The Applied Research and Communications Fund is organizing the international conference AIECA 2009 on behalf of the Eastern European and Central Asian Business Incubators and Technology Parks Network supported by the InfoDev program of the World Bank, together with Technical University – Gabrovo, Enterprise Europe Network – Bulgaria and the Municipality of Gabrovo and will be held on 24-26 September in Gabrovo, Bulgaria.
AIECA 2009 will bring together more than 80 international and local high-level policy makers and experts in business incubation and innovation promotion, business players, and academic and university scholars from more than 20 countries throughout Europe and Central Asia.
AIECA 2009 aims at sharing local and international experience about business incubation and innovation and will create an excellent platform for building networks within and outside national and sectoral borders among academic researchers, business managers and policy makers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Conference themes will include:
• Incubating innovations – the triple helix of academia, business and politics
• National and regional policies for fostering business incubation and innovation development
• The future of incubation infrastructure
• R&D as a source for new businesses – the role of incubators and technology parks
• Investment readiness and investment policies on local, national, and international level
• Research based spin-offs as a tool for creation of economic wealth from public funded research
• Innovative start-up funding – how to nurture and incorporate new ideas
• Business support networks and innovation – counselling, coaching and training for start-ups
• ICT – between empowering incubation and technology/science parks infrastructure and building innovative start-ups
• Innovation and business clusters
• Green energy and energy efficiency: windows of opportunity for incubators
• Eco-Tourism: From start-up through innovation to regional planning
• Academic entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe and Central Asia • (In)formal knowledge and technology transfer as a driving force of innovation
As part of AIECA 2009 and benefiting from the conjunction with Creativity and Innovation Days – Gabrovo, all participants are heartily invited to join the various events, including:
• Presentation of services provided by the Enterprise Europe Network – the largest network offering support and advice to businesses across Europe, part of the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. EEN provides: business partner search within technology and business cooperation databases; fast access to information on funding opportunities; individual on-site visits to companies to assess their needs incl. technology audit; broad range of promotion and information materials and many more.
• Training on Project cycle management in the framework of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and FP7.
• Visits to innovation-centered companies, including presentations and demonstrations of companies’ innovation strategies and achievements.
• Visits of eco-tourism business sites
• 45 anniversary of the Technical University – Gabrovo. Separate program consisting of various events celebrating the 45 anniversary of the Technical University (incl. concert at the Municipal Theater of Gabrovo, Award ceremony for companies that have assisted R&D and innovation at the Technical University, etc.) will be available later at the web-site of the Technical University.
For further information, please contact:
Todor Yalamov, Coordinator – ECAbit
Applied Research and Communications Fund
5, Alexander Zhendov St., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
tel.: (+359 2) 973 3000; (+359 2) 973 3588
e-mail: aieca2009@online.bg
web:
