ELIXIR’s Industry Strategy sets out the objectives that guide the way in which ELIXIR interacts with and provides support to industry. It is articulated around five objectives: 1) Increase industry usage of ELIXIR resources and ensure that name is synonymous with quality 2) Enable Open innovation by Europe’s SMEs 3) Build effective partnerships with key industry stakeholders and initiatives 4) Ensure effective communication between industry and ELIXIR 5) Support the bioinformatics training needs of industry To deliver Objective 2 - Enable Open innovation by Europe’s SMEs - ELIXIR operates the Innovation and SME Forum. This Deliverable is an assessment of how effective this programme has been in supporting innovation in SMEs. In the context of EXCELERATE Work Package 13, the activities have been carried out in Subtask 13.2.2: Expand the reach and impact of ELIXIR’s Innovation and SME programme. Over the course of the ELIXIR-EXCELERATE grant, we organised seven Innovation and SME events with themes ranging from data driven innovation in rare diseases to food and nutrition. In total, we attracted ~600 participants to these events. The impact assessment was conducted by using qualitative and quantitative methods such as feedback surveys and direct follow up with attendees from ELIXIR’s Industry Officer, Katharina Lauer. The overall assessment is that the Innovation and SME Forum is considered a flagship activity of ELIXIR. Industry attending the events find the forum incredibly useful, as do ELIXIR Nodes. Such has been the impact of the ELIXIR Innovation and SME Forum, we have been able to secure budget from ELIXIR Members to operate future events after ELIXIR-EXCELERATE project has ended, and to expand the programme through running more events in the context of the IMI-funded FAIRPlus1 project.