European Enterprise Awards 2007: shortlist announced
The European Commission has announced the shortlist of 13 contenders for this year's European Enterprise Awards, which rewards public initiatives seeking to promote enterprises and entrepreneurship in Europe. Europe and its regions are still weak in fostering initiatives and environments where enterprises can flourish and entrepreneurship is stimulated. With this in mind, the European Commission has created these awards to showcase best examples of good entrepreneurship policies and practices in Europe. The awards also demonstrate the role played by entrepreneurs in society and are intended to encourage budding entrepreneurs. Some 300 regional and local authorities competed in the national rounds of the 2007 awards. A high-level jury has now chosen 13 projects from the 48 submitted to compete in the following five categories: enterprise support, red tape reduction, investment in people, responsible entrepreneurship and the 'entrepreneurial trailblazer'. These include such creative projects as ethnic coaching for ethnic entrepreneurs, online registration of companies in 12 minutes, captaining business projects for 12 year olds, developing independent business skills in the over forties, certifying companies with International Corporate Social Responsibility Standards, and redeveloping traditional industrial areas by sparking an economic revival. 'The wealth of projects showcased for these awards demonstrates the wide range of opportunities for public authorities to promote entrepreneurship,' said Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry policy. 'Small companies play a major role in creating growth and more and better jobs. Policy-makers at all levels should learn from successful projects like these to pass from words to acts,' he added. 'Winning the Jury Grand Prize in 2006 has changed our outlook, making our organisation a model on an international scale with demand for training from countries as far apart as the USA, Sweden and Russia,' said Petri Palviainen, the winner of the 2006 competition from the Y4 Committee. Y4 is a Finnish action programme for entrepreneurship development which ensures that the business perspective is taken into account in all decision-making, and that people are encouraged to be entrepreneurs whilst adopting ethically sustainable values. The award ceremony, organised by the European Commission, the Committee of the Regions and the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, will take place on 6 December in Porto, Portugal. An exhibition of the short-listed initiatives will enable nominees to showcase their projects, while an interactive workshop will offer all shortlisted candidates the opportunity to present their best practices.