As a first in a series of workshops, infoDev, supported the Regional Innovation and Incubation Capacity Building Workshop for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, held in Kiev, Ukraine between June 9 - 11, 2005.
The ECA Regional Workshop on Business Incubation was held in Kiev, Ukraine, June 9-11, 2005. About 60 participants from 19 countries, including managers and staff of incubators and other innovation and entrepreneurship organizations, attended the workshop along with policy makers from Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia and Tajikistan.
The workshop involved plenary sessions, three break-out groups (ICT and Outreach; Monitoring Evaluation and Impact Assessment; and Network Development and Management), informal networking, and a working visit to a local incubator. As a first in this new series of Regional Capacity Building and Networking events under the Incubator Initiative, the workshop was very succesful.
The lessons learnt will be invaluable as we implement the next phase of our work program, and also in planning for the other regional workshops and the Global Forum.
infoDev is sponsoring a series of Regional Workshops in Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Latin America in 2005. These two-to-three day sessions will give participants an opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences, to capture and synthesize lessons learned, and to identify concrete action and follow-up steps. Specifically, agendas will include:
- Knowledge sharing sessions by infoDev grantees as well as from other innovation and entrepreneurship development projects, particularly those involving ICT
- Thematic sessions on the role of government and the enabling environment, financing gaps and support policies, entrepreneurship and innovation, ICT and business development and successful business incubation practices
- Training and professional development
- Agreements on concrete steps for network development and assignment of (voluntary) activities to network partners
- Site visits
- Next steps to develop activities in the Regional Network