EU Commission releases list of top 10 most innovative SMEs in ICT

09 Jul 2015 | News
The first Innovation Radar Report reviews the innovation potential of ICT projects funded under 7th Framework Programme and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme, to demonstrate the economic impact of EU grant funding

The SME with the highest innovation capacity in Europe is Sparsity, a 5-year old spin-off from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, according to European Commission’s first Innovation Radar Report, published by the Joint Research Centre.

The report is based on a statistical evaluation of 10.6 per cent of ICT projects funded under Framework Programme 7 and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, with the aim of identifying innovations with high potential and the key innovators behind them.  

The report is a first step by the Commission to proving the value of spending money on research and innovation programmes in delivering impact in terms of economic growth and job creation. This has become a political necessity since Jean-Claude Juncker took over the reins of the European Commission.

Between May 2014 and January 2015, the Commission reviewed 279 ICT projects, which had resulted in a total of 517 innovations, delivered by 544 organisations in 291 European cities. Of these, Barcelona-based Sparsity leads the top 10 SME innovators in ICT, playing a key role in developing two innovations in online graph database management.

According to the report, Barcelona is the largest innovation hub in ICT in Europe, hosting a total of 19 organisations that are key players in innovation and beating London and Paris which each host 17 such organisations.  Germany, Spain and the UK are the countries with the most organisations that are key players in delivering innovations, the report says.

Top 10 SMEs and their innovations

Rank by ICI

Organisation name

Country

City

Project Innovation

Nr

Innovation Potential

Strategic Objective

 

4

 

SPARSITY SL

 

SPAIN

 

BARCELONA

LDBC_C

1

High

12 Intelligent Information Management

CoherentPaaS_B

2

High

02 Software, Services and internet connected objects

9

TRANSLATED SRL

ITALY

POMEZIA

MateCat_A

3

High

11 Language Technologies

 

10

 

GEIE ERCIM

 

FRANCE

 

BIOT

WAI-ACT_A

4

High

15 ICT for Inclusion

WAI-ACT_B

5

High

15 ICT for Inclusion

12

RAPITA SYSTEMS LIMITED

UNITED KINGDOM

YORK

parMERASA_C

6

High

08 Embedded Systems

13

HELIATEK GMBH

GERMANY

DRESDEN

X10D_A

7

High

10 Organic and large area Electronics

16

INVERTO NV

BELGIUM

EVERGEM

E-VECTOORC_A

8

High

24 Accompanying Measures

17

EASY GLOBAL MARKET SAS

FRANCE

BIOT

EAR-IT_A

9

High

01 Future Networks and Internet

 

20

 

OPENLINK GROUP LIMITED

 

UNITED KINGDOM

 

CROYDON

LOD2_A

1

0

High

12 Intelligent Information Management

LDBC_A

1

1

High

12 Intelligent Information Management

 

23

 

FLUID OPERATIONS AG

 

GERMANY

 

WALLDORF

Optique_B

1

2

High

12 Intelligent Information Management

OpenCube_A

1

3

Medium

11 Language Technologies

 

24

NETWORK ENGINE FOR OBJECTS IN LUND AB

 

SWEDEN

 

MALMO

 

LDBC_B

 

1

4

 

Medium

 

12 Intelligent Information Management

Calculations: JRC-IPTS

Data: European Commission DG Connect

Note: The table presents the list and characteristics of SMEs High Capacity Innovators as defined in section 3.4 and their innovations. Innovators are defined as key organization behind the innovation according to the answers to the question 12) of the Innovation Radar Questionnaire (see Section 8.1). Total number of reviewed projects: 279. Total number of innovators: 517. Total number of innovators: 544. Review period: 20.05.2014 and 19.01.2015.

To provide accurate measurements, the authors devised the Innovation Capacity Indicator (ICI), which measures both the ability of the innovator company and the quality of the environment in which it operates.

The organisation with the highest ICI score is Cambridge University, directly followed by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. The German research organisation, which has 67 institutes spread throughout Germany was identified as a key organisation in 5 per cent of all identified innovations.

Top 10 high capacity innovators and their innovations
 

Rank by ICI

Organisation name

Organisation type

Country

City

Project Innovation

Nr

Innovation Potential

 

1

THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

 

HES/REC

 

UNITED  KINGDOM

 

CAMBRIDGE

PARLANCE_B

1

High

AP@home_A

2

Low

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRAUNHOFER- GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HES/REC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GERMANY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MUNCHEN

SODALES_A

3

High

i-Tex_A

4

High

EAR-IT_B

5

High

CoLiSA.MMP_A

6

Medium

Verdi_A

7

Medium

LASHARE_A

8

Medium

IQmulus_B

9

Medium

d-LIVER_B

10

Medium

PASTA_B

11

Medium

SUPERTHEME_A

12

Medium

IQmulus_A

13

Medium

EUROPRACTICE 2013_A

14

Medium

REWIND_B

15

Medium

ML²_A

16

Medium

ebbits_B

17

Medium

Policy Compass_A

18

Medium

STREETLIFE_C

19

Medium

RASEN_B

20

Medium

EXA2CT_B

21

Medium

FutureID_B

22

Medium

RASEN_C

23

Medium

COSIVU_A

24

Low

COSIVU_B

25

Low

COSIVU_C

26

Low

FutureID_A

27

Low

3

SPARSITY SL

SME

SPAIN

BARCELONA

LDBC_C

28

High

CoherentPaaS_B

29

High

 

4

THE UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE HIGHER EDUCATION  CORPORATION

 

HES/REC

 

UNITED  KINGDOM

 

HATFIELD

ACCOMPANY_C

30

Medium

ACCOMPANY_A

31

Medium

BIOMICS_A

32

Low

5

NORDJYLLANDS TRAFIKSELSKAB

NIL

DENMARK

AALBORG

REDUCTION_A

33

Medium

6

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

HES/REC

UNITED  KINGDOM

MANCHESTER

AXLE_B

34

Medium

ECO2Clouds_A

35

Medium

7

PORTBASE BV

LARGE

THE NETHERLANDS

ROTTERDAM

GET Service_A

36

Medium

 

8

 

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

 

HES/REC

 

AUSTRIA

 

WIEN

SCAPE_A

37

High

OrPHEuS_A

38

Medium

EPiCS_B

39

Low

9

TRANSLATED SRL

SME

ITALY

POMEZIA

MateCat_A

40

High

10

GEIE ERCIM

SME

FRANCE

BIOT

WAI-ACT_A

41

High

WAI-ACT_B

42

High

Calculations: JRC-IPTS

Data: European Commission DG Connect

Note: The table presents the list and characteristics of High Capacity Innovators as defined in section 3.4 and their innovations. Innovators are defined as key organization behind the innovation according to the answers to the question 12) of the Innovation Radar Questionnaire (see Section 8.1). Organization types: HES/REC (High Education and Schools and Research Centres); PUB (Public Bodies); SMEs (Small Medium Enterprise); LARGE (Large companies), NIL (Other organisations). Total number of reviewed projects: 279. Total number of innovators: 517. Total number of innovators: 544. Review period: 20.05.2014 and 19.01.2015.

Key findings of the report

  • Most of the identified innovations are related to data processing or software development, only a few involve hardware development.
  • 63 per cent of high potential innovations belong to projects that are in their final stages. Thus, new ideas and technologies that are developed during EU-financed projects mature and increase their potential as projects advance.
  • Nearly 70 per cent of all innovations are brought to the market within two years.
  • Commercial exploitation is planned for over 61 per cent of all innovations and all high potential innovations. Only 10 per cent of all innovations are already being exploited.
  • 55 per cent of the innovations developed or being exploited are either new products or significantly improved products. However, 25 per cent of the already mature innovations are not being exploited yet, including 50 per cent of the high potential innovations.
  • The ownership of innovations is dispersed and 61 per cent of innovations have multiple owners.
  • A business plan is on the agenda of only 27 of the projects that plan innovation commercialisation.
  • Between 25 and 30 per cent of the projects do not plan to seek capital or public investment. 
The report is available at the Commission’s website.

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