PACIFICSTREAM

Summary of the project
This project will create innovative new methodologies, facilitation techniques and online tools which can be used to support the generation of innovative ideas within SMEs, and the implementation of these innovations within their day-to-day operations. This will lead to measurable improvements to productivity within service sector businesses, which in turn will have a positive effect on the European Community as a whole.
An experienced consortium with common interests in business support and research, innovation and creativity will develop products to support the SPARK project and will include, content, an on-line support environment, toolkit, a training the trainers course and a training and implementation programme. The project will ensure the relevance to the service sector and conform to equality of opportunity and employees rights.
According to research such as the Cox Review of Creativity in Business (2005), sustained success in business, regardless of sector, increasingly depends on the ability to innovate: to exploit new ideas and new opportunities ahead of the competition. This not only applies to new products, but to areas like technology, branding, communication and internal management systems. "Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU" 2006 stated “The service sector offers a major opportunity for innovation which must be exploited (the sector accounts for more than two thirds of GDP and employment).” Also given that research such as that by Arundel et al (2007) suggests that improvements in European living standards are likely to be closely related to productivity improvements in the service sector, interventions are required to support such innovation. However, innovation can be a difficult process. Business owners are often reluctant to try something new, the project will address this limited thinking.
The consortia includes 8 entities from 6 EU countries, i.e. DE, DK, FI, MT, PO, UK , and will last 3 yrs
Why does the consortium wish to undertake this project?
Innovation is high on the agenda for the European Council, with the Commission saying the EU must become an innovation-based society. UK’s Department for Business Innovation & Skills states: “Business innovation is a vital ingredient in raising the productivity, competitiveness and growth potential of modern economies”. Within the broad-based innovation strategy for the EU, it is stated that the EU has exceptional innovation potential but it is underexploited and the service sector is recognised as a “major opportunity for innovation”, and so deserves measures created with this sector in mind. The service sector accounts for more than two thirds of GDP and employment.
Levels of innovation vary significantly between EU countries, with Poland being one of the weakest and Germany being one of the strongest. This project is an opportunity to redress the balance. A study by Arundel (2007) shows that service sector firms in Europe are generally less innovative than manufacturing firms, and could benefit from improved innovation support programmes. Innovation may be defined as the commercial exploitation of new ideas. Creativity is the source of these new ideas, and leads to innovation. The input from EUROCITIES in 2009 encouraged seizing the opportunity to use innovation strategies that consider creativity as a key tool for businesses development. Creative industries can bring new elements and know-how to more traditional fields of industry. Creative people, with a track record of innovation, can breathe new life into stagnating businesses. The attributes and qualities of creative people are summarised by Charles Landry (2008 – ‘The Creative City’). They are: the ability to think afresh; be enquiring and flexible; see unusual connections; not be frightened of ambiguity, paradox or contradictions; and be original. Therefore key to this project is finding ways to harness this source of creativity and use it to support businesses that are not reaching their full potential.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this project is to respond to the identified need for increased innovation in the European service sector, and develop a facilitation process that will support innovation within these businesses. This will allow these SME’s to become more productive, reach their full potential, and so have an overall beneficial effect on European business success and living standards. The concrete objectives of this project are as follows:

- A comprehensive review of current best practice regarding creativity and innovation in business, with a focus on the European service sector
- New facilitation techniques to generate innovation within service sector businesses
- Action planning techniques in order to support the transition from idea-generation to implementation
- A training programme for training facilitators in these new and innovative techniques and processes, and for training Creative Change Makers in their role in the processes, and in understanding better how to harness their own creativity
- An online support environment
- A project website for dissemination to a wide audience
- A bespoke web environment to facilitate communication between the partners
- The implementation of these new products across selected parts of the European business support network

Impact on business performance will be measured using a range of Key Performance Indicators to be determined during the project. The achievement of the above objectives will create products to help to make the European service sector more innovative, which in turn will make it more productive.