Rational behind the event
 | IDENTIFYING GRAND CHALLENGES, |
| The role of higher education in the entrepreneurial process of discovery will also be covered, as well as the challenge of open innovation involving large corporations into the co-creation process, and encouraging collaboration to take place in a project-based mode. Understanding some of the market and technology mega-trends that are affecting the economy is also essential for entrepreneurs, facilitators and policy-makers! Several workshops will help to navigate throughout the trends in Nanotechnologies, in the Energy and the Environment sectors, in the transport and logistics area, in the ICT and digital applications universe, and in the satellite telecom/navigation world. | ||
RATIONAL BEHIND the EVENT | ||
| The European Economy unprecedented recession is there: what to do? | ||
| The global recession affecting European economies requires macroeconomic reforms, drastic budget control efforts, together with policies which create conducive environments for wealth, firms and jobs creation, without jeopardizing the European social model, while developing sustainable and carbon-free territories. - It’s about creating smart growth, together with sustainable and inclusive growth, as stated by the Europe 2020 strategy. These challenging economic times present extraordinary opportunities for enhancing the competiveness of organizations through innovation, cooperation and entrepreneurship. We strongly believe that bottom-up micro-economic initiatives (enterprise creation and development based on innovation & collaboration) can significantly and positively affect the macro-economic landscape. Communities of professional enablers such as BICs, Incubators, Science & Technology Parks, Clusters, Innovation Centers and Development Agencies can be powerful generators & accelerators of entrepreneurial innovations and the engine for building myriads of micro- & mezzo-business objects. | ||
| EU-Russia Cooperation: a key to mutual growth in the 21st century | ||
| In Lappeenranta, Russia presents itself and shows a variety of accelerating markets and investment opportunities, growing companies eager to enter and invest in the European market as well as top universities and research institutions. Matchmaking EU and Russian strengths open up a whole new set of possibilities addressing the global competitive context. Russian companies are taking more active steps on going international (Note: we’ll visit one recent successful Russian investment nearby Lappeenranta). Reciprocally, the Russian market offers huge possibilities for EU-businesses. Going international requires specialized know-hows: starting from issues like sales and marketing, improvement and control of quality, implementing strategies for entering foreign markets, and even to move production or assembly activities into the EU. European businesses have the unique opportunity to tap into this growing market. Furthermore, Russia and EU are stressing innovation cooperation and a mutual partnership for modernization. Learn about the what, why and how in Lappeenranta. | ||
| Tools & solutions for Acceleration, Internationalization, and Clustering of small business! | ||
| These three fields are increasingly important as it concerns the operational level, the delivery mechanisms through which challenges are addressed, and solutions are delivered! It of course particularly interests BICs, Incubators, Accelerators and their stakeholders (Local, Regional and Federal authorities, Universities, Industries, Investors) which deploy strategies to offer “growth packages”, “international support services” and “cluster facilities” to their potentially growing customers-entrepreneurs. |
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| The conference will show that Networks and Enablers should be totally open to the world realities, opportunities and threats. The valorization of the potential cooperation with the Russian neighbor, the revitalization of the US-Europe Atlantic business corridor, the pragmatic collaboration with Asian top-players, and a fair approach of new emerging countries: these are just a few business principles which will inevitably come out of the Lappeenranta congress. The discussions will also focus on key-issues about Clustering (including a zoom on the Finnish Clusters experience), Financing (including a zoom on new innovative & alternative ways for early-stage financing), Collaborative projects (including an update on the EBN “European projects factory”), new Mentoring and Coaching methodologies, how to move from Incubation to Acceleration, and of course an introduction to international soft-landing schemes! | ||
| A business-oriented event! | ||
| Lappeenranta 2012 will include MoneyTalks® Forum (on Thursday the 14th) an efficient international business fundraising and matchmaking event linking international and Finnish high-tech and innovation -based companies, corporations and investors. -> If you are an entrepreneur, a developer, a business angel, and if you are simply looking for a partner in EU or Russia, this event is also made for you! | |
| European policies: what’s coming up? | ||
| Public policies are never far away from what EBN does, as one component of its mission is of public interest. Several EU and Russia high-level Policy makers will update you with new and upcoming initiatives and programmes (such as Europe 2020, Horizon 2020, Smart Specialization Strategies, Cosme, Eureka, Cluster Policy, Eco-Innovation Action Plan, etc). Other specific policies will also be touched, such as the Northern Dimension (ND) Partnerships, the EU-Russia partnership, and some insights about recent evolutions of national policies (Finland and other Nordic countries), etc. | ||
| ( Picture copyright: Shutterstock ) | ||
