This WP is designed to provide the Quadruple Helix actors, especially to cluster policy managers, innovative tools and instruments that are thought to meet the needs identified in the Transnational Analysis of Regional Context and Cluster Innovation Potential.

The objectives of this work package are:

To develop innovative tools to assess the cluster innovation potential and their needs for sustainable development in Agro-Food, in the Danube region;
To enhance the innovation management knowledge and skills of the Quadruple Helix actors by performing 200 innovation audit tools for cluster managers and cluster members active in Agro-Food;
To deliver a transnational training program to clusters and cluster members operating in Agro – Food leading to increased cooperation and exchange of best practices among the actors of the Quadruple Helix in the Danube region.

Thus, in this work package, partners developed 2 Innovation Audit tools for clusters (1 for cluster managers and 1 for cluster members) that are operating in the Agro-Food, taking into account the specificities of this sector. Then, PPs performed 200 innovation audits.

The main purpose of the Innovation Audit was to discover the exact strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s innovation processes and practices.

The second purpose of the Innovation Audit was to analyze the innovation capability, the innovation maturity degree of organizations activating in the field of agro-food-economy, and connected areas.

The results of the audit highlighted the barriers to innovation, as well as identifying improvements or new methods to maximize innovation capabilities.

Following the assessment, a Business and Innovation training program had been jointly developed and delivered.

The training sessions were addressed to cluster managers and members that have the potential to go international and scale up in order to further improve cluster cooperation in the Danube area and SMEs’ competitiveness. The training contains 3 modules (training sessions) that had been delivered in the following countries:

(1)          Innovation Management Dimensions– delivered in Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Romania

(2)          Business Models for Self-Sustainable Clusters– delivered in Romani, Slovenia, and Slovakia

(3)          Business Internationalization and Scale-up– delivered in Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary

With a total of 9 trainings belonging to the 3 training sessions, we educated 313 participants.