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Good Practice of Business Incubator - Gotse Delchev at the Conference "Boosting Growth and Cohesion in EU Border Regions"

Business Incubator - Gotse Delchev was selected by the European Commission to present its good practice, the only one in the Business section, at the conference "Boosting Growth and Cohesion in EU Border Regions", held in Drama on 25th of October.

The Business Incubator presented the pilot activities in support of innovation and smart specialization realized under the Smart Specialization project in the cross-border region Bulgaria - Greece and the main conclusions and recommendations for achieving economic growth in the region. The main barriers to business are the different Bulgarian and Greek legal framework in the region, it is extremely difficult for a Bulgarian company to participate in a Greek public procurement and vice versa, there is no unified e-government and e-services, another issue comes out of the different educational systems and the qualification of the human resources. Suggestions to overcome obstacles:

  • Establish a united cross-border business supporting structure to help align business legislation and rules across the cross-border region and implement common e-governance and public e-services for business.
  • An innovative educational learning system that incorporates new technologies and develops skills tailored to the needs of the economy and the ever-changing world.
  • Cross-border structure and funding to support youth business.
  • Cross-border small fund for innovative business ideas to meet the need to finance innovative business ideas for small businesses in the region.


The event, organized by the European Commission and hosted by the Drama Chamber of Commerce, aimed to explore new ways to overcome the challenges, which are facing the cross-border regions and to untap their potential. Representatives of the EC, the Council of Europe, European associations of cross-border regions, representatives of the Bulgarian and Greek authorities and the heads of the cross-border programs, as well as stakeholders from Southeast Europe took part. It was a series of four key events in different border regions of the EU discussing pathways to improve accessibility, support for employment, health care, etc. The Business Incubator's contribution was an example of improving the business environment in the border region through services, mobilities and exchanges between Bulgarian and Greek companies.

Agenda of the event

Presentations 

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