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Enhancing Knowledge Intensive Enterprises in Small.. (EKIE)
Enhancing Knowledge Intensive Enterprises in Small Cities Surrounded by Rural and Sparsely Populated Areas
(EKIE)
Start date: Jan 31, 2005,
End date: Dec 30, 2007
PROJECT
FINISHED
The overall objective of EKIE is to develop new approaches for enhancing existing enterprises and starting new enterprises in areas with a low population density, with a special focus on technology knowledge intensive enterprises.EKIE focuses on Technology Parks, Public Economic Development Organizations & Incubating, R&D Activities and Higher Education. Achievements: In EKIE project the goal was to enhance knowledge intensive enterprises in small cities surrounded by rural and sparsely populated areas. Main activities were developing role of technology parks, developing incubators and public economic development, developing R&D activities and developing higher education combined with pre-incubation. One achieved result was the best possible role and implementation type for technology park via benchmarking. Another result was systematic model for incubator and public economic development. Third result was the thematic R&D network model for R&D activities. The fourth result was high level model for higher education and pre-incubation. Produced outputs in technology park development were benchmarking results of international centres of expertise (Including Irish model), analysis of Oulu and Marche/Italian models, RFM-Polis cooperation model (of technology centre, universities, research institutions and companies), Multi-campus plan of Marche region, RFM-Polis strategy, a handbook for pre-incubation/incubation system (as a part of a entity of an incubator, an university, and a technology park) and functional proposals for the Ylivieska Campus Plan and GL-MEWO proposal for a further project after EKIE. Outputs in incubator and public economic development were best practice manuals for incubation and for public economic development organisations and pilot incubator in very rural area: in Tamsalu (Estonia). Produced outputs in R&D activities were benchmarking report of R&D cooperation models in worls class R&D centers (like Trieste, Torino Wireless, Sophia Antipolis) and theory and practical experiences of model for thematic R&D networks (real living partnership in topics Wireless Applications for Machines and Systems = WAMS, Metal/Machine automation, Wood technology). International WAMS seminar was orgainsed two times in cooperation between EKIE project and CENTRIA, as an essential part of this thematic R&D network activities. In higher education and pre-incubating, the outputs were as follows: The target area in Ireland is Gaeltacht regions and Oulu Southern area in Finland. In Galway, two courses for 'would be entrepreneurs' were organised. The plan of pre-incubating model was made, with surveying and analysing examples of pre-incubation and higher education. An article was published: Pre-incubating in rural and sparsely populated areas. The framework for creating a model for pilot testing was made. In NUIG certified courses on enterprise and innovation management were planned and organised. Two international conferences were held in topic Entrepreneurship, Education and Development of Ruaral Regions, one in Galway and one in Oulu. The final report includes the model of pre-incubation. Development of partnership has been a success story. The network of EKIE partners has also increased and multiplied during the three years of EKIE implementation.