Good practice:

Northern Netherlands Innovation Monitor

The University of Groningen and the Northern Netherlands Alliance (SNN) took the initiative for the Innovation Monitor in 2015 and expanded it in cooperation with a growing coalition of strategic partners. The strength of the Innovation Monitor is twofold. The Innovation Monitor provides insight into the trends in the innovation ecosystem of the Northern Netherlands (NNL) over the years. This concerns both the innovation performance and the competences and needs of SMEs. The resulting insights contribute to a better innovation policy and a more effective use of subsidies in NNL. The Innovation Monitor also contributes to strengthening the cooperation between businesses, governments and knowledge institutions. The presentation of the results of the Innovation Monitor is an annual event and offers all those involved the opportunity to expand and strengthen their networks.

The questionnaire is completed by hundreds of SMEs every year. They also receive something in return for their participation: in the longer term, better policy and more appropriate subsidy instruments; in the short term, an individual benchmark report, which compares their performance on several dimensions with that of other companies. In addition, they will also receive an overview of the subsidy instruments that are most relevant to their company: the subsidy barometer. The aim is to further personalise and deepen the feedback to entrepreneurs through more extensive data analysis.

The monitor is co-funded by the University of Groningen and the Northern Netherlands Alliance, allowing a PhD-student and a professor from the university to work on the monitor and analyse the results.

The monitoring results can be used to substantiate the need for or use of schemes. For example, the Innovation Monitor showed that there is a need for schemes that offer scope for organisational innovation. As a result, a subsidy scheme was adjusted.

The monitor also has a wide support base. Every year, more than 7500 invitations are sent out and the survey has more than 700 respondents. Some of these have already participated in the survey.

This good practice shows how the innovation performance of SMEs can be measured, and how such a tool can help to better align innovation policies with what is needed.