Innovations are important factors for strengthening the competitiveness of any enterprise. Product and service innovations oriented to new or existing markets as well as the development and implementation of new production processes and organizational structures are decisive factors in the marketplace.

The International SEPT  Program developed a new concept i.e. ‘Intelligence 4 innovation’ which captures several dimensions of the innovation process, combining them towards an application-oriented set of strategies and instruments to be used by small and medium-sized firms:

• Innovation Management
• Innovative Entrepreneurship Promotion
• Innovative Network Management
• Innovation Research

Innovation Management deals with the fact that market-driven innovation management requires a systematic approach that allows for understanding and developing solutions which effectively respond to the fulfillment of the users’ needs. The “voice of customer” must be integrated from the beginning in order to identify the clients’ needs, wishes and the changing customer trends. Hence, the fuzzy nature at the front end of innovation processes requires the application of effective techniques and tools to drive this integration in a consistent way.

Innovative Entrepreneurship Promotion is key to the successful innovation process. For the commercialization of innovative ideas and technological developments, it is necessary to analyze different business models, especially in terms of the market and competitive conditions as well as customer value.

This, in turn leads to integrating Innovative Network Management as a crucial issue. Managing networks in an efficient and beneficial way involves a range of activities aimed at different actors and communities external to the firm. It involves finding the right mix of network partners, and favoring specific types of networks (e.g. social, reputational, marketing information, coopetition, and cooperative technology networks) to account for actual challenges in the course of the firm’s development.

This in turn has to be supported by Innovation Research in order to accelerate the transfer of innovative ideas and technological developments into economic practice. In co-operation with business and transfer management units at e.g. universities and institutes of higher education, the research results as well as ideas of high entrepreneurial potential are identified, evaluated and collected in an idea pool for innovative entrepreneurship again.