1. Innovation Management Practice in Irish SME’s By: David Mulligan, Owen O’Leary, David O’Sullivan National University of Ireland, Galway

2. Problem 50-80% of projects fail to impact on organisational goals Lack of propensity of SME’s to innovate Lack of resources available to SME’s to innovate Lack of planning evident in the SME sector

3. Objectives of the research Identify the barriers of innovation within SME’s Identify the needs and objectives of SME’s to innovate more effectively Identify potential areas for future development.

4. Research Approach

5. Hypothesis Structures and systems that are available are to cumbersome for the small enterprise sector Innovation focuses around goals actions teams and results and networking.

6. Findings Lack of goal definition Poor project management skills Poor goal action alignment Human resources are underutilised Poor collaboration for knowledge exists Poor monitoring of results

7. Major outcomes and significance Collaborative software developed to support SME’s with innovation. Innovation planner developed Survey developed

8. Conclusions and Recommendations Absence of best practice. Lack of structures and systems for the small business sector. Under performance in the small business sector Innovation areas tend to be predominately led by the customer requirements. Strong collaboration with knowledge centres and state support is needed.

9. Acknowledgements Enterprise Ireland COST-WORTH