SMEs and European Programmes: opportunity or fatal attraction? Marco d Angelantonio CEO - HIM SA

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1 SMEs and European Programmes: opportunity or fatal attraction? Marco d Angelantonio CEO - HIM SA

2 HIM: A network of SMEs totally dedicated to ehealth and einclusion GdA MdA 10% 90% HIM Ltd - UK >0,023 % Dedalus - Italy 9,8% 90,2% HIM S.A. - Belgium 25% HIS GmbH - Germany 50% 5% HIM GmbH - Germany 50% HIM.it- Italy 65% Critical Care Company - Belgium

3 HIM S.A. Business Lines EU Funded Projects R&D, implementation and dissemination projects funded under various EU programmes. They are strategically important for the knowledge, image and contact network that they provide Consulting to develop entry-level commercial relationships with organisations strategically positioned to influence healthcare IT in Europe HIM S.A. Healthcare Services to bring health and social care and IT service providers together in joint ventures to design, implement and take to market innovative telecare and telehealth services Business Facilitation to leverage HIM s relations with small and medium IT suppliers who have remarkable products but are limited in their ability to market them outside their local market 3

4 EU Programmes exercise an attraction on SMEs SMEs, especially those located far from Brussels, look at the EU Programmes as at the Eldorado ( what they are not) Participating in EU projects might cause addiction (it is great fun to work in an international, multicultural environment) Addiction can lead to an overdose! EU Programmes must be accessed with caution and with a clear business idea in mind 4

5 A lasting attraction REMEDES WISE C-CARE CHARM THRIVE LiverDoc SPEX VIRTUS C 3 e-prolearn HEALTH OPTIMUM MV HEALTH OPTIMUM ID DREAMING HOME SWEET HOME RENEWING HEALTH

6 It is not by accident Over the time HIM has moved away from R&D EU Programmes Framework Programmes and HIM have evolved in opposite directions FPs have emphasised the Research component (results of projects ready for the market after 5 to 10 years) to the detriment of the Development and Demonstration ones HIM has realised that the market was reaped and that demand could be mostly satisfied with existing technologies if properly integrated and made more user-friendly Other EU Programmes (eten and CIP) have turned out to be far more appropriate to support the development of our business The choice has paid off ( we are still in business!) 6

7 Are the EU Programmes we are acquainted with SME-friendly? They are not: High cost of bidding (proposals are complex and expensive to write) Low hit rate (Call for proposals are very competitive) Financial viability checks (many brilliant SME are undercapitalised and show a weak balance sheet) Long elapsed time between submission of a successful proposal and signature of the contract (consistently > 1 year in our experience) High administrative burden during the negotiation and the project implementation phase 7

8 Question If SMEs in the EU represent:* 99% of the EU enterprises (23 million enterprises) 2/3 of the EU employment (>75 million jobs) 80% of the total EU job creation more than half of the EU added value why has the Commission considered a 15% representation of SMEs in the FP7 as an acceptable target? *Sources: The OECD small and medium enterprise outlook DG Enterprise: The new SME definition European Institute of Public Administration, 8

9 Yes Was/is worth participating in EU projects? we have learnt a lot on how health and social services work in several Member States we have created a strong network of partners in several Member States we have made ourselves known in our reference market at a level unachievable by any other mean we have substantially reduced the time to market of products developed by other companies of the Group we have won commercial contracts against the world giants thanks to the credibility acquired through the successful management of EU projects 9

10 Does the death valley exist? Yes, based on our experience The path to our current telehealth and telecare platform has been paved by unsuccessful EU (FP6 and eten) proposals DREAMING (FP6 IP) Elderly Boom 1 & 2 (FP6 IP) FRIEND (eten) HELP (eten) 10

11 Does the death valley exist? Before the successful ones arrived DREAMING ( ) HOME SWEET HOME ( ) Technology was too mature for FP but not mature enough for eten We survived because we had money of our own to invest. This is not everybody s case The AAL Programme is supposed to have filled the gap but 11

12 Where is the bottleneck? R&D Implementation 3,6 billion 50,5 billion R&D/implementation funding ratio = 14/1! 12

13 My wildest dreams A drastic rebalancing between R&D and implementation funding A single proposal covering the entire life cycle from R&D to market with go/no go intermediate checkpoints A simplification and a shortening of the contract negotiation phase The restructuring of the AAL Programme (great idea but dreadful implementation because of the need to negotiate contracts with National Authorities) 13

14 Marco d'angelantonio Chairman and Managing Director Boulevard Lambermont 84 B Bruxelles Tel: GSM: Skype username: marcodangelantonio Fax: