Boosting regional entrepreneurial competitiveness and readiness of SMEs to go international.
Styrian Technology Park, daughter institution of Maribor Development Agency, pursues the goal to boost regional entrepreneurial competitiveness and readiness of SME internationalisation. It directly supports start-ups and new or restructuring SMEs. STP implements individual tailored support activities:
1 Business Support Centre & Accelerator, nationally certified business incubator, focused on provision of comprehensive support for SMEs, in different stages of their lifecycle.
2 Regional Centre for Technology Development, pursuing technology transfer, technological & innovative research and development sphere.
STP runs Innovation business centre StartTogether (collaboration with NLB bank), offering overall support to business through open innovation/living lab environment by identification, development, execution and marketing of products or services.
Services include:
-tailor-made consulting
-networking
-interlinking with foreign SME support environments and networks
-informing SMEs about foreign business opportunities (through MDA EEN Office)
-direct transnational business partnerships and other related institutions for creation of new joint innovative products and services
-interlinking SMEs with potential transnational financing (public and private)
-foreign promotional activities (events, fairs, B2B)
-strengthening and exchange of knowledge, skills and experience (R&D projects, national or EU supporting services – mentoring schemes, exchange programmes)
Resources needed
Staff costs: 3 FTE
Evidence of success
Regional Centre for Technology Development and Business Support: 200 companies supported
Accelerator Start Together: 7 supported companies between 2014 and 2016
Potential for learning or transfer
STP Regional Center for Technology Development and Business Support Centre, and Accelerator StartTogether represents high-quality support services model for emerging companies and existing SMEs in phases of growth and development, supporting them with methods validated through long-term experiences in different industrial and business sectors.
STP business model are tailor-made support and activities, focused on the needs of SMEs, offered on daily basis during their incubation.
Practice, linked to Resolution on Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2011-2020, National Action Plan for implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe, Slovenia’s Smart Specialisation Strategy S4 and Slovenian Act on supportive environment for entrepreneurship, is transferable in terms of organisational model, implementation process, specific tools, definition of financial feasibility, methodology for assessment of problem to be address and marketing strategy.
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Tags: SME support - Internationalisation, Financial consultancy for supporting internationalisation, Diversifying and specializinh technology centres and services, Account management support, Developing technology incubators, Export promotional activities/marketing, Partner search & Alliances, High level consultancy support, improvement of technological capabilities of export oriented SMEs
