JIC, ZAJMOVE SDRUZENI PRAVNICKCH OSOB

Their core work

JIC is the South Moravian Innovation Centre based in Brno, Czech Republic — a regional innovation agency that helps SMEs improve their innovation management capabilities. They operate as part of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), providing structured support to small and medium enterprises seeking to innovate and access EU instruments like the SME Instrument and EIC Pilot. Their practical work involves coaching companies through innovation processes, running peer-learning programmes for innovation agencies, and more recently exploring FabLab-based entrepreneurship support tools.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

From 2014 to 2018, JIC concentrated almost exclusively on traditional innovation management consulting for SMEs — structured advisory through the Enterprise Europe Network and SME Instrument coaching. From 2019 onward, while maintaining the BISONet core, they expanded into more hands-on and experiential approaches: the FABLABIA project introduced FabLab-based entrepreneurship, and their later BISONet iterations added EIC Pilot support and Key Account Management, reflecting the EU's own shift from SME Instrument to the EIC framework.

JIC is evolving from pure advisory into more experiential, hands-on innovation support — expect them to bring FabLab and EIC acceleration expertise to future consortia.

How they like to work

JIC primarily participates as a partner (5 of 7 projects) rather than leading consortia, though they have coordinated two smaller projects (€50K each) focused on methodology development. With only 9 unique partners across 5 countries, they maintain a compact, stable network — the recurring BISONet series suggests long-term relationships with the same core partners. They are a reliable, low-maintenance partner suited to Coordination and Support Actions rather than large research consortia.

JIC has worked with 9 distinct partners across 5 countries, forming a small but consistent European network. Their repeated participation in the BISONet series suggests stable, trust-based relationships with a core group of EEN-linked innovation agencies.

What sets them apart

JIC stands out as one of the few Central European innovation agencies with a continuous, multi-year track record in EU-funded SME support — the BISONet series spans the entire H2020 programme period (2014-2021). Their combination of EEN network access, structured innovation management methodologies (smE-MPOWER), and emerging FabLab capabilities makes them a practical bridge between EU innovation policy and Czech SMEs on the ground.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BISONet PLUS ENH
  Largest single grant (€159,665) and the anchor of a multi-year series that defined JIC's core mission in H2020.
• FABLABIA
  Coordinator role exploring FabLabs for entrepreneurship — signals a strategic pivot toward hands-on maker-based innovation support.
• Peer-BIT
  Coordinator role developing the smE-MPOWER methodology — their only project focused on innovation agency peer learning rather than direct SME support.