Increasing Innovation Capabilities For Swedish SME’s
Sweden has over 185 000 small and medium sized enterprises. These businesses are the strategic backbone of the Swedish economy and the key driving force behind the creation of growth and employment in every sector of the national economy. Imego are committed to working with SME`s in order to see them realise their full potential. We do this by applying our expertise and knowledge to strategic opportunities.
One of Imego’s primary objectives – to stimulate growth and commercial well-being – involves helping Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME’s) to develop and take advantage of new technology and knowledge crucial to their future commercial growth. Our multi-faceted technical skills and market knowledge in respect of future technical solutions means we can deliver more than technological specialisation. It is our combination of technical knowledge and understanding of the conditions and market potential of small companies that allows us to offer expertise to this group.
Since Imego is a small organisation itself, it is easier for us to understand and utilise the advantages that small organisations have such as efficient decision making processes and proximity to market and technological development. On the other hand, we are very conscious of the challenges that small companies face, such as lack of resources for example. This means we are well acquainted with requirements such as informal working methods, flexibility and close collaboration that are important in order to be able to carry out technically advanced projects together with our partners while working within acceptable time and cost restraints.
Participation in information and education projects
Imego is an active participant in a variety of projects launched in order to disseminate knowledge on the opportunities offered by modern micro technology and sensor systems. Examples of these include the minST project financed by the Knowledge Foundation, the recently concluded MINUT and PheaSafe projects financed by NICe and the project Industriell Dynamik financed by Region Västra Götaland. The motivation behind participating in these projects is that they offer an additional opportunity for small companies to gain competence.
minST is one of several national projects founded by the Knowledge Foundation focused on increasing the competence at SMEs. Within minST we are focused on micro and nano system technology. The purpose is to educate and increase the companies’ competence about the new technology and the possibilities it gives for increasing profitability and creating new and better products. At the same time we also want to develop the efficiency in the cooperation between SME and institute/university. Imego is responsible for the south west part of Sweden and we have in this region visited more than 260 SMEs, performed over 60 seminaries and over 30 competence projects. Read more about minST at www.minst.nu.
Industriell Dynamik is a well-establish net work within the region Västra Götaland, working with technology support for SMEs. These companies need an easier way to get access to new knowledge for their development. Within Industriell Dynamik they are offered unbiased discussions with experts. Since 2008 Imego is a part of and one of the experts within Industriell Dynamik. The aim is to facilitate growth and renewal by a more efficient use of new technology and more and easier contacts between SMEs and experts. The local government in Västra Götaland have allocated founds in order for 12 organisations (research institute, universities and industrial development centres) in the region to better offer this service to SMEs. In total more than 1200 companies have been contacted as a result of Industriell Dynamik! Read more about Industriell Dynamik at www.ivf.se/ID.
Collaborative product development
One tool for creating innovation is our SME-program which supports innovative research and the development and commercialisation of new products and services. Imego’s normal step model for collaborative product development begins with a pre-study where feasible technical solutions for the development idea are investigated. Cost estimates both for the development and for the final product are also performed. Parallel to this, the customer company investigates the market potential and earning potential for the product.
Depending on the result of the preliminary pre-study, Imego can partially finance the
continued development project along with the SME (we apply the EU definition of an
SME - less than 250 employees and less than 25% ownership by a corporate group).
Financing always takes the form of a price reduction for Imego’s part of the project work. This is offset against a later payment in the form of licensing or a royalty, for
example.
Contacts with other financiers
In order to provide small companies with as beneficial opportunities as possible for financing development projects, Imego maintains continuous contacts with different
types of financiers such as NUTEK, Vinnova, Innovationsbron, the Knowledge Foundation, the Nordic Innovation Centre (NICe) and the EU. Through these connections we can offer companies advice on the range of possibilities within development support these financiers offer.
Contact Imego next time you want to develop your sensor products!