eepa_memo shortlist announcement final

7/27/2019 EEPA_MEMO Shortlist Announcement FINAL

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

MEMO

Brussels, 30/09/2013

European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2013: Best

projects shortlisted

Hundreds of projects competed in the 2013 national competitions for a chance torepresent their country in the European Enterprise Promotion Awards. This year

19 projects have been shortlisted in what has been an exciting year for theAwards which has seen the introduction of a new category: Supporting thedevelopment of green markets and resource efficiency. The Awards receivedentries from 28 European countries including new Member State Croatia and

other countries across the Union. A high-level jury representing business,government and academia reviewed the 53 national winner entries andestablished a shortlist of 19 nominees in six categories. The winners for each ofthe six categories will be announced at the SME Assembly on 25 November 2013

in Vilnius Lithuania, to which all nominees will be invited. One project will alsoreceive the prestigious Grand Jury Prize.

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and

Entrepreneurship, commented on this years shortlist, The originality and creativity ofthese remarkable projects proves exactly why harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit is soimportant to driving European business. This year, many projects are aimed at young

people, showing the importance of supporting the entrepreneurial youth of Europe. All of

these best practice initiatives continue demonstrate that SMEs are the backbone of theEuropean economy.

Category 1: Promoting Entrepreneurial Spirit

Belgium: Boost Your Talent (BYT) is a project to promote the entrepreneurial spirit,focusing on schools and other youth organisations in the Brussels Canal area and centraldistricts. It encourages young people at all school levels to discover entrepreneurship, the

business environment, and their own entrepreneurial skills and qualities, and take anactive role in their own project to achieve social and professional success. Through a rangeof programmes and original activities, adapted to suit different school levels, young peoplediscover entrepreneurship and the socio-economic environment. BYT encourages young

people to take an active role in their own projects and to aim for social and professionalsuccess. BYT directly trained 8,316 students between late 2008 and April 2013.

Ireland: The Student Enterprise Awards Programme provides students with an

opportunity to gain business and entrepreneurial skills in a practical real-life scenariowhere they actually establish and run their own mini-enterprises for six months or more.The City & County Enterprise Boards, a Government backed network of support agenciesfor the small firms sector, established a nationwide competition run annually at different

levels in secondary schools where students work in groups over two school semesters

setting up and running their own mini-enterprises. The programme has a junior cycle (12-13 years), intermediate cycle (14-15 years) and a senior cycle (16-17 years) and students
http://www.abe-bao.be/http://www.abe-bao.be/http://www.enterpriseboards.ie/http://www.enterpriseboards.ie/http://www.enterpriseboards.ie/http://www.abe-bao.be/


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in all categories are encouraged to work in groups of up to 5 students, allowing for both

the division of functions and encouraging the concept of teamwork. Numbers participatinghave grown year-on-year and now exceed 17,000.

Poland: An initiative undertaken by the Municipality of Wrocaw Economic DevelopmentOffice involved the production and performance of a play entitled The fairy-tale aboutJanek, the entrepreneur and his foolish brothers. As a result, students learned to identifythe character traits associated with entrepreneurship, understood the meaning of the word

investment and the consequences of falling into excessive debts. This is the firsteducational tool in Poland in the form of a theatrical performance to addressentrepreneurship that targets primary school pupils. It also promotes entrepreneurialattitudes and consumer awareness among young people. In addition to the live audience,60,000 pupilsfrom 720 schools around the country viewed the performance online.

Finland: The MyCity learning entity is a miniature city, built from mobile wall elements,and includes at least 15 different local and regional enterprises and public services.Students work in his or her own trade within the city and receive wages. They also act asconsumers and citizens of the society. Approximately 70 pupils work at the same time atthe MyCity site. MyCity, sponsored by the Finish Ministry of Education and Culture,operates in eight different municipalities and 24,000 sixth graders and 1,000 teachershave visited the sites.

Serbia: Women-owned businesses are still a minority in Serbia, comprising only 26% ofall SMEs. Many women therefore turn to the Association of Business Women in Serbia(ABW), which promotes and provides support to female entrepreneurs, while advocatingfor the improvement of the business climate and fostering local, regional and international

networking. ABW recognised the need and potential to build the capacities of local

organisations to promote women entrepreneurs, as well as to encourage and support theformalisation and official registration of new associations of businesswomen in individual

communities. The initiative connects female entrepreneurs throughout Serbia,strengthening local associations and establishing and building the capacity of newlyformed local associations. In the past year, three new Associations of Business Womenhave been created in Novi Pazar, Subotica and Zajecar.

United Kingdom: The Premier League Enterprise Academy (PLEA) programme was setup to help teach 11-19 year olds the basic principles of business and self-employment.Inspired by a model pioneered at Middlesbrough FC, the Enterprise Academy has seen135,000 pupils taking part in its first two years, with more than 1,500 young people

securing university entry-level qualifications as a result of the programme giving them anOCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) accreditation. Based around a 10-week

course first developed by Middlesbrough FC, the programme helps youths understand thebasic principles of business through a range of interactive learning opportunities both inthe classroom and at football stadia. There have been PLEAs established at 20 clubs,which have engaged with over 80,000 young people.

Category 2: Investing in Skills

Denmark: Vkstfabrikkerne(The Growth Factories) is a business incubation programmelaunched in January 2010. The project consists of ten business incubators, geographically

spread throughout the region of Zealand. As part of the programme, the incubatees enterinto a 1.5-3 year individually tailored growth programme consisting of mentoring,networking activities and an educational course in cooperation with a regional university. Amidway evaluation of the project in January 2013, found that 62% of incubatees who

already had generated turnover before entering the Growth Factories have experienced
http://www.wroclaw.pl/http://www.wroclaw.pl/http://www.wroclaw.pl/http://www.yrityskyla.fi/http://www.yrityskyla.fi/http://www.poslovnezene.org.rs/http://www.poslovnezene.org.rs/http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/creating-chances/2011-12/premier-league-enterprise-academy.htmlhttp://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/creating-chances/2011-12/premier-league-enterprise-academy.htmlhttp://vaekstfabrikkerne.dk/http://vaekstfabrikkerne.dk/http://vaekstfabrikkerne.dk/http://vaekstfabrikkerne.dk/http://vaekstfabrikkerne.dk/http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/creating-chances/2011-12/premier-league-enterprise-academy.htmlhttp://www.poslovnezene.org.rs/http://www.yrityskyla.fi/http://www.wroclaw.pl/http://www.wroclaw.pl/


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growth. In total, 54 additional jobs in the region have already been created and other 300

are expected within the next three years.Ireland: Senior Enterprise is specifically designed to encourage a greater involvementwith enterprise by those aged 50 and over and to raise awareness of their potential tostart a business, acquire or invest in a business started by someone else, or to become a

volunteer mentor. From the outset, the objective is to start more businesses, attract moreinvestment and to have more senior citizens active as advisors in new and developingbusinesses. To date almost 1,000 individuals over 50 years of age, who have received

some support from Senior Enterprise in Ireland, the UK and France, have set up newbusinesses. This is almost three times the target set at the launch of the initiative inOctober 2010.

Serbia: The purpose ofJunior Achievement(JA) Serbia is to educate and inspire young

people to value free enterprise and understand business and economics. The overall goalof JA Serbia is to enable the private sector to take an active role in preparing and inspiringthe youth of Serbia to become contributing members of society and to educate youngpeople in the fields of entrepreneurship, financial literacy and business. The projectsvision is to create a broad-minded generation, who will take an active part in all aspects ofmodern life and therefore increase job opportunities. Since its founding in 2005, JA Serbiahas served more than 30,000 students who were guided by 500 JAS-trained teachers in

over 200 schools across Serbia. During the 2011/12 school year, 8,021 studentsparticipated in JA Serbia programmes, supported by 485 teachers in 156 secondary and52 primary schools across 72 municipalities.

Category 3: Improving the Business Environment

Belgium: The Belgium Starters Agreementhelps aspiring and existing entrepreneurs tosucceed. Entrepreneurs enter into a starters agreement with the City of Ghent to draft abusiness plan, appeal for professional advice and specialist guidance, follow training anddevelopment courses and to continue the independent business activity for at least threeyears in Ghent. With this contract, entrepreneurs can receive support of a maximum of5,000 for education, professional guidance and investment. All start-ups that have beenestablished as independent enterprises in Ghent for less than two years can appeal for astarters agreement. One of the most important objectives of the agreement is to increasethe success rate of starting companies during their first years and to prevent failures. Todate, a total of 171 starters agreements have received a positive recommendation by theevaluation committee, with 166 of these approved by the Council of the Mayor and

aldermen.Italy:Incredibol!, Bolognas Creative Innovation project, supports creative professions inEmilia-Romagna through cash contributions, workspaces and a network of public andprivate partners that provide services to the winners of the award. Incredibol! is also acommunity that interacts with and enhances the local cultural and creative enterprises(ICC) sector. Incredibol! began in 2010 and gathered an impressive 243 design ideas fromacross the region. In total there were 32 winning projects which were able to takeadvantage of cash awards totalling 20,000, more than 500 hours of training and theprofessional support of 15 consultants. In addition, 10 winners were permitted to use the

workspaces owned by the municipality free of charge.

Latvia: Think Small First was developed by the Latvian Chamber Of Commerce andIndustry(LCCI) to get Latvia out of the economic crisis. The initiative has helped micro-enterprises by promoting the creation of a special tax rate and simplified tax accounting

system, by introducing a micro-credit programme and by making information aboutlaunching a business available in one place. The LCCI has played one of the leading roles
http://www.seniorenterprise.ie/http://www.seniorenterprise.ie/http://www.ja-serbia.org/http://www.ja-serbia.org/http://www.ja-serbia.org/http://www.oogent.be/http://www.oogent.be/http://www.incredibol.net/http://www.incredibol.net/http://www.incredibol.net/http://www.chamber.lv/http://www.chamber.lv/http://www.chamber.lv/http://www.chamber.lv/http://www.chamber.lv/http://www.incredibol.net/http://www.oogent.be/http://www.ja-serbia.org/http://www.seniorenterprise.ie/


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A photovoltaic solar energy plant was developed and Grsu is now well-known for using

clean solar energy in all of its service areas. The project aims to enable Turkey to take aleading role in renewable energy investments at both regional and national levels. Sincethe project began, Grsu has obtained 40% of its electricity needs from the sun in the fivemonths of winter and 100% in the seven summer months.

Category 6: Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Denmark: Entrepreneurship in Denmark collects and conveys knowledge, establishes

networks and collaboration across organisations within business and employment andoffers activities within competency development. The aim of the project is to improve theformation, survival and growth of companies owned by people of different ethnic origins.The project has facilitated a partnership between six municipalities, the Danish regions,

the Ministry of Employment and the Ministry of Business and Growth Denmark.Entrepreneurship in Denmark consists of six local units and a national information centre.

Slovakia: AV mobilita s.r.o. is a sheltered workshop specialising in integrating disabledpeople into all areas of life. As a pilot organisation, it focused on car repairs and it now

coordinates other sheltered workshops forming part of the koda Handy Disabled PersonsProject in Bratislava, Preov, Bansk Bystrica and ilina. It participates in the cultural,social and sporting activities of Associations of Registered Disabled Persons throughout

Slovakia. The scheme has facilitated the smooth integration of disabled people into societythrough mediation of special-priced vehicle sales, and through comprehensive theoreticaland practical training of applicants seeking a licence to drive a car. In 2009, the workshopreceived an award from the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak

Republic for the integration of disabled persons into the workplace.

About the awards

Since 2006, the European Enterprise Promotion Awards have rewarded excellence inpromoting entrepreneurship and small business at a national, regional and local level.Over 2 500 projects have entered since the awards were launched and in total they havesupported the creation of well over 10 000 new companies. Its objectives are to identify

and recognise successful activities and initiatives to promoting enterprise andentrepreneurship, showcasing and sharing examples of best entrepreneurship policies andpractices, creating a greater awareness of the role entrepreneurs play in European societyand encourage and inspire potential entrepreneurs.

For more information on the European Enterprise Promotion Awards, visit the website,follow the Awards on Twitter inEnglish,French,Spanish,ItalianorGermanor visit theofficial AwardsFacebook page.

Watch a video of last years winner, Outset
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