In December of 2004 the Directorate General for Research and Technological Development (DG RTD) of the European Commission (EC) set up a High-Level Expert Group to propose a series of measures to stimulate the reporting of Intellectual Capital in research intensive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The Expert Group has focused on enterprises that either perform Research and Development (R&D), or use the results of R&D to innovate and has also considered the implications for the specialist R&D units of larger enterprises, dedicated Research & Technology Organizations and Universities. In this report the Expert Group presents its findings, leading to six recommendations to stimulate the reporting of Intellectual Capital in SMEs by raising awareness, improving reporting competencies, promoting the use of IC Reporting and facilitating standardization.
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Purpose: Small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) operating in the alternative financing sector are typically heterogenous in nature making them differ greatly from traditional banks. Where traditional banks must comply with strict banking regulations, developing uniform regulations for the alternative financing sector remains a challenge. This paper examines the current challenges and solutions from a sociological and institutional perspective in developing standards for SMEs operating in the alternative financing sector in the Netherlands. Adopting minimum quality standards should lead to increased transparency and public trust in the non-banking sector.
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The Co-Design Pressure Cooker was set up to gather knowledge on co-design in product development activities of Small-to-Medium Enterprises(SMEs). This booklet gives an impression of ten projects conducted in the Province of Utrecht, the Netherlands. In these ten projects, a total of 22 companies were involved. 5000 booklets have already been printed in Dutch and handed out to SMEs for knowledge dissemination. We have received ample requests from the international community, which leads us to believe that there is an international audience for the cases conducted and knowledge gathered. This is why we decided to publish an English version of this booklet. The booklet will be followed by a scientific publication on the knowledge gathered for the academic community. Feel free to contact us for more information on this project
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With increasing penetration rates of driver assistance systems in road vehicles, powerful sensing and processing solutions enable further automation of on-road as well as off-road vehicles. In this maturing environment, SMEs are stepping in and education needs to align with this trend. By the input of student teams, HAN developed a first prototype robot platform to test automated vehicle technology in dynamic road scenarios that include VRUs (Vulnerable Road Users). These robot platforms can make complex manoeuvres while carrying dummies of typical VRUs, such as pedestrians and bicyclists. This is used to test the ability of automated vehicles to detect VRUs in realistic traffic scenarios and exhibit safe behaviour in environments that include VRUs, on public roads as well as in restricted areas. Commercially available VRU-robot platforms are conforming to standards, making them inflexible with respect to VRU-dummy design, and pricewise they are far out of reach for SMEs, education and research. CORDS-VTS aims to create a first, open version of an integrated solution to physically emulate traffic scenarios including VRUs. While analysing desired applications and scenarios, the consortium partners will define prioritized requirements (e.g. robot platform performance, dummy types and behaviour, desired software functionality, etc.). Multiple robots and dummies will be created and practically integrated and demonstrated in a multi-VRU scenario. The aim is to create a flexible, upgradeable solution, published fully in open source: The hardware (robot platform and dummies) will be published as well-documented DIY (do-it-yourself) projects and the accompanying software will be published as open-source projects. With the CORDS-VTS solution, SME companies, researchers and educators can test vehicle automation technology at a reachable price point and with the necessary flexibility, enabling higher innovation rates.
