The importance of technological innovation as a factor of micro and macroeconomic competitiveness is one of the most outstanding phenomena of the so-called knowledge-based economy and is increasingly taking over from other traditional factors of competitiveness, such as labour costs, finances or prices. Largely because technology, in both its directly productive aspects and its organisational manifestations, is capable of effectively substituting most other elements or making them more efficient.
Within this panorama, there is a growing interest in the accelerated internationalisation of economic activity and the effects this is having upon the organisation of production and increasingly upon aspects that until a few years ago were considered outside of this process, because their characteristics seemed to be strongly concentrated around the companies’s central offices; no doubt, the creation of technology featured among them. However, in recent years certain tendencies have appeared that seem to question this model and there is evidence to suggest that the creation of technological innovations is progressively occurring from international bases.
CEPES-A, through its Innovation and Projects Area, is attempting to set up a suitable framework to promote the awareness of this reality among Social Economy companies and to spread an innovative attitude among them, providing them with mechanisms to approach their management from this perspective.
Therefore, we can define the improvement of competitiveness of Social Economy companies in Andalusia as a strategic goal of the Innovation and Projects Area.
To obtain said goal, the Area works fundamentally on the design and execution of projects relating to the following matters:
Innovation
Internationalisation
Intercooperation
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
Quality and Excellence in Management
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Training
International Cooperation
Research Studies
