Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

19 July 2013

The launching event of the Regional Business Incubators’ Network (Black Sea BI-Net) was organized on 19 July 2013 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, on the premises of the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Development (ODIMM).

The launching event was opened with welcoming speeches from Mr. Wicher SLAGTER, Chief of policy and economy department of the EU Delegation in the Republic of Moldova and from Mrs. Iulia IABANJI, General Director of ODIMM, as lead partner of the project, who mentioned the importance of such a project in developing supporting cross border partnerships for economic and social development based on combined resources.

At the event were presented 35 participants, representatives of EU Delegation in the Republic of Moldova, central public authorities, SME stakeholders, Business Incubators, as well as the partners of the project:

-      Mrs. Oxana PALADICIUC, Project Manager, Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Development (ODIMM), Republic of Moldova;

-      Mrs.  Merve GUVEN, Regional Project Coordinator, Middle Black Sea Development Agency (OKA), Turkey;

-      Mr. Nikolaos PETROPOULOS, Regional Project Coordinator, European Regional Framework for Co-operation (ERFC), Greece;

-      Mrs. Elena CARDAS, Regional Project Coordinator, association of Cross Border Cooperation “Lower Danube Euroregion” (ACT EDJ), Romania; 

-      Mr. Karen GEVORGYAN, Regional Project Coordinator, Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center of Armenia (SMEDNC), Armenia;

-      Mrs. Anna NIKITENKO, Regional Fund for Support of the Entrepreneurship of Zaporozhe region (RFSE), Ukraine.

The project manager, presented the project description, its’ action plan and responsible partners. After that, each of the project partners were introduced to the invitees, and presented their organizations’ and the general incubation framework in their regions/countries.

The aim of the project is to accelerate the development of a productive and competitive economy and improve cooperation in the Black Sea region, by:

• Creating the Business Incubators’ Network in the Black Sea Region;
• Know-haw exchange between representatives of Business Incubators’ and Business Support Organizations;
• Sustain incubated SMEs to internationalize etc.

The Black Sea BI-Net project is financed from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), in the framework of the Joint Operational Programme for the Black Sea Basin.