Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW
For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the ability to work collaboratively on a specific innovation together with customers, other companies, users and researchers along the value creation chain has become a key factor for successful innovation management over the past few years.
There are numerous services and online platforms that focus on "open innovation" and intend to bring offers of and demand for new ideas and technologies together. However, often these collaborations are not without problems – frequently for trivial reasons, such as the lack of user-friendly IT tools or the limits of traditional communication methods.
In the EU-funded project NIR-VANA (Networking Innovation Room for Added Value Networking Alliances), researchers from the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW, in Leipzig, are working with six international project partners on an uncomplicated, online-based IT solution that makes it easier for SMEs in Europe to collaborate.
Project website: http://www.nir-vana.eu