About EFPC

EFPC Project - Boost-IT

Most of incubated SMEs struggle to become a solid reality; they're compelled to face a strong competitive environment with few resources. Though, they're readiness for change, the close links to the incubator organization and its networks, the nearness of other incubated and complementary SMEs, and the frequent proximity to knowledge and technology poles, may be regarded as encouraging factors.

Boost-It gathers into a permanent structure a core group of innovation service providers and small incubator societies, in order to develop a framework (made of services and tools), capable of supporting incubated SMEs through the live-cycle of their own innovation projects. Both the services and the tools are aimed to facilitate the participation of the ACC, and AC SMEs active in the ICT sector into the Framework Programmes of the EC, enhancing the above mentioned positive aspects and boosting the incubated SMEs competitiveness by means of Innovation.

The focus of the project activities is in creating awareness among the incubated SMEs towards the opportunities of the VII Framework Programme, and to train and assist them to fully benefit from those opportunities.

The BOOST-IT project intends to improve the levels of innovation and technological cooperation in Europe - and in particular in Southern Countries, New Member States and

Candidate and associate countries, where such levels are lower – by implementing a range of technological services targeted to what is the driven force behind European economic recovery and growth: high tech SMEs and spin-offs from the IT sector hosted in small scale incubators.

Intimately linked to the above mentioned global objective we can list a set of specific objectives:

·          To create awareness among SMEs towards the opportunities of the EC FPs;

·          To cooperate with SMEs in order to map their potentialities and weaknesses;

·          Stimulate potential innovative ideas in order to diversify their offer and enhance their

·          competitiveness;

·          To assist SMEs expanding proposals to instruments of the EC FPs;

·          To assist SMEs finding the appropriate partners to their innovation projects;

·          To train SMEs to use tools capable of optimising their involvement in European

·          innovation projects;

·          To assist SMEs in the design of proper exploitation plans for their innovations.

The achievement of these goals will be based on the cooperation between a set of experienced InnSP - innovation service providers - and management bodies of small, ICT oriented, incubators – which will jointly develop a new added-value range of services for incubated SMEs. The cooperation will focus on developing and validating a set of innovation services, previously customized to meet the specific needs of the incubated SMEs, and simultaneously on promoting the creation of innovation and R&D structures within new incubated companies and training them into efficiently use set of innovation management tools.

For more please look at: www.boost-it.org