The event was hosted by Rzeszów Regional Development Agency, the OSS project partner and one of the most important institutions that facilitate social and economic development within Podkarpackie Region. A group of experts and practitioners from all corners of Europe had an opportunity to learn from each other and discuss, for two days in total, what is being done in EU regions to help young innovative companies thrive and build capacities through access to business incubation and physical infrastracture.
Polish sources of inspiration
While divided into two parts, the meeting covered good practices from Poland, Norway, United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria and Slovenia. The first day provided some great insights into Polish public and private initiatives addressing innovative business needs:
• Podkarpackie Science and Technology Park AEROPOLIS and Podkarpackie Technology Incubator
• Podkarpacki Center of Innovation
• Samsung Incubator / Rzeszów University of Technology
• UrbanLab Rzeszów
A great opportunity was also provided for Polish START EASY partners to present their good practices based in Mazovia and Lublin Region:
• Physical and virtual space for start-upers by Lublin Science and Technology Park
• Start-up ecosystem supported by Mazovia Development Agency
Good practices of our Polish project partners were based on the complex offer of technology incubation, virtual office, laboratory space and complex entrepreneurship services. Additionally, the START EASY project and its Polish stakeholder groups’ interim findings were summarized for representatives of European public and business support institutions.
Best practices by other OSS regions
The second day of the meeting provided participants with a closer look on what are the best references supporting innovative ventures at the very start of their journey – from other OSS participating European regions:
• Protomore Innovation Center by Protomore Knowledge Park (Norway)
• Business incubation by WSX Enterprise (United Kongdom)
• Andalusian experience of pre-incubation / incubation services and hubs by Fundacion Publica Andaluzia (Spain)
• The Nest – space for sharing resources and start-up co-working by Vratsa Software Community (Bulgaria)
• Kovačnica Business Incubator by Regional Development Agency of Gorenjska Region (Slovenia)
With a great portion of acceleration and scale-up programs, trends in startup economy, business training, virtual support and some other initiatives, the online workshop tended to give participants new inspiration. That is, ideas for further work on improving startup ecosystem and regional SME competitiveness.
The OSS workshop materials available soon
For further information, meeting recording and materials, please visit the OSS News section to be shared soon.
