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Tailored methodologies for growth
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The objective of the Promotor+ project is to help recently incorporated or future regions of the EU stimulate their economies through the establishment of new enterprises. For this, a methodology based on the experience from less developed regions of the 15 EU members (in Spain, Germany, Greece and Austria), was to be implemented in 5 regions of the new Member States (Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia and 2 regions in Poland).
Instead of implementing successful models from regions with completely different backgrounds, Promotor+ wants to use methodologies entirely tailored to the specificities of an area; from a social, cultural, economic and political point of view.
Current status
The Wroclaw Centre of Technology Transfer, the Latvian Technology Centre, Sofia University, Primorski Technology Park, and Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation have already experienced the first results of implementing the Promotor+ methodology.
More than 900 potential entrepreneurs were informed of the initiative by means of 22 events. 157 entrepreneurs applied for a business plan competition, and 66 of them really participated. In the end, 38 entrepreneurs were selected, based on their business plans, to get support for setting up their firms.
The partners involved in Promotor+ have reached an extremely interesting stage of the project; while actively providing support to the entrepreneurs to consolidate the action, they are also starting the feedback process with a view to improving the overall methodology, concept, and the guidelines for its implementation and customisation.
Visits to the Basque Country
In line with the philosophy of the Promotor+ project, the consortium pursued opportunities for learning equally from initiatives and actions carried out by third parties. The Promotor+ partners visited key government officials from the Basque Region active in stimulating entrepreneurship. Because of its determination to foster innovation, and thanks to substantial investments in RTD and entrepreneurship, the Basque Region has successfully overcome a critical socio-economic situation (up to 21% of unemployment) resulting from the collapse of heavy industries on which economic activity was based. Nowadays, the Basque Region is one of the leading regions of Spain and one of the regions with the highest increase in investment in innovation and RTD versus GDP in Europe (from 0,069% in 1979 to over 1.7% in 2003). The unemployment rate in the region is 7.6%
Members of Promotor+ have taken the Basque Country as an example for their analyses and potential schemes. They had the opportunity to learn from the experiences gained by SPRI (Regional Development Agency), DEMA (Provincial Development Agency focused on training and entrepreneurship), BEAZ (largest business incubator centre in Europe), Technology Park of Zamudio, DZ (promotional centre of design applied to industry) and Innovalia (private association fostering innovation and entrepreneurship). |
