ICT is among the leading sectors in Europe making an increasingly important contribution to the economic growth and jobs creation in advanced economies. In order to adequately respond to the dynamic changes and challenges posed by environment, ICT companies must promote human talent so as to nurture not just the best technical skills but also the creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship necessary to create and adopt to innovation and thus to grow ICT businesses and make them more competitive. To respond to the new challenges, INNOSPARK project sets the overall aim to spark creativity thinking skills in ICT SMEs, so as to foster innovation and contribute to increasing the growth and competitiveness of European high-tech industries.

The project aims to attract new talents, train European citizens with the relevant creativity skills needed in the ICT sector, and as a consequence - to fuel innovation, productivity and growth in the EU. INNOSPARK is funded under the Erasmus+ programme, KA2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices.

The main aims and objectives of the INNOSPARK are

• To provide employers and employees in European ICT SMEs with reliable tool to assess their level of creativity skills and identify areas for improvement; 
• To enhance the competitiveness and the innovation capacity of ICT SMEs in the EU through practical training tailored to their needs;
• To increase the awareness of European ICT SMEs and VET community about the importance of creativity thinking as a catalyst of innovation processes through provision of state-of-the-art country analysis;
• To inspire ICT SMEs to learn from the successful experience of peer companies which have faced similar sectoral challenges but thrived on knowledge, skills, innovation and creativity.

The INNOSPARK project target groups are:

1 - ICT micro, small and medium sized enterprises
SMEs are the true pillar of the European economy, being primarily responsible for wealth and economic growth, next to their key role in innovation and R&D. Across Europe, ICT SMEs are a highly significant part of the private sector, representing for 3.99% of total GDP (2011). Total ICT sector employment in the EU amounted to 6.13 million employed people and 507.61 billion euros value added in 2011;

2 - VET providers
VET providers are one of the main and logical providers of labour force training required to enhance the competitiveness of nation’s businesses and industries.

Partnerships between VET providers and industry can be a mutually useful strategy in providing workforce training and in maintaining knowledgeable employees. Therefore, INNOSPARK project promotes the transnational cooperation between the members of the three sides of the knowledge-triangle.