Project description
Basic information on the project
BIC - Business Incubator Vukovar is a project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the auspices of the Operational programme Regional competitiveness 2007-2013. The project duration is 18 months. The implementation started on June 17, 2014, and completion is set to December 16, 2015.
The owner of the project is the City of Vukovar, in partnership with Vukovarska gospodarska zona d.o.o. (VGZ). The project is valued at a total of 909.711,40 EUR. Of that amount, EU financing constitutes 726.586,50 EUR (79,87%), while the City of Vukovar contributes with 183.124,90 EUR (20,13%).
General and specific goal of the project
The general goals of the project are to contribute to the sustainable economic growth of the Vukovar-Syrmian County by incentivising small and medium businesses and increasing employment options in the City of Vukovar.
The specific goal of the project is to create and increase the capacities of regional entrepreneurial support infrastructure via the development of an innovative Entrepreneurial Incubator which will provide space and services for incentivising the development of small and medium start-up businesses.
Target groups of the project
The target groups of the project are small and medium start-ups, small and medium innovative businesses, the unemployed and students.
Key participants in the project
The key participants in the project are existing entrepreneurship support institutions - providers of business infrastructure and business services as well as potential and new entrepreneurs with a need for start-up support and business incentives.The group of business support institutions (BSI) comprises existing institutions already providing services for entrepreneurs in the City of Vukovar, the Vukovar-Syrmian County and the Osijek-Baranja County, such as HGK, HOK, HUP, HZZ, VSŽ, VGZ, VURA, HRAST, BIOS, the Polytechnic, the City of Vukovar). All participants in the project also participated in the creation of the project proposal. They contributed to the formation of project activities with their expertise, given that they already actively participate in employment process, education of the unemployed and / or provide support to small and medium start-ups and support the growth and creation of jobs in the region. It is important to emphasise that this document proposes that these BSI participants, representing the regional institutional partnership for business support, become members of the Consultation committee of the Business Incubation Centre BIC-Vukovar and the integrated Business Innovation Centre BIC-Vukovar.
Project activities
The project activities are:- Construction and outfitting of the building for the Business Incubation Centre BIC-Vukovar (gross area of 1.125 m2);
- Development of incubator services with training and workshops for potential occupants and users of incubator services;
- Training in the laboratory for renewable energy source research;
- Foundation of a virtual incubator;
- Development of incubator management model and management training;
- Development of partnership for regional entrepreneurial support institutions;
- Marketing and project visibility.
Expected results
The expected outcomes of the project are:- Developed and fully operational innovational Entrepreneurial Incubator;
- Trained human resources for managing the Entrepreneurial Incubator and start-up process;
- Increased number of small and medium enterprises educated, equipped and prepared for competing in the market;
- Ensured visibility of project, Entrepreneurial Incubator and entrepreneurial options.
Furthermore, in the period up to 5 years after the completion of project activities, the project will result in the creation of 30 new small and medium enterprises and 120 new jobs.