SME performance Innovation – the successful development and exploitation of a new product, service, process, organisation or business model – can be a driver of growth in all types of companies, not least small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We help SMEs see how they could benefit from innovation and support them as they prepare and implement innovative activities. In 2016, we took the initiative to visit almost 150 SMEs to evaluate their potential for innovation. Together we went through all aspects of their activity to evaluate their potential for innovation in order to improve their business and daily work. We also developed a roadmap with concrete innovation actions for each company. Five of our more experienced client SMEs followed a specific methodology, IMP3rove, to increase and accelerate the economic return of their innovation activities. Collaboration is often the key to successful innovation. Seven of our clients signed partnership agreements with foreign organisations in 2016 to get access to new technology or share technologies that they have developed. The partnerships were set up through our membership in the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), which facilitates technology transfers and cooperation between companies and research laboratories across Europe and beyond. We also co-organised three “brokerage events”, where companies and laboratories from different countries have prearranged meetings to discuss working together. To make our EEN services more accessible, EEN Luxembourg developed an app for mobile devices. 15 new companies joined the first phase of our flagship performance programme, Fit 4 Innovation. Aiming to strengthen the competitiveness of Luxembourg SMEs, Fit 4 Innovation has three main objectives: increase sales, enhance productivity and improve client satisfaction. The first step, the so-called diagnostics phase consists of a 360-degree analysis of participating companies and their activities. Eight companies participated in the second stage of the programme and launched projects to implement the recommendations resulting from their diagnostics phase. Fit 4 Innovation results Accumulated results since the start in 2013 0 diagnostics (completed, on-going or planned) 0 projects (completed, on-going or planned) 0 million Investments made by Fit 4 Innovation participants 0 million Annual gains made by Fit 4 Innovation participants 0 % Approximate return on investment for Fit 4 Innovation companies To meet the needs of our clients, we designed two new performance programmes: Fit 4 Digital and Fit 4 Growth. Fit 4 Digital supports the digitalisation of small enterprises. With this programme, we help companies identify concrete opportunities for using information and communication technologies (ICT) and then introduce new ICT tools in different fields: human resources, marketing, procurement and finance, and so on. The aim is to accelerate the uptake of ICT tools by SMEs. Ten companies joined the pilot phase of Fit 4 Digital in 2016. Fit 4 Growth will support SMEs with the set-up and implementation of their first concrete innovation project. The programme facilitates the whole process, from the definition of the innovation project through to the commercial launch of a new product or service. It will also help participants put in place or improve their system for managing innovation in a consistent and professional way. Luxinnovation was one of 14 European organisations participating in Design for Europe, a 3-year project supporting design-driven innovation. We contributed to mapping the design innovation policy ecosystem, organised two major events in Luxembourg and integrated design into the Fit 4 Innovation programme. The project results also contributed to the launch of a Creative Industries Cluster in Luxembourg. Design for Europe ran from January 2014 to December 2016.