STIMULATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN LABIN Labin 2007 Where we

STIMULATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN LABIN Labin, 2007

Where we are. . .

LABIN is a town in Istrian County with 12. 626 inhabitants and about 24. 356 people in Labin area

In the past Labin with its surrounding area was. . . Industrial center Mining center Tourist destination

The ratio of employed and unemployed between 1980 and 1995 In 2001 the number of unemployed reached the peak of 2. 298

The analysis of unemployment according to the level of education says that from 1996 – 2000 there was :

Conclusion: 1. Increase of unemployment as a consequence of economic turbulences – loss of the market, close-down, privatisation and recovery of business enterprises 2. Most of the unemployed are women from 24 to 38 years of age, with no work experience or with a length of service from 10 to 20 years, mainly low qualified (elementary school or less) 3. A significant influence of seasonal employment in the tourist industry Measures applied: - Entrepreneurial incubator - Creating entrepreneurial areas - Credit lines for small entrepreneurs

ENTREPRENEURIAL INCUBATOR In 1998 the Municipality of Labin started with the adaptation of a former hotel into small and medium business premises

Entrepreneurial incubator investors (in thousands of kuna)

Employment • At first, there were 31 employees • Today, 192 employees work in 13 different activities In 2001 rewarded as THE BEST Incubator in Croatia

Entrepreneurial areas In Labin, there are 4 entrepreneurial areas: Ripenda Okno (13750 m 2, 4 lots, 2 entrepreneurs) Pjacal (60000 m 2, 14 lots, 27 entrepreneurs) Starci (10 entrepreneurs)

Service area Vinez (150. 000 m 2) Craftsmen and entrepreneurs from Labin can operate in the area if they: • build new infrastructure in given deadline • start their own business • hire a certain number of new employees

Signing of the sales contracts Privileges for the entrepreneurs in the area: • 50% lower public utility tax • privileged lot price was 7 euros/m 2 Incomes obtained from lot sale contests in Vinez area are being invested in further equipping of new area Vinež II and existing areas Pjacal, Ripenda Verbanci and Rogocana

The investors for entrepreneurial area Vinez were: Ø Istrian Development Agency (with know-how) Ø Ministery for Craftsmanship, Small and Medium Enterprises of Croatia (Programme for development of entrepreneurial areas in Croatia) Ø Istrian County (through budget) Ø Municipality of Labin (through budget)

Credit lines for small entrepreneurs The Municipality of Labin participates in crediting small entrepreneurs: Ø “municipality” credit lines • 1998 – credit fund of 1 200 000 kn • 2002 – credit fund of 3 000 kn • joint finances from banks and the Municipality of Labin Ø participation of small entrepreneurs in Istria County credit lines Ø Agricultural and agritourism development fund for Istria

The most significant credit line “Poduzetnik 2” (“Entrepreneur 2”) • The Municipality of Labin participated with 2% in co-financing the credit rate for entrepreneurs and craftsmen in the whole area • Entrepreneurs from Labin were given 39 loans of 30. 996. 043 kunas, whereas the total credit fond for Istrian County was 120. 000 kunas • in 2004 the annual City budget participates with 540. 000 kunas • in 2005 the budget participates with 570. 000 kunas

Press clipping The economy of Istrian County in 2003 was again considered as one of most successful regional economies in Croatia. As one of the most prominent economies, we should point out the economy of Labin area, which in 2003 recorded a growth of added value by 56% and an efficiency growth by 89%, compared to last year’s results. * • Croatian Chamber of Commerce: “INTELEKTUALNI KAPITAL” Uspjesnost na nacionalnoj zupanijskoj i poduzetnickoj razini 2003. , (a study on accomplishment of regional economies on national level) Zagreb, June 2004, p. 12

In the past few years there has been a decreasing trend of the number of recorded unemployed people, as the picture below shows:

Boost-IT Project acronym: Boost-IT Project full title: Set-up of a Collaborative Permanent Network for Boosting the participation of Incubated SMEs in Innovation Processes under FP 6 Activities Proposal/Contract No. : 023437 Duration: 30 months (from 01 -01 -2006 to 30 -06 -2008) Budget: 754. 680, 00 € The BOOST-IT project is targeted towards the promotion of SMEs from the Information and Society Technologies FP 7 (IST) sector in FP 6 and activities, through means of enhancing the innovation and R&D capabilities of SMEs in Portugal, Poland, Slovenia, Israel, Ukraine and Croatia incubators. Boost-ITproject will focus on these specific targets: • To • To create awareness among SMEs towards to the EC FPs opportunities; cooperate with SMEs in order to map their potentialities and weaknesses; stimulate potential innovative ideas to diversify their offer and enhance their competitiveness; assist SMEs expanding proposals to the EC FPs instruments; assist SMEs finding the appropriate partners to their innovation projects; train SMEsto use tools that optimise their involvement in European innovation projects; assist SMEs in the design of proper exploitation plans for their innovations.

Boost-IT The goal's success will be based on the cooperation between a set of experienced Inn. SP and management bodies of small, ICT oriented incubators – which will jointly develop a new added-value range of services for incubated SMEs. The cooperation will focus on developing and validating a set of innovation services, previously customized to the specific needs of the incubated SMEs, and simultaneously promote the creation of innovation and R&D structures within new incubated companies and training them to efficiently use a set of innovation management tools. To measure the partners’ efforts to accomplish the mentioned goals, Boost-IT project must perform: • 150 technology audits with the Technological Audit Tool developed by the project coordinator and available to all project partners; • A list of ongoing IST-projects suitable for SME participation; • A minimum of 25 R&D structures within incubated SMEs and micro-enterprises, including stimulation to use the national measures, recruitment of Ph. D staff, etc. ; • The training of 100 SMEs in the EC FPs opportunities and the use of supporting tools to convert potential project ideas into proposals; • Provide assistance to a minimum of 30 new ideas generated by the incubated SMEs under the “universe” of Boost-IT partnership and triggered by the awareness activities within the project activities; • Perform the integration of 20 incubated SMEs in ISTprojects generated within the extended network of the Inn. SPs partners; • A list of at least 40 SMEs with women in scientific managing positions involved in FP 6 and Boost-IT project; • The results' dissemination to a minimum of 1000 SMEs. FP 7 projects due to

Boost-IT

Awards The Federation of Croatian Town and Municipality associations, the Central State administration office and the Council of Europe awarded the Municipality of Labin for the project “Entrepreneurial incubator”. Labin was given the Acknowledgment for the best practice in local administration in 2004 for solving the unemployment issue.

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