Information support of innovation management in small and middle enterprises

Authors of this article, members of the project "Knowledge Base for Search and Development of Synergic Entrepreneurial Alliances" which is funded by the Czech Academy of Science, have decided to prepare an overview of the innovative management in the Czech small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The previous article has been orientated toward the definition of innovation, innovative strategies suitable for SME and building the business cluster. This article deals with requirements on information support for innovation management as a result of the turbulence of external environment (changing, discontinuous and surprising) and its implications for manager's attitude innovation. Article describes the cycle of information support (management - collection - analyses - dissemination) and determines the information support system requirements. Main focus is devoted to classification of information sources, especially to the external sources. Information products, that are results of the information process, are characterized according the type of questions and possible answers. Further this article touches the problematic limited resources solved by creation of business clusters, while discusses also the pitfalls connected with cooperation of cluster members connected with sharing of information among members of the cluster. This article also points out the similarity of methods and processes used in Competitive Intelligence. For innovation management are imported both strategic, competitors, market and technological aspects of Competitive Intelligence