Businesses are constantly trying to move their companies forward. Their blood, sweat and tears go into their companies and the line between work and home life become blurred. SMEs have much to benefit from partnering with academic institutions but have very limited time and resources to commit.  Research, innovation and business strategy are essential for the success of any business, but many SMEs do not have the internal capability to conduct or even improve these capabilities. Now, with a suffering economy and increased global competition it is critical that SMEs develop and enhance their capacity, not only for survival but also to ensure a place in the post-recession economy.

There is so much opportunity out there for SMEs to work with academia to develop new products, think of inspiring ideas, target new markets etc., but not a lot of business owners know exactly where to start, or what is involved.

The OES is going to be lending a helping hand by bringing together the right people to…

1. Share information with each other to identify “best practices”
2. Network and develop partnerships
3. Identify government programs that can help!
4. Develop a “How to Guide”

So to do this right, tell us, what would help your business move forward with research, innovation and the commercialization of new products and services? What are your obstacles? Where are the opportunities? Share with us your stories of partnership and innovation!

Tags: best practices, commercialization, research

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Question of the Moment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.