A Strategic Network of Cooperation Coaches

Strategy level: for strategists in innovation support

• Intense person to person coaching sessions consequently supporting collaborative business innovation, leading the company from idea over partnership to realisation, have become the hallmark of the smE-MPOWER approach to cooperation coaching. Its emerging community offers a framework for coaches to find peers to work with and to learn from, share lessons and tools from daily practice, pursue a structured pathway towards job accreditation and expand their professional networks of regional key players around Europe.

• If you are interested in developing cooperation coaching in your region and willing to invest in smE-MPOWER, this is a unique point in time to join the community with its opportunities for new business, strategies and competences in your organisation.

Operational level: for cooperation coaches

• Community: This invitation-only peer-to-peer community of SME coaches is committed to share knowledge and pragmatic support tools emerging out of daily experience. All parties of this community are strongly engaged in their regions. The community enables the speedy identification of partners for collaborative innovation projects through inter-community recommendations. Despite our diverse backgrounds the smE-MPOWER community has developed and uses a shared approach to innovation coaching while allowing for regional modifications. There is active communication within the community to find and evaluate FP7 funding opportunities.

• Knowledge: The toolkit incorporates leading-edge knowledge packaged to support business innovation. Using the «Open Knowledge» paradigm, practice proven, actionable and adaptable knowledge is freely shared within the smE-MPOWER community on an online platform. Along with tools, knowledge that has been developed and continues to evolve in the following areas: project job profiles, document templates, expert analysis and standard project processes.

• Training: The project encourages ongoing peer-to-peer action learning, debriefing and mutual support. Coaches are profiled and trained to support business innovation and international cooperation as well as to draw on appropriate tools and other knowledge. An accreditation system will be set-up for the new job profile «smEMPOWER Coach».