Typology of Innovation Services

Similar to the Intermediaries typology, a standardised categorization of innovation services has been developed for the IMPACTSCAN tool. Eleven different types of services are defined below, which cover the diversity of services available across EU regions. Budget allocated to these 11 types should sum up to 100% of regional budget.

In addition to these 11 service types, one additional type is proposed to single out start-up support, indicating for each intermediary type the share of the innovation relevant budget allocated to start-up services. Budget allocated to this service will come in addition to the 100% of the budget, since it is often difficult to extract the relevant share of activities specifically devoted to start-ups. In other words, under this heading, services are mentioned which are already included in previous categories: this is the case with e.g. access to finance (seed capital, business angels networking, etc.) or advice for access to market.

Contact generating – awareness-raising
This includes all activities of promotion of innovation culture and activities in the firms: general events or specific presentations to firms of public support programmes, visits to companies, dissemination, etc.

Access to Information
This includes services addressing specific topics or actions, such as newsletters of alert systems, helping the firms to tackle concrete projects or activities. Also included under this headline are information bureaux or contact points supplying partners search services and the like.
The channels of access to information can be direct (persons attending the demands), or on-line through portals or website facilities.
The information services, ranging from simple news up to the access to a knowledge database, can be specialised and technological, devoted to fund opportunities or to the management of intellectual property and internationalisation.

Advice
Services included under this headline are basically counselling assistance on innovation and business management issues: innovation audits, business strategy and planning, markets access and the like. These services are usually provided free of charge and do not take longer than a couple of days of support to one specific firm.
Some intermediaries do also provide the same kind of advisory services in more depth – this could also be considered as consultancy services – in open competition with private service providers. Market services can also belong to this category.

Technology services
This covers specialised technology-oriented services, with high value added, that involve a direct interaction with the firms. These often require the presence of RTD teams and suitable equipment, laboratories and installations, show-rooms, demonstration equipment or facilities of any kind to support innovation activities of firms for a limited period of time, at the service provider (intermediary).
Technology services also include basic and applied research, product design and development, intellectual property rights protection, technology transfer activities, technology management etc.

Project Management
This covers comprehensive support for project management/coaching; idea generating, project planning and follow up, exploitation and marketing; innovation project coaching for single firms or group firms, e.g. providing of a part or full time project manager by the intermediary. In most of the cases these services are partly paid by the customers.
Very often the projects concerned are RTD projects; however other projects in the field of engineering and organisation are also included.

Networking / clustering
Services in clustering include support to cluster initiatives to set common objectives for cluster development, organisation of the clustering process or integration of actors and service-providers in the cluster. As for networking similar services are very often provided, addressing the creation of local or regional cooperation networks and interlinking /signposting of networks at local, regional, national or international level.
Website and virtual services systems are common, as well as the organisation of “thematic clubs”, symposium, workshops…

Human Resources
This covers services dealing with training for firms’ employees in technological or organisational issues like project management, quality, safety, environment, computer science, etc. These kinds of services not only address knowledge increase, but also create opportunities for relationships between people, etc…
More specialised services, in topics such as creativity for product design, are also quite often provided.

Access to Finance
This covers services offered to SMEs in order to facilitate access to funds for innovation, such as risk capital or development capital funds, or resources for innovation projects financing. Also support to develop investment plans or schemes is included under this heading.
Normally the sources of finance addressed could be both private (e.g., development banks) and public (regional, national or international innovation programmes, besides public financial institutions).

Incubating Services
Those are infrastructure and basic services (accountancy, secretarial services, providing information and communication structure, etc.) provided for innovative start-ups normally for a limited period of time, typically 3 to 5 years in order to support their take-off.

Finance
Finance covers the direct financing of firms or financial aids with the purpose to carry out innovation activities. Financial support covers non-repayable subsidies/grants, credits with market conform interest loan or with interest loan below market price providing of equity capital and providing assumptions of liability.
In the case of repayable financial support and assumptions of liability only the capital costs have to be considered.

Infrastructure
Infrastructures cover investment in all kind of buildings/facilities and in "heavy" equipments with the purpose to support companies in their innovation activities or to foster the innovation environment of innovative firms. Infrastructure is only directly provided for firms without any complementary services by intermediaries. Otherwise the investment is part of other professional services provided by intermediaries and thus belongs to the respective service type.
This type of infrastructures can be both managed directly by the regional administration or by innovation intermediaries (Industry Associations, Technical Schools, etc.) with regional firms as beneficiaries. Therefore, neither educational nor research facilities are considered. Besides, general regional investment real estate development for business, technology or science parks are not considered as long as this infrastructure is not provided for innovation support to firms.
Only annual costs for depreciation of the investment are considered instead of the absolute investment amount in infrastructure.

Additional type for information purpose: Start-up support
This service type is a special category, focusing on one target group, rather than on an activity. The aim is to highlight the priority given to start-ups in regional policy. It includes activities already covered under previous types, extracting the part specifically devoted to start-ups. The amounts reported under this type are not included in the tool for further calculations.
This category covers support for potential entrepreneurs and new innovative firms, ranging from discovering and screening business ideas (normally technology-based) to the establishment and first years of operation of the firm. In between, a wide range of services are usually provided by generalist or specialised intermediaries: incubation infrastructure and services, mentorship, training courses in enterprise creation and management (development of business strategies and planning, etc.). A young company is usually defined as a company not older than 3 to 5 years.