Innovatie Traineeship Hanze

The aim of the innovation traineeship program is to support regional SMEs in the North of the Netherlands to sustainably innovate with the help and support of trainees and researchers of the Hanzehogeschool. The trainees will be guided to develop and implement a research-informed innovation during an internship and a year-long traineeship at the company. The innovation traineeship program is initiated at the Hanze UAS by three research groups (lectoraten) who are embedded in the Marian van Os Center of Expertise Ondernemen (CoEO). The trainees will be coached in a Community of Learners and guided by a diverse group of researchers from the following Hanze UAS research groups: • International Business • Marketing (Marklinq) • Digitalisation (comprised of the research groups User-Centered Design & New Business & ICT) Key-objectives of the project: 1. Measure SME innovation capacity throughout the project period by applying the Innovation Health Check from Enterprise Europe Network ; 2. Identify suitable topics for the participating SME to collaborate on with the research groups; 3. Develop and implement selected innovation(s) with the trainee and accompanying researchers; 4. Understand innovation barriers and provide tools to overcome them; 5. Train trainees in innovation development and applied research; 6. Create an innovation network of regional SMEs; 7. Develop long-term relationships with regional SMEs; 8. Enhance awareness of regional innovations, best-practices, opportunities and barriers, through the dissemination of case studies and workshops; 9. Generalise knowledge for overarching themes, sectors, and industries; 10. Provide input for the development of sustainable Innovation traineeships for the whole of the Netherlands. The project plan explains more in the detail the context, the need articulation, network creation, monitoring and management of the project.