Apollon - Platform for SME Involvement

DELIVERABLE

Project Acronym:

APOLLON

Grant Agreement number:

250516

Project Title:

Advanced Pilots of Living Labs Operating in Networks

D.6.4 Platform for SME involvement (M12)

Authors:

Alessandro Braccini (ESoCE-Net)

Project co-funded by the European Commission within the ICT Policy Support Programme Dissemination Level P

Public

C

Confidential, only for members of the consortium and the Commission Services

X

Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement

The information in this document is provided as is and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and liability.

Statement of originality: This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise. Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.

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Executive Summary The APOLLON project (Advanced Pilots Of Living Labs Operating in Networks) started on 1st November 2009 with a duration of 30 months.

The present deliverable, “Platform for SME involvement”, addresses all the activities done and the framework put in place by the project to involve the SMEs in the APOLLON experiments and Living Lab partner activities.

The “Platform for SME involvement” is part of the Dissemination Activity aiming at conducting adequate consistent awareness and communication activities in order to create a strong and sustainable mobilization and engagement of the APOLLON related networks and communities. The Platform can be considered also one of the privileged channels for project dissemination as well as for creating impact and addressing the largest number of SMEs in the market.

The scope of this deliverable is to describe and illustrate the main objective and the rationale behind the Platform for SME framework. The same document will describe and illustrate both the contents and the tools actually available for all the interested SMEs that will approach the APOLLON project, and the logic to provide content and attract these new partners. The description will include, of course, a complete illustration of the web platform section and the different technical tools used for this purpose.

The document will finally describe the actual content and the status of the information provided as well as the real added value provided to the SMEs with this Platform, and the outcomes achieved, and that could be achieved, in the coming project period.

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Table of Contents 1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................5 2 The Platform for SME involvement ...............................................................................................6 2.1 The SME involvement: impact and strategy ...........................................................................6 2.2 The Platform as dissemination tool ..........................................................................................9 2.3 Platform tool and Web Portal................................................................................................... 10 3 The Platform structure and Web Portal front-­end ............................................................... 12 3.1 The APOLLON Platform overall logic ..................................................................................... 12 3.2 The Portal SME Section ............................................................................................................... 13 3.2.1 The SME Section design......................................................................................................................... 14 3.2.2 The APOLLON Web Platform Logic .................................................................................................. 15 4 The Platform for SMEs: tools and contents ............................................................................. 16 4.1 SMEs global section...................................................................................................................... 16 4.2 Documents and Flyers................................................................................................................. 17 4.3 Events ............................................................................................................................................... 18 4.4 Pilot Project Sections................................................................................................................... 18 4.5 Business Opportunities Section............................................................................................... 19 5 The Platform preliminary audience evaluation .................................................................... 20 Conclusions................................................................................................................................................ 21 Annex 1: SMEs section -­ global screenshot ..................................................................................... 22

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1 Introduction As described in the Description of Work (DoW), the platform consists of a dedicate space for SMEs involvement within the overall dissemination web platform: this objective is related also to the project requirement to publish all relevant dissemination materials, with specific interest and/or focus on SMEs, on a specific SMEs section on the portal.

The rationale behind the “Platform for SME involvement” is to provide a framework, a box of tools as well as a methodology and a set of guidelines to involve and create impact in the SME panorama at horizontal level, and improve by which the cross border Living Lab collaboration and innovation process core of the APOLLON project.

The Platform terminology could be intended, as per the computer technology definition, a theoretical architecture (Web Site) as well as the software and application framework (tools, documents and contents) to allow software (in this case the process of SMEs involvement) to attract SMEs and disseminate APOLLON results, methodology and achievement.

The “Platform for SME involvement” is also the abstract class whose actual instantiation is the SMEs Web Portal section and the information there provided.

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2 The Platform for SME involvement The Platform for SMEs is part of the Dissemination Activity aiming at conducting adequate consistent awareness and communication activities in order to create a strong and sustainable mobilization and engagement of the APOLLON related networks and communities. The Platform can be considered also one of the privileged channels for project dissemination activity as well as creating impact addressing the largest number of SMEs in the market.

The Platform for SMEs is finally part of that activity in the APOLLON project aimed to experiment cross border experiment outcomes and foster that strong community able to ensure the sustainability of the created networks and in involving the SMEs in the market.

The Platform for SME has then a dual identity: one more theoretical and linked to the dissemination activity and the framework available for SMEs, the second one is more practical and technical and is related to the project Web Portal tool, adopted to make these aspects available and at disposal inside and outside the APOLLON Community. This duality is however not to be considered independent from the overall project impact strategy but, on the other side, have to be conceptualized as a secondary level related to it. This clarification is not only then a more detailed identification of the Platform for SME involvement conceptualization inside the APOLLON panorama but, moreover, is the clear evidence of the Platform congruency with the overall impact strategy for SMEs.

2.1 The SME involvement: impact and strategy Based on the previous paragraph assumptions we believe important to describe the overall rationale behind the need for the SME Platform existence. As described in the introduction in fact, one of the purposes for the Platform is to create the widest impact possible involving the SMEs in the market into the APOLLON results and the cross border experiments and Methodology.

The Project offers in fact guidance and guidelines for involving SMEs into cross-­‐border Living Lab activities and for helping them to scale up from local lead markets. It provides cross-­‐border testing, as a service to single SMEs who want to extend their market as well as to networks and validates the possible integration of their services at a European Level.

In the specific the Project and the available Platform will allow SMEs to: -­‐

Access to new markets beyond the home market.

-­‐

Access to new ecosystem partners and business opportunities.

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Access to Pan-­‐European user testing, to ensure more user-­‐oriented services and products and higher user acceptance at European level.

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Improve their competitiveness thanks to an enlarged scale and faster deployment of novel services and processes.

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Get easy access to all local relevant stakeholders via a “Single Point Of Access”.

-­‐

Have access to tools, applications, services and infrastructure of the different Living Labs as well as the other partners related to the Living Lab.

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Reduce the thresholds to engage in cross-­‐border Research, Development and Innovation (RDI).

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Have access to the APOLLON Methodology as a strategy based on Living Labs and in support to SMEs.

The processes put in place and adopted, in order to create the expected SME involvement level, are related to the Dissemination Activity and can be illustrated as per the below steps: -­‐

Become Aware: a wide dissemination activity directed to all the SMEs interested in open innovation, Living Labs and user involvement as well as in relation with APOLLON Stakeholders and partners. The activity is strongly based on dissemination and the Platform for SMEs Web Portal (with its general description, document list and event announcement and reporting) is the natural instrument to achieve this first step. The rationale of this process is to let the SME aware of the results already achieved by the project; results that will be useful for their activities, market challenges and service improvements. The instruments available for this purpose are principally all the material produced from the project (newsletter and flyers) as well as the Web Site contents and the results originating from the APOLLON events and all the news related to the project itself.

-­‐

Engage: an activity aimed to get the SME involved at supporting partner level, in one or several vertical domains focuses. The main tool to achieve this step is the letter of support, the description of the specific events as well as a dissemination activity to clearly explain role and benefits of this specific project level of participation. This step is an intermediate level for all the SMEs interested in the project tools, guidelines and Methodology; SMEs however not yet ready to take active part in the cross border experiments.

-­‐

Adopt: a successive phase aimed to get the SME fully adopting the Methodology, tools and guidelines and actively participating in pilot cross border project experiments. The SME can become then Associate Member, participating to APOLLON internal workshops and pilots demonstrations and by signing another kind of letter of support in which they expressly declare themselves as active participants of the project activities.

The rationale for Associate Members is to transform the interested SMEs into “technology providers”, cooperating in the cross-­‐border experiments, getting involved in the pilot activities and having the full possibility to implement their products and services (getting connected also with the APOLLON stakeholders).

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Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement This described process and the different phases, defined as per the awareness-­‐engagement-­‐ adoption schema, can be illustrated in the below picture clearly identifying the three levels of involvement:

The three level approach is also a specific path in the APOLLON project able to guarantee an effective SME involvement and the contribution to the sustainability of the APOLLON results and impacts, in terms also of future cross-­‐border activities and of the European Thematic Living Lab Networks in general.

The “Platform for SME involvement”, as tool dedicated to SMEs, and the process of involvement there described derivates its rationale also from the project Strategy and the overall idea of APOLLON future Community sustainability.

The APOLLON strategy can be summarized as a process that, taking the vertical pilot experiments as an input, obtains specific and important results to be adopted for future SMEs or new Living Labs.

The first element is the APOLLON methodology intended as the result of the four domains pilot experiments (that is still currently in evolving status). Activities, achieved best practices and experiences that should drive into a definition of common rules and guidelines to involve SMEs in collaboration with cross-­‐border Living Lab environments.

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Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement The SME involvement is once again core part of this overall process aimed at steering interested organizations in putting in place domain networks experiences (with two or more Living Labs) and able to produce results -­‐

for the European Network of Living Labs, as excellence cases to build domain network environment on a large scale i.e. health, media, manufacturing, energy etc

-­‐

For the market, as a set of services directed to possible future SMEs interested in improving their business.

The picture below illustrates the process already described:

2.2 The Platform as dissemination tool As previously described the “Platform for SME involvement” can be considered primarily a framework, a set of guidelines, information and tools that APOLLON make available to possible interested SMEs (strongly based on the vertical Living Lab experiments and the Methodology there applied and developed). The scope of the Platform is stemming from the need of conducting adequate and consistent awareness communication activities in order to create strong and sustainable mobilization and engagement to the APOLLON related network and community. With the same rationale, the scope of the Platform, is also to create impact for the project and from the Living Lab experiments and the Methodology applied, addressing the largest number of SMEs in the market and make them available the valuable results achieved by the project.

On the other side and in a broader concept, the scope of the “Platform for SME involvement” is really to provide a set of tools and instruments to address SMEs with various services and facilities, APOLLON ICT PSP Project

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Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement taking advantage of that collaborative business form of open innovative environment in real live, that Living Labs are. That Platform will benefit from the results already achieved by the project, and will inform on the future progresses and the new outcomes coming in the next periods, providing and updating, at the same time, all the tools already experimented and made available thanks to the APOLLON methodology.

2.3 Platform tool and Web Portal The already described Framework can be considered the abstract class, with methods and attributes that illustrate the concept of the Platform.

From a practical point of view then, the Platform for SMEs involvement is translated into a dedicated space in the APOLLON Web Portal. The APOLLON Portal has been selected as the natural originated place for the “Platform”, to host the tools and the guidelines available for SMEs, based on its important nature of main dissemination channel outside the community. A complete description of the design and the logic behind the Web Portal section will be largely depicted in the following chapters.

The solution adopted has been the most natural, simple and probably effective way to make these contents straightforward available and reach the most wide market target for some simple reasons: -­‐

The platform has been included in the APOLLON portal, addressing also the targets of all the portal users that may not be aware of the Platform for SME existence

-­‐

The web solution has allowed an easy and well structured presentation of the contents and the rationale of the involvement process (documents, links and text etc)

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The web platform has been easily integrated with other technical web solutions (such as Linkedin and Twitter)

If the Platform method and attributes (as per the instantiation metaphor proposed) are the html pages, the contents, the information and the documents provided in the Web Portal SME Section; this translation into reality can be also considered also a part of the overall possible scenario.

As described in the previous paragraph in fact, the Platform for SMEs involvement is originally a set of concepts and guidelines, a box of tools reinforced around a Methodology and some real and live Living Labs experiments. The translation into the APOLLON Web Portal is then the preferred possible solutions and concretizations from the Platform to be bundled and made available to SMEs. We have not to forget in fact that the APOLLON project has entering its first year of life and that the experiments and the project pilots are getting now into the mature stage. The idea of the platform has easily been extended to include also other technical solutions than the Web Portal itself. Is the case of the two Linkedin group dedicated to Living Lab, in order to improve and enlarge the Platform technical tool solution. The Linkedin groups included in the “Platform for SME involvement” are: -­‐

User Driven Innovation & Living Labs http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1188387&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

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GNSS Living Lab Prize http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3182438&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

The Platform is linked also with a Twitter channel at the address: -­‐

Openlivinglab channel http://twitter.com/#!/openlivinglabs

Needless to say finally that, thanks to the nowadays available web technologies, these solutions can be meshed up all together in order to provide, to the final target SMEs, a uniform layer and a single visible solution, with various possible media and services (as is now in the Web Platform).

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3 The Platform structure and Web Portal front-end The Platform for SME involvement has been translated into an APOLLON Web Portal Section, with the concepts and the rationale already described in the previous chapter.

The APOLLON Web Portal has been technically set-­‐up by WP7 / IBBT and has entered into final concrete stage after the first six months of the project. The Portal acts as the central collaboration and dissemination tool for the APOLLON project, in order to achieve its potential impact within the consortium, at European level and towards much wider communities in Europe.

The APOLLON Portal provides also the prime online access point to the project (whose aim is to promote sharing and co-­‐creation information). The Portal has to be intended then as a public dissemination tool, making available the contents derived from the project outputs (such as presentations, publications, demonstrations and best practices) with the methods and the processes already described in this document.

The Platform for SME involvement has been located in the SMEs section of the APOLLON Web Site.

3.1 The APOLLON Platform overall logic Before describing the technical details and specific pages of the Platform tool a brief consideration based on the project impact and strategy described in chapter 2 is necessary in order to understand the approach taken for the web pages design.

The logic and the ratio of the portal content are once again related to the scope of the Platform itself: the SME involvement. The three analyzed phases of the involvement path (awareness, engage and adoption) can then be easily recognized, in the APOLLON portal SME section, as per the following schema:

Become Aware

-­‐ Results available for SMEs – barriers and Results for SMEs page opportunities Documents Section -­‐ Documents (benefits and methodology) Events Section -­‐ Events from the APOLLON Project

i.e. Energy Efficiency Page

-­‐ Cross border pilots experiments

Engage

Adoption

-­‐ Supporting Partner benefits

Supporting Partners page

-­‐ Supporting Partner process

-­‐ Letter of Support

Letter of Support page

-­‐ Opportunities for SMEs

Business Section

-­‐ Associate partner benefits

Associate Partners page

Opportunities

-­‐ Associate partner process

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Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement A similar description and a second parallelism can be done (as again explained in chapter 2) with the APOLLON Strategy and the Methodology, derived from the cross border pilots and applied to foster a self sustainable Community.

The process summarized is the Methodology, as set of tools and guidelines, originates from the vertical domain experiments with the aim of obtaining possible applicable case for Cross Network Living Labs. This process could be then translated in: -­‐

“Services for SMEs that access other networks”

-­‐

Other Living Labs domains or expanding the already existing four industries.

The consequent Web Portal layout can be summarized with the following schema:

Cross border pilots experiments

energy-­‐efficiency homecare manufacturing e-­‐participation

Methodology: Tools and Guidelines

APOLLON Methodology

Services for SMEs accessing other networks

After M30

Living Lab domain expansions

3.2 The Portal SME Section The SME Section in the APOLLON Web Portal is accessible, from the site Home Page or from any other site section, from the top menu and the “SMEs” button. The explicit text “Expand your business in Europe” is the logical description to locate and let understand the user that section is primarily dedicated to business opportunities and interested organization (SMEs) in exploiting the project results and methodology for specific business outcomes and results.

The SME Section closely follows the global site layout, keeping the top menu in the beginning of the page, with Documents and Events list on the right box and the Pilot project vertical contents on the

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Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement left side. The left side also hosts the “Business Opportunities” page and will be extended (in the coming period) with new tools soon available from the APOLLON project.

3.2.1 THE SME SECTION DESIGN The described layout closely follows the design rationale and the main Platform purpose, whose main objective is to attract the SME interested in the APOLLON results and Methodology and exploit the provided and organized services. The SME Portal Section is introduced by a general description on the APOLLON project and the oppourtunities available for possible interested organizations.

The idea for this general part (that is also the first page of the APOLLON Section) is to: -­‐

make aware the SMEs of the opportunities offered by the APOLLON project, the possible tools and services, ready to be exploited thanks to the pilots experiments and the occasion to expand and improve their business opportunities in the market;

-­‐

to let SMEs involved and interested in the APOLLON activities, in order also to disseminate the project results on the widest possible audience and enrich the project experiments with new resources, ideas and networks;

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to deploy, improve and make available APOLLON Methodology as the product of the live cross border experiments with Living Lab approach and whose results have already demonstrated a strong validity and will continue to improve in the coming periods.

The idea of the Main Section is not only to guide the user to the the opportunities provided by the ”SME Platform”, but also to let him understand and then explore the other sections and the tools and the opportunities available from the APOLLON Project.

3.2.2 THE APOLLON WEB PLATFORM LOGIC The logic though and ideated for present the Platform contents, guidelines and tools to SMEs has followed a vertical approach. Every section is structured in fact with: -­‐

a general description with basic and driving information

-­‐

the first information to easily move inside the Web Portal section to directly reach the desired information.

This solution is most suitable for business targets, in order to present the basic but also most important outcomes, driving the user exactly to the interested section.

The SME Section is then divided into: -­‐

the first informative page, providing basic information as well as guidelines to be driven through the SME Platform. The page includes: o

a general information and opportunity description for SME approaching APOLLON Methodology and services;

o

a general information about the content available on the overall Web Platform;

o

esplicit reference to the document section (on the right side of the Web Portal);

o

esplicit reference to the event section (on the right side of the Web Portal).

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Pilots Project dedicated pages, vertically exploring the APOLLON project outcomes and results available from the four different sectors (Energy and Efficiency, Homecare, Manufacturing, e-­‐Participation). They illustrate also the objectives of the specific sector experiment, the outcomes, the involved partners and the specific and dedicated events organized within the pilots.

-­‐

Business Opportunities dedicated session. A section targeted to the real business oppourtunities for interested organizations (SMEs) approaching the APOLLON project and interested in the Methodoloy and the Living Lab cross border experiments.

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4 The Platform for SMEs: tools and contents The Platform for SME involvement can be divided then into a general part (with addressing and guidelines information for the user as well as the most important services and tools available for SMEs) and dedicated sections with documents, events and pilot project description and business opportunities.

Each of these dedicated sections can be also explored vertically, moving deep to the four APOLLON sectors and then obtaining only the pages, documents and events dedicated to that requested industries of interest.

4.1 SMEs global section The SMEs introduction section is the first page the user can find, accessing the Web Platform. The section contains a complete description and set of guidelines for SMEs approaching the project. The section reports: -­‐

-­‐

The Current Results available for SMEs. This part refers to the documents provided from the APOLLON project clearly describing the objectives, the activities and the specific benefits for coming organizations. The exact description includes: o

The specific benefits that SMEs can obtain from the APOLLON project results.

o

The process for collaborating with Living Labs as well as the Methodology applied and the experience and the lesson learnt from the pilots experiments.

o

The Status and the partner involved in the pilot experiments, whose status can be considered mature enough to provide the first important and interesting outcomes.

Barrier and Opportunities for SMEs. This part clearly involves new possible interested SMEs to approach the APOLLON project with the correct spirit of entering a new initiative. Costs and learning barriers are always part of the business game but, at the same time, catching the challenge train of entering new markets and taking advantage of business-­‐citizens-­‐government partnership of Living Lab, is a strong opportunity not to miss.

Tools, information and guidelines will drive SMEs to take advantage of this innovative approach as well as in joining an important market advantage and getting active role in the networking Community. SMEs can then leverage APOLLON Methodology and services and experiences in order to: o

Overcome their lack of knowledge or experience entering new market and preventing their fully exploitation of their highly innovative and flexible organization.

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-­‐

o

Achieve that level of European market level, often hampered by national circumstances, different legislations and contexts.

o

Improve that risk assessment capacity needed on a cross-­‐border activity context.

o

Facilitate the capacity of adopting new technologies, new services and applications as well as scalability facilities in order to more easily replicate their business success case in a European level.

The Methodology available from the APOLLON pilot experience and available for any interested SME requesting to become supporting partner.

4.2 Documents and Flyers The document section (located on the right of the Web Portal Layout) includes all the document information available for SMEs and deeply describing the Methodology, the process of involvement and the Pilot project experiences.

The general document section includes: -­‐

The APOLLON four pages flyers, with a global description of the project, the outcomes, the objectives and the pilot experiments as well as the opportunities for SMEs leveraging the Living Labs and accessing a network (with wide cross border business opportunities).

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The APOLLON Living Lab Strategy with a clear and deep description of the state-­‐of-­‐the art concepts, existing tools and lesson learned from cross-­‐border Living Lab networks.

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The APOLLON Methodology and the Collaborating Process for SMEs interested in supporting the project.

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The description of the different Pilot projects, with outcomes and achieved results as well as the partner involved.

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4.3 Events The Event section (located on the right of the Web Portal Layout) anticipates and illustrates all the upcoming Events in APOLLON, which are related to both the specific pilot experiments and the general project achievement and dissemination needs.

Similar to the other dedicated sections, the event box can be explored vertically per pilot. The events reported there in fact can be filtered (per sector) by accessing the four pilot specific pages.

Each event is also related to a dedicated news page item in the News Portal section, providing a brief description and report of what happened during that event. Each interested SME can then either gets awareness of the upcoming project events (and the opportunities there available for its business) or understand and learn from the past experience regarding the project outcomes elapsed in the past.

4.4 Pilot Project Sections The dedicated Pilot Project Sections are accessible from the left side box menu on the portal Layout. The rationale for these sections is to clearly explain and report the status and the project experiments for possible interested SMEs, reporting the results achieved by APOLLON according to the specific industry.

These dedicated pages would drive the interested SME to understand the correct business sector in order to exploit the results and the cross border experiments opportunities there available.

The page layout is divided into: -­‐

a general description (also called “challenge”) introducing the different projects objectives, outcomes and future expected results;

-­‐

the name and the description of the SMEs already involved, with the necessary information to understand their activity, their role in the experiment and, in case, contact them in order to acquire their developed practices;

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the list of the dedicated events (past and coming), for the interested SME to get close to the possible opportunities developed from the pilot experience and enter the APOLLON project with a learning-­‐by-­‐doing approach.

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4.5 Business Opportunities Section The Business Opportunities Section is finally the most interactive and close-­‐to-­‐business section from Platform complete design.

It actually reports the possible Opportunities offered for SMEs by the APOLLON project, opportunities that are growing the more the pilot projects are progressing and continuing in their constant achievements. This section will be updated in the coming project months in order to get a more mutual exchange approach with coming SMEs. The idea is to let them leave their experience and their activities information in order to build a sort of “market of opportunities” based again on the Living Lab approach and the APOLLON Methodology.

This section will be improved gaining also from any APOLLON network future enlargement and new partners involvement.

The first Business opportunity described is the 6 December ESoCE-­‐net Industry Forum: a dedicated workshop, for the interested SMEs that have sent their letter of support. It will present the current state of the art of Living Labs activities and operation and will consolidate shared and effective service offered for the interested organizations that want to discover new potential markets, find new effective partnerships and acquire that required critical mass to exploit business opportunities in the global market.

A specific session for SMEs is scheduled also the following 7th December. They will have the opportunity to chair dedicated Multi-­‐stakeholder Tables (in a open space approach) to identify practical steps forward for the launch of joint initiatives and to discuss and negotiate terms and conditions for conducting reality checks trials. The APOLLON SMEs (involved or simply interested in the project) can then meet the Living Labs, the success cases in the project and conduct interactive sessions to describe their business ideas

Interested SMEs can also interact subscribing and following the two dedicated Living Lab Linkedin Groups. The overall idea is to provide an open and interactive environment to exchange opportunities, idea and networking relations to improve their business opportunities.

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GNSS Living Lab Prize

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User Driven Innovation & Living Labs

Interested SMEs can also follow the openliving lab Twitter channel in order to have a continuous and constant update on what happen around the European Living Lab environment and, based on the APOLLON Methodology and experience and achieved practices, set up processes to replicate the living pilot experiments developed in the four existing pilot on the Platform.

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5 The Platform preliminary audience evaluation This document has explained the rationale behind the Platform for SMEs involvement illustrating its structure and its translation into the SME APOLLON Portal dedicated Section. Even if the purpose of this document is to describe the work done and the idea followed to set up this Instrument (with the explained Methodology, processes and involvement scope and logic) presenting also a brief summary of the already reached audience (up to this document date) could not be considered too external to the focus of the present report.

From the APOLLON Site google statistics we can envisage that the SME Section (identified with the Platform for SME Involvement as per our document description) is the second of the main portal pages in order of unique visits (home, overview, news, community). It has obtained 23% of the overall visit up to this report date.

A clearer picture can be obtained by the following chart:

/

705

47,60%

SMEs

345

23,30%

/overview

152

10,26%

/news

146

9,86%

8,98% /community 133 From the “Business Opportunities” section we can envisage that: -­‐

The User Driven Innovation & Living Labs Linkedin group has 977 members

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The GNSS Living Lab Prize Linkedin group has 428 members

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The Twitter openliving lab channels has 206 followers

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Conclusions The present deliverable, “Platform for SME involvement”, has described all the activities done and the framework put in place by the project to involve the SMEs in the APOLLON experiments and Living Lab partner activities. This Framework has been set up and materialized by M12 project period but, with the idea and the rationale to actively involve interested SMEs in the upcoming months.

The Platform for SMEs is part of the Dissemination Activity aiming at conducting adequate consistent awareness and communication activities in order to create a strong and sustainable mobilization and engagement of the APOLLON related networks and communities. The Platform can be considered also one of the privileged channels for project dissemination activity as well as for creating impact and addressing the largest number of SMEs in the market. The Platform is finally, but principally, the solution and the set of tools and guidelines to address SMEs that could be interested in the APOLLON outcomes and in conducting new possible cross border Living Lab experiments as well as take advantage from the services generated by the experiences already achieved by the actual partners.

The Platform for SME involvement is both a conceptual idea and a concrete Web Portal realization solution; the technology realization for this Platform can be furthermore expanded and improved, with other web and technological solutions, in the coming periods of the project in order to reach a better SME audience and provide more attractive and interesting services.

The strongpoint of the Platform rationale is finally, as described in the Deliverable, to have a concrete and well structured conceptual core, being, at the same time, flexible enough to be translated into a wide possible range of technological solutions whose Web Portal is the natural and selected concretization.

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Apollon – D6.4 Platform for SME involvement

Annex 1: SMEs section - global screenshot

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