyses of end-users need
– Common items
– Planning

How to involve SMEs
Identified topics
– Inventory of common issues
– Agenda
– Tasks for the group
Discussions
– SMEs have trouble in handling their IPR.
• SMEs are involved in these issues in today’s practice’?
• Consolidate the discussion in a number of resources
• A closer relation to the network of excellences, design for all, etc.
• Support in the choice and definition of a good business model.
• How to measure creative capital in SMEs – they need help to manage this.
– Tasks for the group: finding resources, maybe through the eu-cluster.net

Economic impact
– Deliverables: a methodology to set up a strategic implementation plan. Important to see how we early can involve new “observers” in the projects.
– Critical success factors for the dissemination
– Setting up a marketing strategy
– How to monitor the critical factors economic success.
– Opportunities for support of (different kinds of) successful projects to increase economic impact.

Questions in the afternoon session

Integration of ideas of 3 subgroups
- linkages / overlaps with the SME growth & KM group
- use case studies as a vehicle to convey (best) practices in dissemination

Two main focus actions:
(1) Organise “horizontal observers” of running projects in order to involve them and use their feedback.
How to deal with the payment of these observers? From the cluster budgets.
This idea meets support from the group.

(2) After project life: dissemination of IP results
Mobilising & presenting SME cases of dissemination / marketing, drawn from finished projects? And use them for European Innovation Award.
Exchange customer-oriented (business) cases from the SME growth & KM group.
Arrangements for further cluster work

Two meetings have been agreed upon:
(1) Preparatory meeting in Eindhoven, at EDC premises, 18/12/03 10:30u
João Mena de Matos (Degap), Patrick Swartenbroekx (Hydroplan), Rob Bilderbeek (Lifestyle AM)
(2) Cluster meeting in Brussels, Zaventem airport (or another practical venue), 8/3/03, full day

Business cards have been exchanged.
The cluster members are requested to fill out their membership on www.eucluster.net (if you haven’t done this, do it now, please. Login, go to subclusters, Dissemination cluster, Membership). Thank you.

SHORT REPORT OF PREPARATORY MEETING OF THE DISSEMINATION, MARKETING & DESIGN CLUSTER, 18/12/2003, at EDC premises Eindhoven (NL)

Attended by João Mena de Matos, Patrick Swartenbroekx & Rob Bilderbeek (report).

The meeting agreed upon the significance of woking with an orientation towards application. The cluster will have to focus on innovation (applying IP results), rather than research itself (if not, there is a serious risk of IPs dropping out). "What's in it for us", therefore should be one of the guiding principles of cluster work.

Furthermore, the cluster will be focusing on how make IPs successful, not only during IP life, but also afterwards. The exploitation of IP results therefore should be a point of major attention both during and after IP life.

Finally, the cluster will be also focusing on how to identify the potential for successful exploitation of IP results, as well as how to select (in the longer term) “good IPs” deserving continued support, in order to help them conquer final barriers towards market breakthrough).

What is the cluster focusing on?
- Dissemination of IP results.
- Market orientation will have to be guaranteed through the involvement of "observers", potential end users and/or clients.
- Evaluation of IP performance and dissemination, via a European Innovation Award.

On a more practical level, we will be looking for:
- Best / good practices in disseminating, marketing & designing innovation can be drawn from IPs, IP partners and their clients / business relations.
- Success factors in marketing / exploiting IP results.

The source for these practices and success factors will be case studies (to be drafted according to a format that will have to be developed during the cluster process. Case studies will accordingly gradually improve , through the more precise definition of "ingredients".
Fro the dissemination, marketing & design cluster's perspective, the key question will be:
- who will be your future clients,
- how can they be served
- with which applications (related to IPs), and
- using which business plan.
As a source of inspiration we can use the concept of "twinning arrangements" (to be specified later on).

Tasks for the cluster:
- summarising this cluster's approach: short text (João / Rob)
- what is the profile of " observers": (Patrick)
o their role
o tasks
o their deliverable(s) / product
- defining the European Innovation Award: (João)
o description
o approach
o planning
- case studies (from a diffusion & marketing perspective):
(Patrick 1st, then João / Rob)
o definition / requirements
o products (deliverables)
o format
o business plan
o collaboration with / supply of case studies through other clusters
- planning the trajectory: (Rob / João)
o draft report (Rob / Patrick / João)
o reactions cluster members
o preparing the cluster meeting in March 2004
- creating / generating the resources for continued cluster work
(João / Patrick)
- preparing an agenda for the cluster meeting in March 2004 (Rob /João)

Deadlines: January: draft report (Rob / Patrick / João)
February: reactions, comments, processing in new draft report
March 8th, 2004.

Meeting structure (rough)
- input: draft working plan for the cluster
- agenda
- output: approved & supported working plan / division of tasks

João Mena de Matos (jmm@edc.nl)
Patrick Swartenbroekc (patrick.swartenbroekx@pandora.be)
Rob Bilderbeek (bilderbeek@dialogic.nl)

Comments on this report are welcome (to bilderbeek@dialogic.nl)

Last updated: 2006-10-26