By Estelle Blanks, Executive Director at Innovation SuperNetwork.
The latest opportunity from the Open Innovation 2.0LAB (OI2.0LAB)
is an open call for SMEs in the North East to access cutting-edge support and
guidance to help them innovate and businesses have just one more week left to
apply. Successful applicants will receive a €5,000 voucher that they can
exchange for business support from some of Europe’s most successful
organisations. There will also be access support to find a suitable European
partner if they don’t already have one, advice on any issues that may arise
during collaboration and guidance to identify financial solutions to keep that
collaboration going if needed.
The Open Innovation 2.0 Lab
(OI2.OLAB) is an exciting three-year Horizon 2020 project.
It enables entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Europe
to tackle business and social challenges through open innovation collaborations
that span beyond their organisational and national borders. It helps SMEs to
innovate by providing access to expertise and helping to establish partnerships
across European countries.
It’s fantastic for the North East to be a key player in the OI2.0LAB
as it allows local businesses to access different markets, diversify their
customer bases and helps develop new, ground-breaking ways of working.
We want to see local business take advantage of this
opportunity. The North East is one of only two European test-regions for this
project so it’s a great chance to access unrivalled support completely free of
charge.
All applications will be judged by Ryan Maughan, AVID
Technology Group Ltd; Dimitrios Kourtesis, Ideas Forward; Martin McGurk,
Innovate UK; Alison Machin, North East LEP and Ivana Zocli, WRS. We want to see
pitches that will drive innovation across Europe and drive creativity into the
workplace; whether that be new business models, new applications of technology
or access to new markets – we want to hear from businesses that are doing
things differently.
Applications need to be submitted by 17.00 CET (Brussels time) on 2nd December 2019. For further information on the open call is available on the OI2.0LAB website.
