In the framework of the European project of Innovation Management Agents (INMA), this week begins the training course of innovation management in SMEs organized by the Municipality of Santander and Documenta, European Institute for Training and Development. INMA pilot training is aimed primarily at highly qualified women, who due to the oversupply caused by the crisis, hare now working in jobs below their qualifications or unemployed.
The main objective of INMA European project is to adjust and transfer to other countries the European professional profile of “Innovation Agent” created in 2005 to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs, mainly by promoting the acquisition and adequate use of innovations and new technologies. INMA project also aims to promote the participation of women in the field of innovation, currently occupied mostly by men.
To achieve this goal the INMA project European partner organizations: Dimitra (Greece), Municipality of Santander (Spain), WPBS (Poland), GTIR (Spain) and the promoter Documenta (Spain), have conducted an analysis of the current management innovation in European SMEs and created a multimedia training tool, with innovative contents available in multiple languages, to train future Innovation Management Agents.
INMA online pilot training, approximately 600 hours, will be held simultaneously in Greece, Poland and Spain during the last quarter of 2012. The students will acquire fundamental knowledge for innovation management in the company, with the support of specialized tutors through INMA multimedia training tool, which develops five thematic areas: New Technologies, Knowledge Management, Strategic Management, Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resources. During the course the students will conduct a practical work that will include the design of an Innovation Management Plan in companies of Cantabria. Companies that wish to participate will get a double benefit, on the one hand, the possibility of having a specific innovation report for their company, which helps them to improve their position in the marketplace and on the other, disclosure and advertising as enterprises participating in a European project.
Another objective of the project is the creation of a virtual community platform with a network of organizations and a network of Innovation Management Agents, thus promoting contact and exchange between universities and companies, implementing the knowledge in the business environment, through the work of the Innovation Management Agents.
At European level it is expected that the materials produced in INMA project support the knowledge-based growth and job creation.
