How to Spread Systematic Innovation Approach in SMEs. Evaluating Italian Experience for Replicating the Model in Indian Context

This work presents an analysis of a systematic innovation dissemination program dedicated to SMEs, carried out by the University of Bergamo and funded by the Chamber of Commerce of Bergamo and Lombardy Region since 2009. The project is still in progress in Italy, it is going to be replicated in a similar context in India too. Although the main objective was to spread systematic innovation methods in SMEs, it was decided not to focus on the direct teaching of systematic innovation but to provide basic support to SME owners or aspiring entrepreneursregarding patents. The easiest way to involve SMEs was to use patents as first mean to provide technical and scientific advice on the topicof intellectual property management (e.g., Protection tools, patentability opinions, trademark registration, modes and costs of filing/recording, realization of prior art searches, insights on counterfeiting, etc.) and then introducing systematic innovation tools. Patent issues were used as a “Trojan horse” to overcome the mistrust towards the structured innovation methods. After 8 years of experience, we have collectedenough data for providing some considerations on reproducibility and scalability of this model in other contexts. The application in Indian SMEs contexts is explored, evaluated and discussed for the scope of this work