The 18th EBN Congress will use the magical spirit of Fès to address Creative ideas, giving the floor to creative minds and artists, and transfer these ideas into today’s reality focusing on “Smart Solutions” and “Pragmatic Tools” to turn the negative economic tide.
The Congress will be focused on creative industries and the innovation & creativity management techniques, in order to confirm the BICs' position as one of the key localized & networked mechanisms capable to turn the pervasive negative perception and reasoning into a positive momentum by highlighting the power of creativity and innovation. The Congress will take participants on a comprehensive journey starting with a focus on creative disciplines, entailing a great dose of innovation & entrepreneurial spirit, and ending by proposing a selective set of tools, good practices and new methods, which can be deployed to unlock entrepreneurship, steer creativity and master innovation management.
Congress Objectives
In line with the concept and reasoning behind this year’s congress theme(s) described above, the main objectives of the 18th EBN annual congress could be defined as follows:
In line with one of the priorities of the current Czech EU presidency:Create new synergies and strengthen and/or build relationsbetween European, Mediterranean, and North African BICs and SMEs, where there is an ongoing need to strengthen and improve existing partnerships in order to boost innovation incentives;-
Improve linkages between regional innovation partners and businesses in order to foster global economic survival and growth;
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Take advantage of the European year of Creativity and Innovationto lobby for a good, straightforward EU policy, strengthening and stressing the importance of the role of SMEs and their need to innovate in order to tackle the global crisis;
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Raise the level of participation by Mediterranean incubators and innovators in European and international collaborative projects.
Target Audience
We expect around 450 delegates to be present during the 3 days congress. Besides EBN European members, the congress traditionally welcomes participants and speakers from all over the world (Canada, US, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Russia, South-Africa, etc.), going for a resolute international cross-cultural approach, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean and North-African region to boost cross-border innovation activities amongst all stakeholders, such as there are: BICs, incubators, innovation centres, entrepreneurship centres, local & regional Development agencies, SMEs, policy makers, but also researchers, academics and creative minds from different sectors and regions.