RETHE
RETHINKING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Impact on local interventions
RethE has made it possible an in-depth reflection on the way organisations such as Bilbao Ekintza (BE) can support entrepreneurship. We have had the opportunity to identify interesting best practices to be adapted to the needs coming from our entrepreneurial seam. Since BE is the local organisation in charge of promoting and supporting entrepreneurs in the area of Bilbao it is clear that RethE has largely influenced our local interventions in the field of entrepreneurship promotion.
The project was formally completed by the end of October 2011. However, all partners were interested in strengthening cooperation in the field of entrepreneurship and SME promotion. In fact, some partners are working together in project proposals related to such field of economic policy. Whatever the result will be (either successful or not in submitting common proposals) it is clear that a joint approach has been introduced to deal with common problems. At the same time, events such as the final project conference have proved to have a significant multiplier effect in terms of further co-operation amongst organisations which previously did not know each other, or not to the extent of thinking about do things in common. Unfortunately, many informal cooperation agreements are more likely to be seen in the medium term, far beyond the deadline of the project. A cooperation network was set up at the end of 2010 to ease cooperation amongst entrepreneurs and supporting organisations of all partner regions. The network was regarded by partners as a joint and interesting approach to deal with entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, such an extraordinary effort as the one represented by RethEN stretches beyond the time-frame of the project. Despite these difficulties, there is indeed interest on the partners´ side to keep on cooperating in the future, albeit subject to further discussion.
RethE has made it to perform a very detailed review of the most relevant entrepreneurship schemes across the Atlantic Area as well as in other dynamic areas worldwide. To this end, transnational cooperation has proved to be crucial. A final report summarising our findings was produced. The work carried out has certainly surpassed by far the contents found in such report, which is focused on synthesizing some of the elements that, in our judgement, should play a highlighted role in any integrated proposal for promoting entrepreneurship. The aforementioned document serves as reflection about the elements that, in our view, should underlie what we have referred to as the search for a new model of entrepreneurship promotion.
