BAYERN INNOVATIV GMBH

Their core work

Bayern Innovativ is Bavaria's public-private innovation agency that helps SMEs improve their innovation management capabilities and connect with EU funding opportunities. They operate as the regional hub for the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), providing hands-on support through innovation health checks, key account management, and matchmaking between businesses and research. Their core work is bridging the gap between SMEs and EU innovation programs like Horizon 2020, COSME, and the EIC, with a growing focus on digitalization and cross-sectoral cluster collaboration.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2014-2018, Bayern Innovativ focused tightly on innovation management methodology — the IMP³rove framework, Innovation Health Checks, and key account management for SMEs. From 2019 onward, their scope broadened significantly: keywords shift toward digitalization, peer-to-peer learning, cluster collaboration, and cross-sectoral themes like Blue Economy and Industry 4.0. The trajectory shows a move from delivering a single innovation management service to becoming a broader regional innovation ecosystem orchestrator.

Bayern Innovativ is expanding from pure innovation management consulting into cross-border, cross-sectoral cluster facilitation — expect them to seek partners in advanced manufacturing, green tech, and digital transformation.

How they like to work

Bayern Innovativ overwhelmingly participates as a partner (7 of 8 projects) rather than leading consortia, which is typical for innovation intermediaries who bring regional SME networks and dissemination reach rather than technical research. They have worked with 36 unique partners across 15 countries, indicating a broad but not deeply recurring network. Their value in a consortium is access to the Bavarian SME ecosystem and practical innovation support infrastructure, not technical R&D capacity.

With 36 consortium partners across 15 countries, Bayern Innovativ maintains a wide European network typical of EEN members. Their geographic reach spans the EU broadly, though their operational strength is concentrated in the DACH region and Southern Germany's industrial base.

What sets them apart

Bayern Innovativ offers something rare: direct, structured access to Bavaria's dense SME and Mittelstand ecosystem through a publicly backed but commercially minded agency. Unlike university tech transfer offices, they operate with a business services mindset and maintain long-running relationships with hundreds of regional companies. For any consortium needing SME engagement, technology diffusion, or dissemination into German industry, they are a proven and well-connected partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• InnoBavaria_2
  Largest single EC contribution (EUR 543,750), demonstrating significant trust from the Commission in Bayern Innovativ's SME innovation support model.
• GreenOffshoreTech
  Most recent and thematically distinct project — marks a strategic shift into cross-sectoral green technology clusters including Blue Economy and advanced manufacturing.
• InnoBavaria
  Their only coordinator role, launching the InnoBavaria series that became a five-edition flagship spanning 2014-2021.