Abstract

In 2002 the Department of Innovation and Economic Promotion of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia set up the Zaintek Strategic Competitive Surveillance service to increase awareness among SMEs in Bizkaia concerning the use of information as a tool for strategic management. To that purpose, Zaintek has focused on awareness and on developing a number of increasingly complex support services via its website. One of the most highly-developed services is a business information system (BIS) tailored to SMEs. This article examines the prerequisites for the implementation of this service, its objectives and its stages of development. Three years ago Zaintek was integrated into BAI (the Bizkaia Innovation Agency), evidencing the importance attributed by the public administration to surveillance as a support tool at all levels of innovation.