ECTP-E2BA Conference 2009
Brussels, 24 & 25 November 2009
Organised by ECTP & E2BA in collaboration with EEN & ECCREDI

Innovation in Construction: Taking the lead in greening the future

Report of SME Sessions

Boosting innovation within SMEs!

The SME focused part of the conference came in two distinct sessions. A first part was dedicated to an innovation market where SME were given the opportunity to present their future products (building components, construction materials, site equipment, testing systems...) under development or just coming on the market. Some 10 interested SMEs took the opportunity to exhibit leaflets or other documents and a poster to introduce their innovative products and meet other stakeholders in the sector. The companies covered issues such as new insulation materials, restoration techniques, special sensors, on site automation,…

The second session was centered around SME RTD project presentations and strategic discussions about how to involve in the future more SMEs in an innovation strategy. Over 30 persons attended this session.
Details of the 2 sessions are given below.

The people present in this session represented in a way the massive silent majority which was absent on the conference: i.e. the real small SMEs who cannot afford to come to such events as they have to struggle and invest day by day in the survival of their company. So the people in the room where typically mirroring the interest for RTD in the sector and where composed of 2 real SMEs working in very narrow niches (i.e. production of specialized materials and equipment), supplemented with a lot of representatives of federations, research organizations and agencies seeking to mobilize innovation in SME companies.

The discussions made once again clear that the majority of SMEs are "more concerned about access to results that access to research funding". This is quite normal and fully understandable. Clearly, it was spelled out once again that SMEs indeed need information quickly on demand, on their doorstep and in their language.

It was furthermore obvious from the discussions that large "Public Private Partnerships" on futuristic visionary topics was, especially for SMEs, only a matter of interest for the happy few. Large fantastic European visions are far away and not accessible for the majority. On the other hand quite some support was centered around the idea and practice to put Innovation Vouchers at the disposal of SMEs which could help them finding the way to get accesses to knowledge centres. To promote European integration, it was considered a possible route to make such Vouchers also available at a European level.

At last the present capacity model was discussed and considered not being very favorable to attract SMEs to start up first Research experiences. The programme offers research for free but it is very difficult to attract people by offering something to them of which they do not know the value!

In any case the sessions were appreciated as they allow putting once again the needs of SMEs in the spotlight.

J. Vyncke