In October 2016, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia started the promotion call for the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) "NRW.Innovationspartner". The call was addressed to the nine economic regions in North Rhine-Westphalia in order to strengthen existing innovation structures and to establish a holistic advisory and support system for SMEs in the regions. Accompanying this, a central back office was set up to accompany and support the regional offers. In order to be continued, NRW.BANK requires external support from a suitably qualified consulting firm for the period 2019-2021.

NRW.Innovationspartner project

In October 2016, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia started the promotion call to increase the innovative capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) "NRW.Innovationspartner". The call was addressed to the nine economic regions in NRW in order to strengthen already existing innovation structures and to establish a holistic advisory and support system for SMEs in the regions. The call had 2 specific goals:

- strengthening regional innovation structures in order to increase the innovative capacity of SMEs,

- Improving the quality of innovation advice for SMEs with a focus on innovation management, support and technology transfer.

In each of the nine economic regions of North Rhine-Westphalia, a regional actor has taken on the role of the network coordinator, the so-called regional innovation partner (Reg.IP), on the basis of his application including project outline for the funding call.

The funding of Reg.IP, initially limited to mid-2018, will be implemented in accordance with a decision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIDE), which has since taken over the responsibility of the Ministry of Science of North Rhine-Westphalia. continued until the end of 2021 (expansion phase).

Building on the previous goals of the NRW.Innovationspartner, the expansion phase will focus even more on the benefits for SMEs in the regions and should be flanked, among other things, by networking with other actors for innovation and digitization as well as by additional local events. In the context of the grant applications for the expansion phase, which have since been approved, the group co-ordinators have developed corresponding project outlines.

Back Office NRW.Innovationspartner (BO.IP)

To support the regional structures, a central back office NRW.Innovationspartner (BO.IP) was set up and set up to support and support the nine economic regions in the implementation of their projects at the "NRW.Innovationspartner".

At the time, NRW.BANK had taken over this task on behalf of the Ministry of Science of North Rhine-Westphalia. In its implementation, NRW.BANK relies on its own expertise. In order to provide explicitly named so-called innovation-related services, which are not part of NRW.BANK's core business, NRW.BANK has placed a subcontract for consultancy services under an EU-wide tender until 31.12.2018.

In the course of the continuation of the promotion of Reg.IP, the now responsible MWIDE has decided to continue to focus explicitly on the combination of regional competence and central support by the BO.IP, even during the expansion phase.

As a result, a new subcontract will be required as part of an EU-wide tender for the period 2019-2021.

Accordingly, NRW.BANK seeks external support from a suitably qualified consulting firm for the "Innovation-related services" to be provided within the framework of the Back Office NRW.Innovationspartner for the period from 1.1.2019 to 31.12.2021 and asks for an offer.

The offer should include a first concept design, as the provider wants to implement the below mentioned service catalog.

The draft concept and the further evidence provided must be submitted in German.