In 2013-2014 the authors were working in a research project at Department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Systems (MEI) at Tampere University of Technology (TUT).
The project created three tools for targeted to Finnish small and middle size enterprises (SMEs): Power Champion, Focus Champion and Team Champion.
The tools were introduced in November 2014 to Tampere region municipal actors supporting the SMEs and their development.
Due to SMEs’ international ambitions, it was obvious that the tools need to be available also in English. However, the translation work was not possible within the project scope.
A year later, a new project was initiated with the funding from the European Regional Development Fund by the Council of Tampere Region. In this new project, Power Champion, Focus Champion and Team Champion were translated to English. Additionally, the tools’ focus was shifted from municipal actors to SMEs and one additional team role was added to Team Champion. Also, two new tools for the companies were introduced: Business Champion and Go Champion.
