“Do you want your company to be innovative?” Ask any businessperson and the answer will be “Yes, show me how!”

For 650 companies with 5 to 500 employees located in Europe’s Rhine region, a starting point is Strategic Innovation (Strategisch Innoveren). Known within Deloitte as the Merit initiative, it is a large cross-border project coordinated by Merit Netherlands, a spin off from the Maastricht University in close co-operation with Hasselt University.

Its aim is to enhance the innovative capabilities of small to midsized firms. Deloitte has been subcontracted to provide firms with an internal audit to assess their innovative and strategic capabilities.

The audit examines both external market factors and internal aspects, such as company culture, structure and communications. The result of the audit is a tailor-made innovation plan. Deloitte can then assist the company with implementation. Going further, Deloitte can help set up a cluster of partner companies focused on new product-market combinations.