Open Innovation Service for Emerging Business (SE631)
Funded by South-East Finland - Russia ENPI 2007-2013

Objective of the project

The objective of the project was to contribute to the economic development of partner regions through fostering the pre-incubation stage of the innovation life cycle by developing, piloting and testing the competitive open ecosystem for interregional cooperation with a special focus on young entrepreneurs.

Main activities

- Revealing the potential and identifying barriers for the development of technology-based business in partner regions based on an open innovation paradigm. - Development and promotion of the open innovation methodology among freelance entrepreneurs, small enterprises, and innovative organisations and collaborative networked organisations. - Piloting the new model for pre-incubation services based on specialized infrastructure and IT tools for support and coaching innovators. - Familiarizing Russian regional authorities with the best EU practices in the field of open innovation, new management styles, ways of communication, etc. - Development of additional education and training for trainers, researchers, innovators, and SMEs in the field of open innovations and international business in cross-border regions.

Achievements

During the project, St. Petersburg and South Karelia universities were provided with numerous research and background materials for new educational programmes and courses, young innovators and entrepreneurs, SMEs and businessmen gained access to important information about innovation market, and regional authorities were familiarized with the trends of innovation development and best practices. The project has supported successful integration of the young innovators and businessmen, activities of local authorities for the development of regional innovation systems, new developments from the academic sector forming services and infrastructure, and providing the test ground for the new services. More information on the project and its outcomes can be found at www.acea.spb.ru/OpenInno.