Call: SME business model innovation

Responding to the challenge of an aging population, research and innovation (R&I) under Horizon 2020 is an investment in better health for all. It aims to keep older people active and independent for longer and supports the development of new, safer and more effective interventions. R&I under Horizon 2020 also contributes to the sustainability of health and care systems.

Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT) includes the parts of Horizon 2020 focusing on new opportunities for industrial leadership in Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), ICT and space. These are areas of key industrial competences determining Europe’s global competitiveness. Aiming at new and breakthrough technologies, this part of the programme will contribute to boosting competitiveness, creating jobs and supporting growth. It will help to achieve the EU Industrial policy1 goals and represents an important component of the EU Strategy for Key Enabling Technologies.

Technologies and services as such do not have a specific value. Their value is determined by the business models used to bring them to a market.

Many current, widely applied business models, have developed for big companies and may be not-fitting or not-serving well the needs of SMEs nor be inspired by new knowledge on innovation in business models. In addition to this, small community-oriented companies, using their profits primarily for social objectives,[1] can build their growth on business model innovation.

The specific challenge addressed by this topic is to enable SMEs - in traditional sectors, such as manufacturing industries, in sectors of particularly rooted in Europe’s history such as cultural heritage as well as in new sectors including different services and creative industries, and the social economy – to innovate and grow across traditional boundaries, through new business models and organisational change. The international dimension is included. For instance, this can involve drawing on successful business models in different sectors in the global market, and developing them for use by European SMEs in the same or different sectors. It can also involve reverse innovation in business models, where models initially created in Europe and becoming successful elsewhere, are supported to return to Europe. For business model innovation in the broad area of food, it is foreseen to organize several events in the autumn of 2015 within an appropriate European level forum. Of particular importance for the new business models will be user-oriented services, cultural heritage related services, social services and tourism. The SME instrument, providing the phased approach and mentoring schemes needed, so that the participating SMEs can build successful strategies to achieve growth, is an appropriate instrument to address this challenge.