ADRIAtic FOOd and TOURism: INnovatinG smes
Food and tourism are key strategic sectors for ADRIA FOOTOURING regions. They are often put together when tackling territorial promotion issues; never, when the tackled topics are the development and fostering of innovative firms, as they are mostly considered as traditional sectors with a low innovation potential. But, technological, organizational, service innovations, supported by enabling technologies such as ICT, are fundamental for those traditional low-innovation sectors which indeed represent a relevant leverage for regional economic growth and which are often left behind by innovation systems. Regions involved in ADRIA FOOTOURING are more or less provided with these innovation support systems. While in some old member states, regions are key players of the national/regional innovation strategy, in Eastern Adriatic regions these systems were recently established and their diffusion is still weak. The general objective of ADRIA FOOTOURING is to boost innovative capacity of traditional sectors such as tourism and food, by improving the innovation environment where existing and new SMEs are operating. More experienced regions will further develop and specialize their starting conditions in order to increase their competitive advantage. Less experienced regions will benefit from the exchange and learning process with more advanced experiences. A mutual benefit will contribute to increase the competitiveness of the Adriatic region. In order to improve the effectiveness of business support organizations involved in innovation services, a needs assessment (WP3) will highlight needs of food/tourism SMEs in terms of innovation and the gaps of the available innovation support system, providing best practices to improve their performance. Two sector coordinators (Food-Centuria/Tourism-Rimini) have been identified which will ensure a specialization of the activities along the project. The tutoring programme (WP4) addressed to partners and other regional stakeholders will contribute to improve the capacities to catch SMEs real needs and build up a proactive innovation environment, thanks to training, study visits and mentoring activity. A special attention will be paid to enabling technologies (ICT) to increase the innovation potential of traditional sectors. Training modules will be made available as e-learning tools. Starting from results gained by WP3, the project will put in place a pilot innovative concept for the innovation support service (WP5), through the implementation of a virtual incubator. The virtual incubator is conceived as a permanent platform providing assistance to start-ups and existing firms willing to innovate, with a set of information on financial opportunities, legal issues, etc. A physical site will be established as well to provide more personalized assistance. Thanks to a wide communication campaign (WP2), local communities, business operators, research actors will get acquainted on the role of innovation. Networking activities (WP6) will reinforce the awareness raising process of regional stakeholders and lead to the definition of a sustainability plan for the results achieved. Main target groups/stakeholders are policy makers, managers and officials of regions, provinces and municipalities in charge of setting up an environment stimulating innovation, managers of other bodies (regional development agencies, chambers of commerce, etc.) in charge to deliver services supporting innovation, representatives from SMEs and other business associations, bank foundations and financial actors, consultants and professionals in the domain of SMEs development. The project will benefit from the characteristics and sector relevance of the partnership, composed by public institutional bodies, a non-profit public-private consortium acting as an innovation centre within the regional high technology network, and private organizations with proven experience in managing local development and innovation projects.