European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2017: Shortlisted projects announced

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European Commission Press Release European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2017: Shortlisted projects announced Brussels, 28 September 2017 The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) are an

1 European Commission Press Release European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2017: Shortlisted projects announced Brussels, 28 September 2017 The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) are an initiative by the EU Commission to promote entrepreneurship and small business at the national, regional and local level. This year, 305 National EEPA entries were received from 32 participating countries and a total of 56 projects have been shortlisted for judging by the awards jury. Winners will be announced at the 2017 awards ceremony held during the SME Assembly 2017 in Tallinn (Estonia) from 22nd-24th November. This year s jury was made up of members of the outgoing Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the current Estonian Presidency, along with representatives from the European Commission, the Committee of the Regions, business, and academia. Following a great deal of deliberation, the jury established a shortlist of 15 nominees in five categories. The winners for each of the categories will be announced at a central event of European SME Week, the SME Assembly in Tallinn Estonia, to which all nominees will be invited. The prestigious Grand Jury Prize winner and special mentions will also be announced at the EEPA ceremony. The jury was chaired by Kristin Schreiber, Director for COSME Programme and SME Policy, who paid tribute to the creativity, invention and dedication that produced meaningful results in communities across Europe. Categories within the EEPA competition are designed to reflect the different enablers of enterprise and entrepreneurship. For example, the categories cover investing in entrepreneurial skills, supporting internationalisation of businesses, promoting responsible and inclusive entrepreneurship and identifying ways to improve the business environment for SMEs. The most popular category of all with 18 applicants this year was focused on promoting the entrepreneurial spirit i.e. the positive attitude and can-do mindset which is required by every successful business person. A broad range of countries have made the shortlist. The categories and the shortlisted entries (in alphabetical order by country) are detailed below. Of particular note is that four countries Austria, Estonia, France and Portugal have all successfully managed to place two projects onto the shortlist. EEPA/

2 Category: Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit Country: Estonia Project name: Enterprise Village Responsible organisation: MTÜ Ettevõtlusküla Organisation website: Enterprise Village is a roleplay game to teach entrepreneurship to 4-18-year-old children. Players simulate entrepreneurial situations using real life interaction and IT simultaneously. Roleplay is held in a specially equipped and designed room that imitates a business street of a town, where players divided into smaller groups run different companies. Game tasks require creativity, cooperation and entrepreneurial, financial and economical knowledge and skills. Trained facilitators help and encourage players to experiment and analyse their failures and successes. Country: Finland Project name: Pikkuyrittäjät Mini company program for primary school Responsible organisation: Young Entrepreneurship Association Organisation website: A free 18-hour study programme aimed at primary schools, where children familiarise themselves with entrepreneurship and establish their own mini company in groups of 2 4, develop their own business idea, company name, logo, slogan, elevator speech, web pages and finally sell their self-developed products or services to real customers with real money. Over 300 schools and more than children have taken part in the programme. Country: France Project name: Start Up Lycée Responsible organisation: VISIONARI Organisation website: startuplycee.fr An entrepreneurial programme for secondary and higher education teaching establishments, with a view to developing the ability of each student to believe in their potential and to act collectively thanks to a strong and unified experience which enables them to acquire confidence, methods and networks for start-ups. It prioritises the most fragile territories, such as high priority municipal neighbourhoods, and rural areas. It has held 51 events to date across France and the United States benefitting over 3,700 young people. 2

3 Category: Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills Country: Estonia Project name: Tech Sisters & Digigirls Responsible organisation: MTÜ Kogukond Tech Sisters Organisation website: A non-profit project run by women working in IT and/or studying IT. Its mission is to increase women s digital literacy and interest in IT issues. By inspiring, encouraging and educating women/girls about IT, Tech Sisters aims to bring more women to the industry and create a more diverse sector. The organisation arranges 3 types of activities: meetups to increase collaboration and sense of community; entry-level coding and tech workshops; inspirational activities promoting IT among teenaged-girls. In the last 3 years 700+ workshops have been arranged. Country: Latvia Project name: University of Latvia Student Business Incubator Responsible organisation: Latvijas Universitāte Organisation website: biznesainkubators.lu.lv A Business Incubator offering Latvian students free technical support, counselling, mentoring, development facilitation or coaching and useful events for business development during their studies, as well as the possibility of receiving a grant of 10,000 euros for business development. Since 2012, the incubator has had 46 graduate start-ups, of which 24 are still active. Furthermore, in 2016 their turnover reached EUR 740,000 generating 74 jobs for the inhabitants of Latvia. Country: Sweden Project name: Business Generator Responsible organisation: Inova Organisation website: This project has introduced 20 small and medium-sized enterprises to a new working method focused on adding value to their business by benefitting from bringing in external expertise. The focus has been to support scale up and growth. As a result, participating companies increased their revenue on average by 29 % (EUR in total) Profitability improved by an average of 272 % and 33 new jobs were created. 3

4 Category: Improving the Business Environment Country: Austria Project name: Innovation to Company Responsible organisation: Vienna Chamber of Commerce Organisation website: By facilitating the active networking of corporates and start-ups, this project is advancing the implementation of digital innovations. It is one of the largest Corporate Start-up competitions in Europe. It focuses on the growth of start-ups into scale-ups. So far, 16 corporates and 150 start-ups have participated. Prizes and values to the amount of 2.5 M EUR have so far been offered for the best ideas. Country: Italy Project name: Manufacturing Project - Pole of Mechatronics Responsible organisation: Sergio Anzelini Organisation website: A collaborative project promoted by the Autonomous Province of Trento involving public bodies, private individuals, and trade associations. It is a common space for businesses, students and researchers. It is a dynamic place where you can create, research and experiment with innovative products that can enhance traditional mechanics by incorporating energy efficient electronic components, sensors and software. The numbers: 31 established companies, 236 employees, 37 million euros in total turnover. Country: Netherlands Project name: Innofest Responsible organisation: Stichting Innofest Organisation website: Innofest utilises eight summer festivals as living labs for innovation. Start-ups, students, creatives and SMEs can test their prototypes within a safe and measurable environment, before bringing them onto the market. In the space of two years these living laboratories have helped some 60 entrepreneurs and 100 students. With a very limited start-up budget it has succeeded in launching 36 innovation projects. 4

5 Country: Spain Project name: Reempresa Responsible organisation: FUNDACIÓN CECOT INNOVACIÓN Organisation website: Reempresa is the trading market for the transfer of SMEs in Catalonia. It s a model of entrepreneurship and business growth through which one or more re-entrepreneurs (buyers) take ownership of a functioning company to make it grow, without having to go through the phase of setting it up, thereby avoiding the starting from zero phase. Therefore, this project preserves jobs, promotes economic growth and offers solutions for ensuring continuity for businesses. Category: Supporting the Internationalisation of Business Country: Austria Project name: Program Internationalization Responsible organisation: ecoplus International GmbH Organisation website: This comprehensive programme supports Lower Austrian SMEs in entering foreign markets, from the initial providing of information to realising first export deals or establishing branches, with free and customised services. It includes a "High Potential Programme" which supports selected enterprises with high scale-up potential in their development into "Exportchampions". Country: Portugal Project name: MADEIRA VINTNERS Responsible organisation: CAF Cooperativa Agrícola do Funchal, CRL em parceria com DRA Direção Regional de Agricultura da Região Autónoma da Madeira Organisation website: cafmadeira.pt This project supports export of fortified wine produced exclusively by women. The Madeira Vintners team is exclusively female. The whole process from liaising with winegrowers to the control and selection process, production and sales, is run by highly qualified women in order to meet the stringent criteria required to ensure environmental concerns are met showed more than 100% increase in sales. The wine has won medals in international competitions. 5

6 Country: UK Project name: Business West International Trade Centre Responsible organisation: Business West Organisation website: Set up to boost export sales in the South West of England, this Trade Centre employs over 100 trade advisers, providing digital solutions through ebooks, virtual trade fairs and award-winning documentation fulfilment, combined with Government online resources and globally enabled portals from banking partners it supports thousands of businesses to embark on their export journey. To date, it has helped to create 3,800 jobs and 430m worth of exports. Category: Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship Country: France Project name: Adie Microfranchise Solidaire (AMS) Responsible organisation: Adie (Association pour le Droit à l Initiative Economique) Organisation website: This initiative encourages entrepreneurs who didn t dare to start up on their own, to take that leap into the creation of the business. A Microfranchise model helps them access credit, finance and business development opportunities. More than 200 entrepreneurs have already joined a microfranchise network and have benefitted from the support of a partner in order to set up and grow their activities. Country: Portugal Project name: MUNDAR: Change your world - young entrepreneurship contest Responsible organisation: ACM IP, Gestor do Programa Escolhas in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Organisation website: and The Mundar Contest is a national platform that challenges young people between 16 and 30 to come up with solutions to perceived needs in their lives and communities, providing winners with support and the technical tools and funding to implement these ideas. Currently in its 3rd year, to date there have been 77 ideas for change that have been funded, all of which have offered significant personal, community and social benefits. - Ends - 6

7 About the awards Since 2006, the European Enterprise Promotion Awards have rewarded excellence in promoting entrepreneurship and small business at a national, regional and local level. Over 3700 projects have entered since the awards were launched and in total they have supported the creation of thousands of new companies. Its objectives are to identify and recognise successful activities and initiatives to promoting enterprise and entrepreneurship, showcasing and sharing examples of best entrepreneurship policies and practices, creating a greater awareness of the role entrepreneurs play in European society and encourage and inspire potential entrepreneurs. For more information on the European Enterprise Promotion Awards, please visit the website, follow the Awards on Twitter or visit the official Awards Facebook page. For news and updates please visit Promoting Enterprise News Portal. For more information on European SME Week you can visit the website and follow on Twitter. If you are a journalist with an interest in or specialising in SME entrepreneurship and wish to attend the awards or the overall SME Assembly in Tallinn, please contact Guendalina Cominotti, +32 (0) , SME Assembly Media Liaison Manager, before 6 October Please note that places are limited. For further information about technical aspects of EEPA, please contact: EEPA Secretariat eepa@loweurope.eu For further information about EEPA communications, please contact: GOPA.com - promotingenterprise@gopacom.eu 7

European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2015: Shortlisted Projects Announced

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