Working together to support young entrepreneurs

Initially, the iEER project was ongoing 2016-2020. The project defined smart paths and solutions for partners to boost and orchestrate regional entrepreneurship ecosystems supporting young entrepreneurs.

However, in search of a sustainable and socially inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, iEER has been granted with additional fundings from Interreg Europe for 2021-2022. This time the project supports a sustainable and socially inclusive recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims to learn and share best practices on

• How we can reboot the entrepreneurial mindset of entrepreneurs and stakeholders recovering from COVID-19
• How digitisation and remote working, by and large, can support the growth of innovative business and sustainability
• How we can recover and boost growth by encouraging social entrepreneurship and fulfilling ESG principles and SDG goals.

The now ongoing third phase of the iEER project has a budget of 490,000 euros.

Project partners

•  Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council and Laurea Univeristy of Applied Sciences from Helsinki-Uusimaa, Finland
•  Munster Technological University from Kerry, Ireland
•  Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences, Brandenburg, Germany
•  Marche Regional Authority, Italy
•  Northern Ireland Local Government Association, United Kingdom
•  Regional Government of Valencia, Spain
•  Marshal Office of the Westpomeranian Region, Poland

The iEER story

The project received EU Interreg Europe Programme funding, thus initially bringing together ten different regions around Europe. Eight regions participate in the new period. 

The earlier project of 2016–2020 had a total budget of 2,3 million euros. It improved the cooperation between actors in different European regions in supporting young entrepreneurship, as well as the regional innovation capability and competitiveness by offering services to young entrepreneurs. Cooperating partners are for instance universities, business services of cities and enterprise accelerators.

In the first four years, 2016-2020, project partners learned from each other to build better services and regional policies in support of startups. The aim of the project was to break down silo mentality and bring together all actors having a hand in entrepreneurial success. Universities, local and regional authorities, entrepreneurship support organisations and SMEs were closely involved in the project both on local and interregional levels.

iEER is about working together across borders and organisations to find the best solutions for regional entrepreneurial ecosystems.

First phase of iEER: the learning process 2016-2018

A key element of the project were learning camps, where project partners study the best practices of a region and brainstorm in workshops to identify what makes or breaks a budding business.

In addition to learning camps, peer reviews formed an important part of the learning process. Peer reviews provided an outside perspective to the region and the received feedback is a valuable tool in improving the local ecosystems.

iEER learning process was conducted during 2016-2018, after which the findings were collected, analysed and compiled into regional action plans and into an iEER Boost Growth Handbook. The handbook gathered the best practices and most useful policies into a practical guide to benefit other European regions.

Second phase of iEER: Sharing the knowledge 2018-2020

In 2018-2020 iEER moved from learning to implementation. Regional action plans were put into practice and their progress has been closely monitored. The results and lessons learned from the implementation of the action plans were collected into a policy recommendation in 2019. Action plans, Boost Growth Handbook and policy recommendation have been shared to provide others the chance to implement lessons learned.

iEER has worked closely with the EU Committee of the Regions and DG Growth to make sure project results can be enjoyed by regions around Europe.