\ Innovazione \ EU4EG project and economic development in the Republic of North Macedonia: a 3-day event at Area Science Park

Three days of exchange of good practices and networking as part of the “EU for Economic Growth” (EU4EG) project: this is the objective of the works taking place from 16 to 18 October at Area Science Park’s Congress Center, where business support organizations, institutional stakeholders and businesses talk about economic development opportunities in the Republic of North Macedonia.

Opening the proceedings this morning were Caterina Petrillo, President of Area Science Park, Roberto Antonione, Secretary General of the Central European Initiative (CEI), and Vesel Memedi, Ambassador to Italy of the Republic of North Macedonia.

EU4EG, which started in 2021 and has a duration of 48 months, aims to strengthen the economic system of North Macedonia in the context of the country’s accession to the EU. The project aims to achieve greater competitiveness of the production system combined with sustainability and decarbonization, placing a focus on the primary role of industrial ecosystems and innovation, and implementing initiatives oriented towards the digital and green transition, aiming for higher environmental and social standards.

Partners of the project, with an overall funding of approximately €9.5 million, are the German Federal International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) (coordinator), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate (BMWK), the Initiative Central Europe (CEI) and Area Science Park.

“Area Science Park’s contribution to the project is based on the organization’s consolidated skills in promoting and supporting innovation and its ability to dialogue with businesses and the world of research – explains President Caterina Petrillo -. To this, Area combines the added value of knowing how to produce cutting-edge research in the sectors currently affecting the digital and green transition. This project is very important for us and represents an element of a broader strategy of relations with the Balkans and Central-Eastern Europe that the organization intends to strengthen and relaunch with a view to supporting growth based on research and innovation”.

EU4EG is based on three interconnected components. The first involves the mapping of entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional value chains, the identification of the availability of business support services (BSS) in the territories and the creation of a capacity building program aimed at business support organizations (BSOs) to enable them to provide new services to Macedonian SMEs and start-ups. The second component involves the launch of four business acceleration programs to support the growth of selected groups of start-ups. The third component includes a grant scheme for innovation and renewal projects, carried out jointly by SMEs and BSOs on the themes of the Green Deal and the New EU Industrial Strategy.

To date, the main results achieved by the project are a capacity building program on 14 topics, 49 methodologies and tools for providing business support services (BSS), 271 hours of training, 170 representatives of business support organizations (BSOs) involved . Furthermore, thanks to EU4EG, 27 joint projects involving Macedonian SMEs and BSOs have been financed, whereby €4.5 million were disbursed by the project, with an additional €5 million co-financed by involved companies.