Project Objectives and expected achievements

Innovation is widely recognised as a cornerstone for the competitiveness of European SMEs. The smooth operation of an Innovation system depends on the fluidity of knowledge flows among SMEs, Universities and Research Bodies. The flow of technology and information among people, enterprises and institutions are key factors to the innovative process.

In order to promote innovation, SMEs need to have an easy and cost effective access not only to information on new technological developments but also to services that may facilitate the integration of innovation in their every day practices. Technology Parks are assisting in the task of promoting innovation in European SMEs. Established in various regions they are supporting the promotion of innovation. Furthermore, large numbers of tools have been developed which aim at assisting SMEs become innovative organisations. The selection and adaptation of the best tools in the future working environment is essential with the view of an integrated and contemporary on-line Business service.

To address the issues of thematic and geographic fragmentation in the most cost-effective way a Virtual One-Stop Shop for SMEs will be developed in the ONLI project. The ONLI project, intents to create telematic tools that will provide a Virtual One-Stop Shop for Innovative Services in Technology Parks. More specifically, we will create a network linking four WWW sites developed by Technology Parks in four E.U. countries, in co-operation with a University Research Centre and a private Technology Transfer organisation. Each of the participating partners has been selected based on their considerable experience in their respective fields so as to ensure that the network covers a wide area of expertise and offers its services to almost all European SMEs over the internet. This will secure the wide acceptance and the future success of the service.

Each partner will adapt the tools that they have the most expertise in. Then, all tools will be adjusted to the particularities of the environments of each of the participating countries. Hence, the end deliverable will consist of six methodologies / tools available to SMEs in each region adjusted to the particularities of each of the four regions. More specifically each partner will develop services in one of the thematic fields outlined in following Table