The first in a series of four KIS 100 Regional Events took place on 11 May in Tartu, Estonia. The event was organized by the Baltic Innovation Agency (Estonia) together with Ventspils University (Latvia).
Approximately 70 participants joined to see how local knowledge intensive service companies are succssful in service innovation and what the regions do to support the emergence and growth of such companies. The audience was able to watch video presentations showing innovative services and business approaches of five Estonian and four Latvian SMEs.
The following companies presented their videos in the event:
7. Competence Centre for Cancer Research (EE) (
www.vtak.ee )
As the best companies the audience was voted for: Mobi, Fits.me, Competence Centre for Cancer Research and Biometry.ee. These companies will have the chance to present their activities to an international audience at the next and final KIS Partnering Forum in Spring 2011.
In two discussion sessions on “Ways to foster and enhance service innovation in the Estonian/Latvian region” and “Means of supporting SMEs in knowledge intensive service industries” experts discussed regional aspects significant to the development of knowledge intensive services.
The discussion sessions showed various important points for both regions:
1. Knowledge intensive services are of great value for the regions as they create high-income employment.
2. Such services are crisis-resistant and should be the main export focus for Estonia/Latvia. They do not always add value on their own, but can contribute a lot to other, e.g. manufacturing industries. Thus authorities should not focus only on KIS industries, but remain a balance between KIS and manufacturing, as both can benefit from each other. The local authorities can help establish KIS SMEs by acting as a first and secure client base.
3. An important aspect that was raised, is that Estonia and Latvia lack the capacity to market their ideas and SMEs in the KIS sectors. A lot of innovative service ideas and the relevant funds are available, but the main issue for many SMEs is a successful approach to international marketing. Thus public authorities should find ways to promote the regions as an international service provider.
4. SMEs do not only need a good idea, but the right entrepreneurial spirit. It is also important that the team manages to create a competitive advantage through their different competencies and covering a wide range of those. It was argued that today there are not enough real leaders, driving and aiming to discover all roads available, in Estonian SMEs.
5. Timing of launching a service (globally) is crucial. If this is not done correctly, the competition will be quick and fierce.
6. In many cases KIS companies are micro-companies and thus they need to look at clustering with other initiatives to grow and succeed. Also, grants in the regions are very good but KIS SMEs do not use them enough yet, as often they are overwhelmed by the bureaucratic aspects and the fact that in many cases they request a certain amount of self-financing. This can be overcome though through the help of banks, which are often willing to provide capital for this.
