A personal view of the SME Instrument from an Evaluator's Role, based on the experience of 2 years, since 2014, as expert evaluator working for the European Commission (EC).

1. SME Instrument-
Evaluator View
Barcelona Activa, May 2016
Pablo Hernández
CEO & Co-founder
pablo.hernandez@techideas.es
Miguel Vidal
CTO & Co-founder
miguel.vidal@techideas.es

2. Who am I?

3. About us
“We transform IDEAS into
compelling TECHNOLOGY”
TechIDEAS is a Software
Engineering company
specialized in disruptive
innovation

4. MIT Collaboration

5. Featured
Apps

6. Indice
· WHAT is the SME Instrument?
· WHY apply for an SME Instrument?
· HOW-TO prepare a proposal?
· Common mistakes in a proposal

7. What is the SME
Instrument?

8. The European Paradox
“One important explanation is that technologies and services (developed by small and highly innovative
European firms) often can only grow by attracting US investments. It is flattering that the US investors
recognize the quality and attractiveness of our research, but it is a signal that Europeans are failing to risk
money in getting gains from our brains. This is really a tragic loss of assets: not only do we fail to exploit
our potential, but we pump our knowledge capital offshore often accompanied by the innovators, our
most innovative and entrepreneurial assets of all.”
Viviane Reding Speech at Biennial Conference 2008, Athens, 8 September 2008.
Why so few European
SMEs grow to become
global corporations?
“
”

9. EC Objective
· Gold Nugget SME
· Strong Growth Potential
· Global Ambition
· Breakthrough Innovation
“We intent to find the gold nuggets of SMEs among a lot of sand and – hoping that it is gold we will and fund
– we will support it with various services in order for the company to have improved chances to grow and
prosper”
Bernd Reichert, Head of Unit of the Execute Agency for SME
· High Technology
Readiness Level (TRL 6)

10. Experts Role
Find the Golden Nuggets in
the sand
Assess the Market
Opportunity / Commercial
Viability
Assess the Technology
Readiness Level
Assess the Company Team
capabilities
·
·
·
·

11. SMEs Role
Death Valley Ultra Marathon
“In the process, the runners cross two passes, the first
one, Towne Pass is at 4960 some odd feet, and then
after going down to 1550 feet – the next one, maybe
named Darwin Pass, is at about 5300 feet”
Steve Stern - July 16, 2012

12. The SME
Instrument is
special.
It is aimed at reducing the risk and
bridging the funding gap = ”valley of
death” between research grants and
private investments, in order to
strengthen European competitiveness

13. Why apply for an SME
Instrument?

14. Why apply?
SME can apply individually
Exclusive for SME
Application form for Phase 1 is
only 10 pages
Result of Phase 1 is feasibility
study and business plan. EC pay
50.000
·
·
·
·
Application form for Phase 2 is
only 30 pages. EC pay 70% of the
budget (0,5 MM € – 2,5 MM €)
Result of Phase 2 is your solution
reaching TRL 9, ready to be
commercialized.
Open Call with 4 cut-off dates per
year
·
·
·

16. Technology Maturity

17. How-To prepare
a proposal?

18. How-To apply?
The Problem: a simple explanation of life
before your product. Why there is a
problem?
The Solution: a simple explanation of life
after your product. How you solved the
problem?
Market Watch: a description of target
market and target users, including
market size and growth. Which customer
are willing to pay for your product?
Competition: 2 qualitative reasons a
customer would choose you. Why you
are different?
·
·
·
·
Go-To-Market: a simple representation
of your go to market strategy. How you'll
grow?
Business Model: How you'll make
money?
Financials: How big the business can be
and how does it grow?
Team: 3-4 key execs with only relevant
experience. Who is on the team? (CEO,
CMO, CTO, ...)
·
·
·
·

19. The Problem
#2 Climate Change
(20% of EU)
#1 Poverty, Hunger and Lack
of Drinking Water (28% of EU)
#3 The Economic
(16% of EU)

20. The Solution
Ecocapsule - New way of
sustainable living
Every once in a while, comes a product
that challenges our limitations and opens
up our imagination
Ecocapsule - New way of sustainable living

21. Market Opportunity

22. Technology Readiness Level
Douglas Engelbart invented his first computer mouse prototype in the 1960’s with the assistance of his lead
engineer Bill English at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International.)
Engelbart never received any royalties for it, as his employer SRI held the patent, which ran out before it became
widely used in personal computers.

23. The Team

25. Common
Mistakes in a
proposal

26. Common mistakes
IDEA is unclear and not
convincing
Low awareness and
understanding of market trends,
market needs, current
competitive and state-of-the-art
solutions
Solutions are described mostly
from technological aspect and
neglecting business opportunities
·
·
·
Focus is mostly given to
technological aspects rather than
business perspective
Poor description of company
capacities and competencies to
successfully conduct the project
Proposed solution has not
reached TRL6 or more
Go to market strategy is not
clearly presented
·
·
·
·

27. Thank you
Pablo Hernández
CEO & Co-founder
pablo.hernandez@techideas.es
Miguel Vidal
CTO & Co-founder
miguel.vidal@techideas.es