To remain competitive in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must increase their innovation capacity and close the gap between qualification requirements and demands. Human capital is the most important resource for increasing productivity and innovation. As a result, the "Knowledge Alliance for Human Resources and Organizational Development" project was launched and ran from 2017 to 2021. The project of eleven partners from four countries placed a high value on increased collaboration between universities and businesses in order to promote education and innovation. The most important findings are included in this publication. First, through R&D work at universities, SME-specific methods, instruments, and projects are developed, tested, and implemented, resulting in workplace innovations in areas such as employee recruitment, motivation, and digitization, a more innovative working environment, and more efficient use of human capital. Second, through qualifications, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Baltic Sea Region's awareness and competencies in this new area of innovation promotion was strengthened.

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION In many EU countries there is a severe shortage of young skilled workers, especially in SMEs, which has a negative impact on their growth prospects and competitiveness. Even countries such as Germany, with its dual vocational training system, which has traditional strengths in attracting young talent, are having increasing difficulties in meeting the shortage of young skilled workers. There is a need of renewing the HR-Management in many SMEs to better attract and integrate young talent and to provide owners and employees with the necessary knowledge and skills. This project has collected best practices and developed a SME centred HR-concept including digital models, as well as various training programmes with different measures for SME managers leading to the implementation of a modern and holistic human resource management. Vocational Training Providers are equipped with the necessary materials and training programs to qualify their staff and SMEs and their employees in their sphere of influence. This publication contains the relevant curricula, application notes and experiences as a result of the project REGROW with the following partners: Hanse-Parlament (DE), Berufsakademie Hamburg (DE), Chamber of Crafts Opole (PL), Chamber of Crafts Poznan(PL), Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EE), IBC International Business College Kolding (DK) and Arbeit und Zukunft e.V. (DE).