The IRIS TCP Belarus project argues that incubators are powerful drivers of growth, allowing economies to become more competitive through innovation and entrepreneurship. However, for incubators to reach their full potential, they must cooperate and collectively leverage their support to entrepreneurs and innovators. It is therefore a weakness that incubators in the Baltic Sea region lack a structure for cooperation across the borders. Another challenge, according to the project, is the lack of knowledge on success factors.
The project aims to strengthen the management and support capacities of the incubators in Belarus. Together, the partners want to over-come today’s practice, which is characterized by in-house trial and error, or learning by doing. Instead, they want to promote institutional learning and exchange of knowledge across the borders which will benefit the entrepreneurs in Belarus and in the region. The participation of Belarus will in turn, be valuable for the EU project, through new angles on transitional exchange. The activities include workshops, study visits and testing of instruments.