Start-ups

Web-platform for Blended Learning “CreatINNES Academy”

Hallo! Здравейте! Helló! Здравo! Salut!

Our CreatINNES Project consortium is happy to announce that our web-platform for blended learning called “CreatINNES Academy” is ready. It is created under Erasmus+ Program with the participation of six partner organizations from Germany, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary and France. The coordinator of the work on the development of the web-platform is the team of professionals of our Bulgarian partner Budakov Films EOOD.

What is “CreatINNES Academy”?

The web-platform “CreatINNES Academy” provides effective organization of the learning process and ensures secure access and registration of all users. It contains two training programs: “Entrepreneurship for CCI freelancers and startups” and “Creative Thinking for Innovation”. The training programs have been developed with the participation of all partners from the CreatINNES consortium. Each training program contains 8 modules with very well selected short-burst of information which is clear, concrete and easy to be memorized.

You can enter CreatINNES Academy by following the link: http://moodle.creatinnes.eu .  Create your user profile and start your learning journey.  

The Users of “CreatINNES Academy“

All interested students, organizations and people with activities or professions belonging to the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) ca be trained or can have self-training through the web-platform. Training Program 1 “Entrepreneurship for freelancers and startups” will fulfil their need for knowledge in business development, financing and IPR.  

Also, non-CCI startups and small companies who need more creativity in their working process are welcome. Training program 2 “Creative Thinking for Innovation” is for them.  

Navigation of “CreatINNES Academy”

“CreatINNES Academy” is aesthetically designed to provide easy, free and secure access for every user. The platform is based on the Moodle software package, designed to create web-based educational courses and websites. The “CreatINNES Academy” interface is designed to provide learners with easy-to-use learning materials in six different languages. For many potential users, may be, our training platform will be the first that they will use.

Website: www.creatinnes.eu    Facebook www.facebook.com/CreatINNES  Twitter  #creatinnes

CreatINNES presents the Training Program “Creative Thinking for Innovation”

The first second training program, called “Creative Thinking for Innovation” is aimed at non-CCI digital companies and startups who are facing the need for more creativity in their work.  Innovation is closely linked to creativity, thus, topics such as design thinking, branding, growth hacking, brainstorming and problem solving are covered in 8 modules. The focus is mainly on concept development and creative thinking. All modules are available in six languages: English, German, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Hungarian and French.

All partners of the CreatINNES consortium were involved in the content creation process. They created 26 exercises and 19 good practices to support the learning experience of the students. 

Learners have easy access to the training program. All modules are uploaded on a special training platform for blended learning “CreatINNES Academy”. CreatINNES Academy is an aesthetically designed web platform for providing easy, free and secure access. The platform is based on the Moodle software package, designed to create web-based educational courses and websites. The platform is currently being tested.

Website: www.creatinnes.eu    Facebook www.facebook.com/CreatINNES  Twitter  #creatinnes

CreatINNES presents the Training Program “Entrepreneurship for CCI Freelancers and Startups”

Training program 1 “Entrepreneurship for CC Freelancers and Startups”, CreatINNES project

The first training program, called “Entrepreneurship for CC Freelancers and Startups”, is aimed at freelancers, small companies and start-ups working in the cultural and creative sector. Topics such as business development, visualization, management, business plan, financing, intellectual property rights, digitalization and strategic growth are covered in 8 modules. It is available in six languages: English, German, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Hungarian and French.

All partners of the CreatINNES consortium were involved in the content creation process. They created 26 exercises and 19 good practices to support the learning experience of the students. 

Learners have easy access to the training program. All modules are uploaded on a special training platform for blended learning “CreatINNES Academy”. CreatINNES Academy is an aesthetically designed web platform for providing easy, free and secure access. The platform is based on the Moodle software package, designed to create web-based educational courses and websites. The platform is currently being tested.

Website: www.creatinnes.eu    Facebook www.facebook.com/CreatINNES  Twitter  #creatinnes

CAPTAIN COACH – an Innovative eCare Solution

INI-Novation GmbH invests in a Greek startup company

INI-Novation GmbH in Mühltal (Germany) decided to invest in the foundation of a startup company with technologies that transform the living and living environment of older adults into a “digital coach”. The aim of the Greek start-up “CAPTAIN COACH” is to support an independent life for older people in their home environment by motivating them to use innovative technologies for new ways of care and support. A positive impact for the health systems is that nursing staff and medical specialists are empowered to anonymously collect and use medical as well as emotion and behaviour-related data using such technologies.

The management and innovation consultancy company INI-Novation GmbH, which specializes in innovation management, is a consortium partner in the “CAPTAIN” project (https://www.captain-eu.org) funded by the EU program Horizon 2020, in which approaches for the simplified use of innovative care technologies were developed. For the successful operation of these so-called eCare systems, the startup CAPTAIN COACH uses state-of-the-art technologies that were developed as ubiquitous assistants for older adults to compensate for physical impairments and memory disorders during their everyday activities. For this purpose, CAPTAIN COACH offers systems consisting of micro projectors and sensors for detecting the presence and activities of the user. The user sets so-called “smart goals” through speech or gesture. An example of such an intelligent target formulation is: “I would like to call relatives”. In a defined period of time (e.g. once a day or per week), the user can then carry out his own activities, monitor them himself and, if necessary, improve or redefine his goals. The system intelligently regulates the sequence of motivating coaching goals and messages. CAPTAIN COACH transforms users’ living environments into an empowering space that offers interaction, care and support for an independent life with mental and social wellbeing. 

Demographic change and social relevance of the startup

Demographic change has reached Europe. The prospect of an elderlies grows from year to year. The population is aging increasingly due to falling birth rates and increasing life expectancy. This advancing aging of society means that the number of patients with chronic diseases, multi-morbidity and the resulting functional restrictions will continue to increase. This changes the qualitative need for medical support and care. In rural areas in particular, it can be observed that an ever-smaller number of doctors is confronted with a steadily growing number of (older) patients. In addition, there is a drastic shortage of nursing staff.

This opening pair of scissors can be countered by using innovative technologies in order to be able to care for the carers and carers in their home environment by trained assistants. “With our investment we want to contribute to closing the gap between the medical care needed and the caretakers in order to significantly increase the quality of life and life expectancy of older adults”, explains Dr. Wolfgang Kniejski, the Managing Director of INI-Novation GmbH. 

CAPTAIN COACH addresses many different target groups in the population

Angela Ivanova (INI-Novation GmbH)
Angela Ivanova (INI-Novation GmbH)

Angela Ivanova is responsible for the business development of INI-Novation GmbH and also for the start-up CAPTAIN COACH: “The combination of innovative technologies and personal care in the home environment makes it possible for older adults to live independently in a familiar home over a longer period of time, the hospitalization rate is reduced, and the quality of life can be maintained or even improved.”

Furthermore, so called “family carers”, the care organisations and the insurance companies are relieved, since in many cases only one-off support and no full care is required.

“This is positively impacting our society; CAPTAIN COACH brings less stress to the family, increases support in care, saves time, effort and costs.”

Invest and continue a successful collaboration

With a view to real sustainability, the ambitious goal is to establish this technology as a leading innovative method in home care. For this purpose, it is also planned that INI-Novation GmbH will not only invest, but also develop national and international partnerships to promote the spread and use of coaching technologies.

Synergies are achieved through appropriate cooperation with important networks, associations and institutions in relevant areas. These measures aim at the long-term sustainability of the partnership and at mechanisms to attract new interest groups and to bind key actors to the initiative.

The CAPTAIN product offers personalized coaching through new forms of accessible interaction and SMART target solutions that are seamlessly integrated into existing daily activities in the fastest and most efficient way.

Background information


Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

INI-Novation GmbH offers leading expertise in supporting innovative business developments and innovation management. INI-Novation is a specialist in technology transfer with practical experience in the areas of innovation financing, innovation procurement for SMEs and in the development and implementation of relevant training events.

Contact: info@ini-novation.com

Erasmus+ Project CreatINNES is kicked-off

CreatINNES logo 1In September 2018, six European organizations from Germany, Bulgaria, France, Macedonia and Hungary got together in Darmstadt and kicked-off a three year (2018-2021) project named Strategic Partnership for Innovation and Business Skills Development in Cultural and Creative Industries Sector – CreatINNES. It is a European project funded by ERASMUS+ funding scheme 2018 – 2021. INI-Novation GmbH is the project coordinator.

Our Goal

We are dedicated to the project collaborating in a strategic partnership to respond to the education and support needs of Creative and Cultural Industries. Our mission is to bring creativity and business together with the goal to boost innovation and growth of the economy in our regions. We believe in creativity as a shield against ordinariness feeding innovation. Therefore, CreatINNES provides support for CCI start-ups and freelancers via innovative training programmes based on knowledge co-creation and cross-sectoral collaboration.

The start

At the end of September 2018, the German coordinator INI-Novation GmbH invited all CreatINNES partner to kick-off the project in the Technology Innovation Center in Darmstadt. In every project this is a crucial moment for the future teaming. Long working sessions, jointly discussed and decided activities, and inspired smiles at the end of the meeting – first nice results are already achieved.

CreatINNES Team _Kick off meeting Darmstadt

INI-Novation Bulgaria is a host of training sessions for cultural tourism start-ups

Training Event in Cultural Tourism in BulgariaThe city of Veliko Tarnovo, a hotbed for cultural traditions & crafts production in north central  Bulgaria, hosted the training session, organized by INI-Novation Bulgaria, as part of the International Tourism Fair “Cultural Tourism”. 

This event proved to be a great success: representatives from municipalities, art organisations, tourism agencies and single start-ups showed a lot of interest in the presentations of EUROPETOUR partners Karin Drda-Kühn (Kultur und Arbeit e.V., Germany), Angela Ivanova (INI-Novation), Wolfgang Kniejski (INI-Novation), Lacramioara Beilic (Bucovina Tourism, Romania) and Antonio Kuzmanovski (Macedonian start-up “WheninX“).

 

THE MULTIPLIER EVENT

After an introduction about the vision of EUROPETOUR by Karin Drda-Kühn (Kultur und Arbeit e.V., Germany), Angela Ivanova (INI-Novation Bulgaria) presented the EUROPETOUR training modules and one of the main topics of interest for the Bulgarian tourism stakeholders and mainly startups in tourism: Positioning, branding, marketing of cultural tourism in rural areas and the importance of networking. Her presentation was built on so called case-based learning: By providing a best practice example surrounded by theoretical knowledge and practical exercises, a better understanding about the specifics of the topic was achieved.

After that, Lacramioara Beilic (Bucovina Tourism, Romania) presented the region of Bucovina as a best practice example and opportunity for collaboration between Bulgarian and Romanian stakeholders. She highlight her “vision for networking”, sharing what the Bucovina region did for addressing the specific needs of cultural travellers in a successful way.

Wolfgang Kniejski (INI-Novation Bulgaria) gave a deep overview of financing instruments with special emphasis on topics such as value generation chains in cultural tourism, business planning, sales and distribution, as well as market-oriented financing. Best practise examples were provided and many insides about how to build a successful project idea were discussed.

At the end, a best practice presentation about distribution policies from Macedonia complemented the event. Antonio Kuzmanovski, CEO of the Macedonian start-up “WheninX“, presented a service-driven technological solution for fostering cultural programmes for locals and visitors.

Europetour training in Bulgaria 33971631466_d080af6a3a_z 33169478374_9be9af874b_z 17880695_10212837586880865_4266988205923104604_o

 

LILA Guidebook, October 2015

LILA Guidebook picBy applying the Living Labs approach and the principles of open innovation, the LILA Project provides the opportunity for European entrepreneurs to obtain user feedback about their products and services. The entrepreneurs understand business barriers to access local and the European market, and to understand user requirements.

“Prepare startups for European success” is our guidebook, presented during the EBN Congress in October 2015 and describing the whole process of LILA Labs.

Download it from here. 

 

Cloud Expo Europe 2015 in Frankfurt

1 Cloud Expo LILA 2015The cloud has forever changed how users store data, collaborate on projects, or using apps. Cloud is supporting the development of so many innovative technologies in all areas such as healthcare, automotive, life sciences, retail, media, energy, or robotics, both in consumer and in enterprise products. Cloud market is one that is rapidly growing and evolving all the time.

According to its tradition always keeping up with new technologies and innovative trends, INI-Novation GmbH in cooperation with EIT Digital Accelerator visited the Cloud Expo Europe 2015 in Frankfurt.

Currently, INI-Novation is involved in several EU projects developing innovative technologies, apps, products, distribution chains and creative training courses. LILA Project is one of them supporting technologies on a very early stage and the LILA platform is an important tool in the working process of INI-Novation.
INI-Novation supports SMEs and start-ups with innovative ideas, prototypes, or products that help the end users in the daily and professional life with close interactions based on social media, mobile devices or other sensors at their private and public spaces. Cloud is a key enabler in their technologies. The soft-landing support in German markets, international growth, user testing and organization of LILA living labs with potential users in 2016 were the main topics on the meetings of INI-Novation GmbH.

Start-ups in the Internet economy – workshop in Cologne

E Commerce_Wolfgang Kniejski in CologneOn October 23th, Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Kniejski, Managing Director of INI-Novation GmbH and Business Developer in European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) was invited as a speaker in an “Entrepreneurs in eCommerce” event in Cologne: “Start-ups in the Internet economy – the European perspective”.
In front of start-ups, coaches and accelerators, Dr. Kniejski presented his approach for the development of business models and business plans at all stages of a company development process, from start-up to international expansion. “In particular, we dedicate to enter the so-called ‘soft landing’ process,” explained Dr. Kniejski, “by supporting start-up companies with an expert network and providing them the help in their efforts to enter international markets and to overcome the early stage challenges of existing barriers.”

Dr. Kniejski presented three support initiatives that are available for all eligible start-ups:
E Commerce_start-ups in CologneTESLA (Transnational Ecosystem Laboratory & Actions) project
With the support of partner organisations from Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands cross-border access-to-market opportunities are offered. The goal is to drive the internationalization of start-ups faster, giving them access to important export markets in the European Union.
LILA slide in presentation_E Commerce 2015• LILA- Lab web platform
LILA Project is a user feedback platform. It helps the entrepreneurs on their very first stage of product development by providing feedback from targeted users. Start-ups can test their inventions in different stages of their development, even when it is still an idea. Through LILA Labs markets in France, UK, Luxemburg and Germany can be approached. Key to the success is not the platform itself, but the successful networking of partners and the strong groups of user communities behind the LILA platform.

• EIT Digital Accelerator
Assistance is provided to later stage start-ups and scale ups that have already market evidence to show.. On this stage, the start-up is striving for internationalization. Therefore, the EIT Digital network provides the supported scale ups access to market, to experts and to investors on matchmaking events. Support measures in all of this three activity lines can even be provided outside Europe. As Wolfgang Kniejski replied on an entrepreneur’s question: “This is generally possible and we already created success stories. However, it depends on the personal networks and of the quality of the network partners of every business developer.”

 

*All materials for this event can be downloaded through:
https://e-commerce.eco.de/2015/events/start-ups-im-e-commerce.html
*The Press info is published also here:
http://ini-novation.lilaproject.eu/en/blog/start-ups-in-the-internet-economy-workshop-in-cologne
Press Info
Darmstadt, October 2015

NELUMBOX – the awards winner. Use Case from LILA Labs session

LILA Lab NELUMBOXNELUMBOX pro is a cold chain solution with only battery-operated long-term controlled temperature device, which is one of its unique features. NELUMBOX is patented technology and is created by Martin Voigt – an entrepreneur from Darmstadt (Germany). Based on this technology, he developed four different types of solutions for four different use cases: personal medication and traveling, for baby care, for professional use and leisure. Martin Voigt still do not have his own company but all his products are ready for testing by different users.

The General Manager of INI-Novation GmbH Wolfgang Kniejski met Martin Voigt on one of the seminars, organized by INI-Novation about IPR management. After the seminar, they had long conversation about the market and different ways for market entrance. Both agreed that the users’ needs and preferences are important for the market entrance strategy. For this reason, Martin Voigt was introduced to the process of LILA Labs. It was decided a LILA lab to be organized during a special pitching competition “UNCAP 2015 INNOVATION AWARDS”. It was good opportunity for Martin, because he could easily receive feedback from people working in hospices, care homes and from frequent travellers.

Matchmaking discussionLILA Lab in Darmstadtn1The idea of this participation was good, because the NELUMBOX creator Martin Voigt received a lot of feedbac
k from the users during the LILA lab session. The discussion during the LILA lab made clearer the benefits and the challenges of NELUMBOX for the users, that participated in the lab.

The inclusion of a LILA lab session during another event with the same-targeted focus groups was helpful in two directions: Martin Voigt discussed issues of NELUMBOX with highly competent people in the Health Care and Home Care sector; and secondly, the responsible people from the Innovation Management Teamof UNCAP had the opportunity to know in details the new invention.

As a result, NELUMBOX won the second place in the “UNCAP 2015 INNOVATION AWARD competition. Martin Voigt was invited as an associated partner in the UNCAP EU project which means that he could test in a real field his invention. He also was invited to participate in Nottingham in the UNCAP conference on eCare and to exhibit his technology.

 

Next steps are preparation to take NELUMBOX to the international market and again the first step will be LILA lab, organized by our LILA partners in France and England.