PAXIS continues efforts to promote innovative ideas for start-up creation.
A new Pilot Action of excellence on Innovative Start-ups (PAXIS) initiative, aiming to bring together five thematic networks, six projects and three accompanying measures and expected to kick off at the beginning of 2003, was announced in December. PAXIS was developed by the European Commission, and will be managed by the Commission's Enterprise DG under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), 'Research and innovation programme'. In its first two years of activity, PAXIS successfully assessed and promoted innovative ideas for start-up creation, using thematic networks and projects. The main objective of PAXIS is '[...] to combine theoretical, practical and tacit knowledge in order to support the creation of new ideas and policy recommendations for a more knowledge-intensive European private sector.' An integral part of the new initiative is the five thematic networks, where 22 'regions of excellence' have been selected to come together to shape a new learning process that can be then relayed to other economic areas in Europe. The six new projects are to concentrate on new approaches and best practices. They will also examine how information and knowledge can be transferred with a view to providing policy recommendations. PAXIS will also make use of three accompanying measures (AMs): AM1 will establish a complete communication service for those participating in PAXIS; AM2 will act as a channel for policy makers at the Commission and thematic networks and projects; AM3 will make use of the analytical networks in order to promote more efficient services for the start-up community. The PAXIS project is expected to work over a three-year period, during which an investment of sixteen million euro is foreseen. In this time, a number of events and platforms will be put in place in order to showcase the results of the project: A workshop is to be organised in Turin at the end of 2003 while the Fourth European Forum for Innovative Enterprises is expected to take place in Spring 2004. The results of the first two year phase of PAXIS are proof of its success and it ongoing value for innovation in Europe: 73.3 per cent of participants in network learning activities indicated that they had expanded and successfully consolidated know-how and knowledge base. 60 per cent of regional participants were able to put PAXIS guidelines into practice at regional and local level.