Good practice:

Centr@tec Program: Advanced Innovation Services for SME´s

CyL is one of the largest regions in Europe, with 2.5 million people, depopulated areas, ageing people, talent drain, and where 95% of the companies are microcompanies and very traditional, so there is a lack of innovation in SME´s. The Strategy for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Self-employment of CyL highlights the role of technological collaboration and better use of community resources to improve competitiveness. ICE, responsible for the implementation of the R&D+I regional policy in companies, has a tool to achive this goal: Centr@tec Program. The Regional Technological Centers are in charge of its execution, and the main beneficiaries are self-employers and SME´s. The aim is to support and guide self-employers and SMEs through a continuous and complete process to be more competitive. Centr@tec includes actions in different areas: Industry 4.0, Digitization, Innovation in Processes and Design of Products/Services, Internationalization of R&D and innovation and Support for Entrepreneurs of Technological Base. The program is structured in:
1. Demonstrations meetings, Experts workshops and training in new technologies: 2-4-8h
2. Internationalization of R&D+I: Bilateral meetings, agreements of collaborations and participation in international R+D+i programs
3. Diagnostics and Implementation Plans: Personalized analysis of the company, Action Plan and search for Financing
4. Innovative Projects Bank: Analysis of innovative projects, Business Plan, search for Financing

On its 1st edition 2017-18, 1,3M€ Budget and 2M€ on its 2nd Edition which is on going. The funding comes from Regional Government of CyL. Regarding human resources, a technical team from ICE (9 people) coordinates the program and the 5 Regional Technological Centers execute the actions (15 people).

This good practice has been selected because of its incidence on the regional SMEs. The success in the 1st edition is reflected in the outputs: There were 134 training actions, 10% focused on European Programs. 2231 people participated in the different trainings. 735 of them showed their interest in continuing with more training. 145 diagnostics were made in collaboration with the companies. The program was valued with 3,4 points (of 4, with the participation of 52%).

During the 1st edition some difficulties were encountered that have been solved in the second one: Lack of participation in rural areas, need of homogenize some items with Industry 4.0 at national level, how to complement Centr@tec Gap between Action Plan and Effective implementation.

We consider this practice interesting for other regions to learn and with potential for transfer, because of the holistic format of the program. The network create with the regional technological centers allows to get closer to the SMEs. This means to know the real needs of the companies for planning the training actions, to make the diagnostics and for guiding SMEs on the best way to improve their capacities and technologies in order to be more competitive, throughout the collaboration with the regional working groups involved in the topics related with the program. The structure of Centr@tec in 4 different types of actions allows companies to participate in the program in many ways, and gives the opportunity to SMEs to be involved in a circuit of support and training, that helps them to develop their potential of innovation and competitiveness. This practice has been shared recently in the RDAs National Forum (June 2018 Santander, Spain) with numerous Regional Agencies interested in.