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Innovative SMEs keener to join collaborations

24 October 2017
Dries Faems

Collaboration in innovation only pays off if the companies themselves also invest in innovation. In the Northern Netherlands, fifty-five separate collaboration initiatives in which SMEs play an active part have been identified. This was revealed in the Northern Netherlands Innovation Monitor 2017, run by the University of Groningen and the Northern Netherlands Provinces Alliance (SNN). Of the 624 companies that took part in the monitor, 36% participated in at least one innovation network, innovation test environment or incubator. The more active companies are in the area of innovation, the more likely they are to participate in innovation collaborations like these.

Policy makers and entrepreneurs are highly enthusiastic about innovation collaboration. New innovation clusters, test environments and incubators for start-up businesses are springing up throughout the Netherlands. The aim of these initiatives is to encourage SMEs to work actively with external partners to bring products and services onto the market faster and more effectively.

Top Innovators make active use of collaboration opportunities

SMEs that make over 40% of their turnover from products that are new to the market (known as Top Innovators), make active use of innovation collaboration. At the same time, the monitor found that taking part in forms of collaboration is by no means a condition for top performance in innovation. Some SMEs manage to be highly successful by organizing innovation internally.

STT Products is a prime example of a northern SME that is reaping the benefits of working in new collaborations. This company from Tolbert, which specializes in precision mechanics and mechatronics, is an active participant in the Region of Smart Factories, in which 40 partners from the Northern Netherlands are working together to develop the factory of the future. Menno Kooistra, director of STT: ‘Taking part provides an opportunity for our company to rub shoulders with other innovative leaders in the field. We can keep abreast of the latest developments and share knowledge about innovative solutions. In addition, the companies involved learn enough about each other to join forces and secure contracts from other bigger parties in the future.’

Innovation collaboration more successful if companies also invest in internal innovation

The results of the monitor show that innovation collaboration will not succeed if the companies do not also invest in innovation in their own organization. The Top Innovators are the ones who manage to find the right balance between external collaboration and internal investment in innovation. Companies that do not do this will continue to lag behind in terms of innovation. In other words, working on innovation with others does not replace internal innovation, but should be seen as a useful extra.

Innovation policy: Innovation collaboration as an option, not an obligation

Based on the results, Prof. Faems warns against becoming overenthusiastic about encouraging innovation collaboration: ‘Although it is undoubtedly useful to work on innovation together, it is certainly not compulsory. Some of the subsidies offered to entrepreneurs are only awarded to companies that work in a collaboration. Restrictions relating to geographical and product aspects are often placed on the selection of partners. All in all, there is a serious risk of forming sub-optimum collaborations, which have a negative effect on the innovative capacity of the companies involved rather than a positive one.’

Additional information

The Innovation Monitor generates an annual analysis of the innovation activities, investments and performance of SMEs in the Northern Netherlands.

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Last modified:29 February 2024 10.02 a.m.
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