The Innovation Staircase now allows entrepreneurs to find the services that are right for them, provided by other companies and the state.

“Just as it’s important to assess a person’s current form when designing a training programme, it’s the same in business.
Namely, we have more than a hundred different services and supports in the EAS and KredEx joint agency to help businesses take a leap forward.
Now, the Innovation Staircase will also help entrepreneurs find the right service for them.
Whether it’s developing your own product, protecting your intellectual property, managing your innovation or finding finance,” says Inge Laas, head of the innovation department at the joint agency.

The majority of the services provided by the EAS and KredEx combined are in the second and third rungs of the ladder.
While the second tier is made up of companies doing individual experiments, the third tier is made up of innovators with a well thought-out and managed process.
According to Laas, a critical step for the development of companies is to move from the second to the third rung, where the challenge is to evolve from an occasional experimenter to an innovator with a managed innovation process.

For example, our business development programme would be a good fit for such companies, offering support to help entrepreneurs transform their business model and create a longer-term plan.
The support it provides can be used to digitise business processes, develop human resources, or take sales, marketing, manufacturing and product development to new levels.

“But if we as a country and a society want to make a real leap forward, it is important that more and more companies reach the fourth level, where strategic innovators in the sense of innovation operate.
These are the companies that regularly engage in R&D and attract substantial investment.
We are also increasingly offering support services to these ambitious companies,” said Laas.

For example, we can help you carry out knowledge-intensive development projects through an applied research programme or find funding from various European innovation funds.

“If there is a definite desire for development, the surest way to arrive at the right recommendation and service is to go through the innotrep with our client manager, with whom the company can fill in the innotrep questionnaire and then discuss which services are best suited to the company’s development needs,” Laas assured.

Contact us klienditeenindus@eas.ee or 6 279 700.