Innovation in the Atlantic Equestrian Space
In March 2000, the European Council set an action and development plan for the European Union. Its aim is to make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010"
But according to the General Directorate of Regional Policy, the economic and social disparities in Europe are still significant and have become even wider lately with the recent new members (and these differences are even greater at a regional level). The European Union needs 24 million supplementary employments to meet its objective of achieving a 70 % employment rate. The ageing of the population in the whole Europe has reinforced the importance of employment and manpower training.
The “EU Equus 2001” report, wrote by the Swedish University of Agricultue sciences indicates that the Horse Industry generates an annual turnover of 2,200 a 2..800 euros per horse and each horse generates 0.03-0.07 direct Full Time Equivalent jobs and about 0.2 FTE jobs when multiplier effects are accounted for.
The activities of this Project will deal with problems which are common to all the participant territories such as the lack of training in the equestrian sector, the scarce planning at a local, regional and national level, the non-existence of a joint promotion of the territories etc. looking for local, regional, national solutions that can also be applied to the whole Atlantic Space.
The aim of this Project is to develop a strategy to achieve an Atlantic horse industry strong and sustainable, increasing its economic value and helping the cultural, social, and educational life of the participant territories. In order to have success with this strategy, the partners will seek for:
- Diminishing the reticence of numerous SMEs to join cooperation networks. EQU-INNO will promote the Exchange of experiences and information about training practices and employments in equestrian firms in the Atlantic Space, thus helping to our firms to notice that they can all learn one from the other.
- Fostering the use of new techniques and methods related to CITs among the businesses.
- Fighting to the economic globalization. By the different activities of the project, it is intended that the SMEs of the participant territories find new markets for specific products and services of their regional economies, in order to exploit their endogenous potential.
The strategic aims of the Project are:
1) To bring the Horse Industry together and develop its national, regional and local impact
2) To boost the economic performance of equestrian businesses
3) To raise equestrian skills and build a career
Results expected:
- Increase the effective implication of public and private institutions linked to the equestrian sector.
- Raise the training of the professionals of this sector, increasing the contacts between them and generating commercial networks in the European equestrian sector.
- Efficiently promote the Horse Industry of the Atlantic Space and reinforce commercial promotion spaces with a clear European character.
- Increase the use of CITs and R+I among the Horse Industry businesses
- Centralize the key information to reorganize this sector
- To foster the social and economic level of the participant territories
- To develop the local, regional and national impact of the Horse Industry
- To enhance the Atlantic Space as a development model for the countries that recently joined the European Union.
- To achieve a bigger international reconnaissance of the Horse Industry contribution to the national, regional, and local economies
From November 2008 to December 2010.
TOTAL COST OF THE PROJECT: 1,378,352 €
FEDER REQUIRED. 895,929.13€
