Final Report: InCompass Project Insights
Final Report: InCompass Project Insights
PROJECT FINAL REPORT
Project
Index 1127R4
Acronym InCompass
Project title Regional Policy Improvement for Financially Sustainable Creative Incubator Units
Lead partner Dundee and Angus College
This final report consists of two parts:
a) In the first part, you are asked to provide the JTS with information on the project’s achievements, the durability of the results as well as on
the challenges you may have faced during the implementation of the project. Finally, this part gives you the opportunity to give feedback on the
programme’s implementation. This feedback will provide valuable input for the future development of the programme.
b) The second part of the final report has been developed by the INTERACT programme, which is responsible for providing technical support
to cooperation programmes across Europe. Through a pilot scheme, INTERACT intends to measure the benefits and provide an overview of
the achievements of the European Territorial Cooperation programmes.
PART I
1 Summary of the project’s achievements
1.1 Please provide an overview of the main achievements of your project.
The aim of this first subsection is to provide a cumulative overview of the main results achieved during the lifetime of the project.
The information provided should focus on the main benefits the partners have gained from the exchange of experience.
➢ Good practices transferred (if any) (for Regional Initiative Projects only)
If applicable, please provide an overview of the transferred good practice(s) that have occurred during the lifetime of the project. The title,
location, topic and brief description of each practice should be provided. Also, the partners involved in the transfers should be indicated. Which
partner was the “donor” of the good practice, and which one was the “recipient”?
1. Hub Milano's approach to taking care of the green spaces around their incubator in order to gain recognition and attract the community,
develop strong relations inside and outside the incubator thus making a social impact on the locality. Lithuanian RIG partner, Rupert Centre
for Art and Education has revitalised an area in Vilnius by designing and building the Art Centre replacing the former small food shop where
local jobless people were hanging out. This the neighbourhood became an attractive social place for local people and foreign artists.
2. The CoFWD Project 161 from Medway had a good practice entitled, 'financial benefits from public authorities other than subsidies'. This
related to an exemption from property tax for the project 161 building. The Beltzou's abandoned building in the Centre of Patras, Western
Greece, owned by the regional authority was given planning authorization to use this as an incubator. This was approved during the life of
InCompass.
It's development will be undertaken during the next programme period.
3. The Pop up shop concept delivered by Camden Collective (Medway study visit) has been transferred to MAJR Properties, Dundee. During
the InCompass project timeline, a disused retail space was purchased and the establishment of a social enterprise called DD Pop was set
up to run a pop up shop for artists and creative start ups. The shop will be live by September 2015.
➢ Good practices guide / final publication
Please provide the link to the web link where the project good practices guide / final publication is available for download.
[Link]
➢ Overview of the transfer process (for Capitalisation Projects only)
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Please provide an overview on the mainstreaming process by completing the table below. Concerning the last column ‘Implementation
stage’, one of the three following levels has to be selected for each transfer of practice:
Level 1: Action Plan finalised and signed by the relevant stakeholders and policy makers
Level 2: Application(s) for funding already submitted within the concerned Operational Programme (or within other targeted
local/regional/national funding schemes)
Level 3: Implementation of the Action Plan (and selected good practices) already started (i.e. part of the funding already received to
implement the practices)
In case levels 2 or 3 are selected, please provide further details in the last column.
Amount of funding dedicated
to the practice
Title of the good practice Source Region Adopting Region implementation (if not ERDF, Implementation stage
please specify the source of
funding)
➢ Local/regional policies (and/or instruments) improved
Further to the lessons learnt during the exchange of experience and based on the different progress reports submitted, please summarise
which policies were impacted and how they were impacted. For Capitalisation Projects, please indicate whether policy impacts can be
reported beyond the transfer of good practices (e.g. modification of the Regional Operational Programme or any other local / regional policy
instruments).
Name of the policy document / instrument Details on how this policy was influenced by
Regions / areas concerned
impacted the interregional exchange of experience
The D&A ROA reflects a much greater focus
on enterprise and incubation as a result of
the interregional cooperation and learning
generated through the InCompass project.
The impact of this is that D&A College has
Dundee and Angus, Scotland D&A Regional Outcome Agreement (ROA)
prioritised the embedding of enterprise
skills across the curriculum and has built an
incubator within one of the campuses to
support student enterprises and to increase
engagement with external entrepreneurs.
InCompass has influenced the Lithuanian
National Action Plan for Entrepreneurship
promotion 20142020. InCompass
recommendations were delivered and
presented to Ministry of Economy which
together with Ministry of Culture are
responsible for development of creative
industry sector. One of the institutions,
Lithuanian National Action Plan for responsible for an implementation of The
Kaunas, Lithuania
Entrepreneurship promotion 20142020 National Action Plan for Entrepreneurship
Promotion for 20142020, is Ministry of
Economy. The Plan states that
recommendations and analysis results
from study visits in InCompass project will
(or may) become (or became) as guidelines
for further development of creative
incubators in Lithuania.
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In Western Greece, the Regional Group of
Innovation was created with a purpose of
monitoring and implementing the Regional
Innovation Plan to create an incubator. The
1st step was the creation of regional
innovation group with a purpose of
monitoring and implementing the Regional
Innovation Plan to create an incubator. In
addition, in the dissemination event that
took place in Patras on 8 Dec'14 were also
participants representatives of the Ministry of
Development and they underlined the
Western Greece Western Greece 20142020 Strategic Plan importance of such actions for the new
programming period 20142020 which
enhance entrepreneurship and especially of
young people. Moreover, the RIG of WRG is
been included with a high degree of
importance in the five year strategic regional
plan which is a national obligation
independently by the structural funds which
also support the sector of creative
industries. Finally, a small business act
regional policy is on the run in WRG, in
which the RIP is to be integral part
During the life of InCompass, PBN in
Hungary was tasked with preparing the
20142020 Operations Strategies. As a
result, incubation and reinforcement of
creative industries was elaborated as an
integral chapter of the operative programme.
In Hungary the 20142020 Budget is 60 %
(12 Billion €) is dedicated to economic
development. The Territorial Operative
Program (TOP) is an integrated part of this
program. PBN was contracted in 2013 to
prepare the relevant TOP by the regional
County of VAS, Hungary Territorial Operative Programme (TOP)
authority (County Vas). InCompass project
learnings were directly discussed in the
form of RIGs and individual talks with the
authority management. One member of the
authority was personally also participating in
2 study visits (Milan and Lisbon) to gain first
hand experience and insights. As a result of
the joint procedure, creative industries is a
specially implemented part of the final TOP
program. The TOP document was approved
by the national government and the EU
Commission in the course of 2015.
➢ New projects / activities / approaches which resulted from the cooperation
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Based on the different progress report submitted, please summarise the spinoff activities (i.e. activities that were not initially planned in the
application form) that may have resulted from the exchange of experience.
1. D&A College successfully being awarded ERDF funding to create an Incubator within its Gardyne Campus along with a programme of
creating an entrepreneurial culture and embed enterprise skills across all areas of the College LUPS/ERDF/2013/10/3/0085
Incubation@D&A under ERDF Priority 3 Urban Regeneration. Capital Grant Funding of £645,416.95 was awarded from a total project cost
of £1,613,542.37. D&A College provided £518,125.42 of match funding and University of Abertay Dundee provided £450,000 match funding.
2. D&A College successfully applied for an ERDF funded project approved in 2014 to support the development of an incubator in its
Gardyne Campus mentioned in point 1 above and to embed an entrepreneurial culture within the College LUPS/ERDF/2013/10/2/0084
Enterprise@D&A under ERDF Prioirity 2 Enterprise Growth, Revenue Grant funding of £261,715.00 was awarded from a total project cost of
£654,287.50. D&A College provided £229,905.15 of match funding, Dundee City Council provided £129,381.60 match funding and Elevator
provided £33,285.75 match funding.
3. D&A College invited to join SYMBOLS by lead partner Aviles in a successful Creative Europe application in 2014 now being delivered.
4. Dundee's bid for the UNESCO City of Design status successfully awarded in October 2014.
5. Dundee University Incubator and D&A College incubator being planned, both with an accelerator programme during 2015.
6. D&A College being approached by Dundee City Council to run a pop up tea room/ restaurant/ events facility/ museum/ cultural industries
facility within a historic building in the city.
7. D&A College planning to establish an innovative nursery facility alongside the incubator within the Gardyne Campus.
8. The creation of a Visual Effects Academy led by Tayscreen, supported by Dundee City Council and with partners comprising Abertay
University, D&A College and funded through Scottish Funding Council.
9. Angus Council gaining funding from Scottish Government for a stalled spaces programme in empty shop units throughout Angus. This
will enable a pop up shop approach to rejuvenise town centres. Students from D&A College will engage with Angus Council to encourage
student enterprises to participate in this venture.
10. Delft University became a partner in the Interreg IVb NSR Creative Cities Challenge Reloaded project in which D&A College was
already a partner.
➢ Other project’s achievements
If applicable, please describe further achievements of your project which you would like to highlight and which may not correspond to the
categories outlined here above.
All partners experienced deeper and more meaningful cooperation within their own regions as a result of participating in the InCompass
project and the resulting establishment of the Regional Implementation Groups. This lead to greater engagement and shaping of policies
and approaches to incubation, enterprise and innovation. It has also led to informal, sustainable networks of institutions in all 12 regions
representing the triple helix focussed on creative industries and entrepreneurship.
D&A 1
The InCompass project has provided significant benefits for the Dundee and Angus regional partners. The region already had a strong
tradition of partnership and having this additional perspective from other European regions being able to be considered by the Dundee and
Angus partners as to what made them work and how this could benefit our own region. More detail will be provided throughout this report
however the key headline achievements can be quantified as: 1. Regular and deeper engagement with and between Regional
Implementation Group partners. A full group of 30 partners with a regular core group of 68 to be able to implement changes and
improvements to policies, approaches and ways of working as a result of the discussion. 2. Continuation of the group beyond the project to
ensure the sustainability of the partnership and the focus on enterprise and incubation as policy instruments to support the creative and
cultural industries within the region. Creative Dundee was appointed by Dundee City Council for the next 3 year period. 3. 7 Good practices
transferred either immediately or planned for transfer in the coming 12 month period across a number of Regional Implementation Group
partners. 4. Policy Instruments of Enterprise and Incubation influenced by the InCompass project. 5. Regional Outcome Agreements of the
2 city universities and of D&A College have been influenced by the project. 6. Angus Council were engaged in the project part way through
to benefit from the findings of the project and engage this part of the Dundee and Angus region in the creative and cultural industries. 5.
D&A College was able to work more closely with Dundee City Council in shaping the approaches taken by all regional partners in
enterprise and incubation. 6. Dundee City Council's successful bid for the UNESCO City of Design was enhanced by the partnership. 7.
Dundee University and D&A College in partnership with Abertay University took the decision to invest in incubation facilities during the
project. These developments are underway and due to complete during 2015.
Good practices which have the potential to be transferred into Dundee and Angus region included:
1. Desk charging from Rotterdam Creative Factory with the option of having an intern attached to the incubatee is a good practice which is
being transferred into D&A College new Incubator facility which will be effective from June 2015 onwards. 2. From Fabbrica Del Vapore,
Milan a detailed application process which includes experts from the Bosconi Business School in the assessment of candidates has the
potential to be transferred into Dundee Business School (Abertay University) and University of Dundee School of Business. 3.
Control number: f829248f4fbc1ed9d767de19f9c1d89b
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CoWorkLisboa provision of a kindergarten service for clients will be an approach will will be offered within the D&A College new incubator
due to open in June 15. The nursery is currently at the stage of finalising the business plan for a September 2016 potential start date
subject to board approval. 4. The Camden Collective Coding Academy project is being considered to be adapted for delivery in a Dundee
context. Within the Developing Scotland's Young Workforce Agenda from Scottish Government, early intervention of vocational qualifications
with direct input and support from industry partners are a key priority. Coding and programming skills are one of the areas which are in
demand from industry and discussions are underway between D&A College and Abertay University to provide a solution to address this
skills gap. Candidates who have worked in other industries and have been made redundant. Those with an underpinning mathematics
skill are ideal candidates for this initiative. Camden Collective's experiences in delivering this programme previously will be invaluable in
this programme development. 5. Aspects of the London Metropolitan University's London Accelerator (the Hatchery) project is being
transferred to a Dundee University partnership with Dundee based publisher DC Thomson and will be run by Elevator, the company who
deliver the Business Gateway start up contract in the Dundee and Angus area on behalf of the 3 local authorities in the region which
includes Dundee City Council, Angus Council and Perth and Kinross Council. Elevator are also in discussions with D&A College to
potentially offer an accelerator programme within the Arbroath campus of the College. The experiences from the London Accelerator will be
valuable in determining the approach, as will experiences from Elevator themselves who are delivering their flagship accelerator
programme in Aberdeen focusing on start ups from the Energy sector. The approach to attract corporate sponsorship to support this
programme will be a key part of the approach deivered in Dundee Uni and in the Angus Campus of D&A College. In addition, the approach
taken to offer university and college students real live commercial experiences and entrepreneurial experiences will be taken by linking
students with the accelator clients to support the growth of their businesses. 6. Utilising Alumni to support new incubatees is an approach
used to good effect by Cockpit Arts and Camden Collective. This approach will be adopted by both D&A College and Dundee University in
the support of their incubatees. This approach will take time to build as the current alumni from both organisations have not benefited from
the support of incubation as such, although many former students from both institutions have gone on to senior roles in business and
many are willing to give time and support back to new starts. 7. Pop up shop model worked extremely well for Camden Collective. This
approach is being transferred to MAJR Properties who have invested in a retail unit in Dundee City Centre and who is establishing a social
enterprise to offer this service to creative and craft businesses to promote and sell their products. This will provide the opportunity for short
rentals (1 week minimum) to widen their customer base. D&A College has also piloted the pop up shop approach for the last 2
consecutive Christmas periods to enable retail and design students to run a retail business as part of their studies. This will be expanded
into the Hospitality team with a pop up tea room, pop up restaurant and pop up street food being examined as potential enterprise
experiences for participating students. This has the support of both Dundee City Council and Angus Council with both Councils offering
historic buildings owned by them as hosting these facilities. One will be run as a pilot project over the summer of July and August 2015
within Camperdown House, Dundee (owned by DCC).
AV 2 :
Among the 16 Good Practices identified in the framework of the project, as stated in our RIP, most of them are already implemented in our
region, either directly by local public institutions belonging to our City Council (such as "La Curtidora" incubator, or "La Factoría Cultural"), or
by regional members of our RIG (i.e. Valnalón). However, we could highlight 4 Best Practices in which we should improve and increase our
activities in the future, namely:
Within the "Social Contextualization" group of measures: 8 relation to neighbourhood (for the Factoría Cultural)
Within the "Tiers of support..." group of measures: 9 relation to higher education institution / 10 Involve alumni / 13 Preincubation and
raising awareness.
Del 3:
The results of the project were implemented in the Regional Implementation Plan (RIP) in recommendations for several policy fields. One
is the emphasis placed on the relation between incubation and higher and vocational education, an aspect that is very important in the
RotterdamDelft region. Furthermore, the idea that it may be advantageous to disentangle the various elements of an incubator, also with
regard to location, as commonly distinguished (building, support, networking) met some enthusiasm in or region, particularly in Rotterdam.
The same can be said for the insight that incubator should focus their activities, taking into account the composition of the regional
economy, rather than to try to be a generalist. After final editing based on comments by RIG members to the draft version of December
2014, the RIP is now ready for distribution among local and regional policymakers. Although policymakers in the region were members of
our RIG and hence 'coowners' of the recommendations, it is ultimately beyond our control how and to what extent the recommendations
will be transferred into regional policies because the University of Delft, as a partner in the project, are not a policy making authority
themselves.
KTU 4:
Based on reports from study visits and situation in Lithuanian creative incubators, several problematic aspects were identified in
Lithuanian cases:
1. Meeting requirements of EU funding projects barriers for flexibility in occupancy and pricing of space in the incubator. The Lithuanian
incubators, founded by EU funding projects that apply requirements and legal limitations put barriers for effective use of the infrastructure –
there is a price per square meter defined and cannot be diversified for different type of incubatees or rent for outside events/companies that
could form an additional part of a budget.
2. Role of incubator in regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods. All the existing incubators have stated that after their establishment the
neighbourhood has been deprived only because the physical surroundings were arranged. By the time this scope should be more actively
involved in main incubators activities. Regeneration of neighbourhood also means a better commercial success.
3. Supporting creative incubators to strengthen the competitiveness of the city or region. One of the most important issues to Lithuania,
because Lithuania is a small economy country lacking natural resources either a huge need of generating competitiveness from the
intellectual property and cultural identity because of its history. Supporting is needed for interest and education of public sector/society.
4. Nurture bottomup initiatives from the creative community. This topic is one of the most important in Lithuanian situation. Top down
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decisionmaking by local authorities, the existing art incubators „bumps to the wall“ with initiatives that could provide them a sustainable
incubation system inside Lithuania.
5. Transfer of incubator initiated by local government to skilled private entrepreneur. This topic is very actual, because not all art incubators
manage to cope with commercial and strategic part and proceed with their activities without clear vision and competences. Usually at the
start point of art incubator, there are a group of initiatives formed, and an additional person coming from the side could be hardly adopted.
6. Lack of entrepreneurial competences of operators, lack in cash flows & budget. The indicated 9 Lithuanian incubators have been
financed by European grants to establish and build their infrastructure. Unfortunately some of them by their statement have not been fully
finished because of the leak of the competences of the operators or insufficient budged needed to complete the sufficient quality and
equipment for the full use of the incubators infrastructure.
7. Lack of sequence in regional policy. All the RIG members that are representatives of existing incubators underlined the leak of sequence
in the Lithuanian policy regarding integral culture and art incubation funding system. The statement was the insufficient primary funding
and a leak of funding priorities continuity that are not focused on existing incubators maintenance and support for completion. Regarding
the members there is needed to develop a vision on the incubation process on a regional scale.
8. Strategic planning flaws in incubators funding. There is a lack of strategic planning and the perception about incubators activities from
the commercial point of view. Most of existing incubators work like a cultural entities that usually are funded by the state and have a
provision that art incubator must be anyway partly funded because the selfsustainability for art incubator is hardly possible just because of
the nature of the cultural field. It is one of the most important issues to be underlined and discussed, because usually business models do
not go in line with art and creativity.
WGr 6:
Through the InCompass project, the Western Region of Greece firstly enhanced its ability to collaborate in a regional, national and
international level and secondly has found out ways for identifying best practices that are well suited to regional level. In addition, the project
has helped the region to recognize the importance of creative and regional industries and thus they have been determined by the decision
makers as one of the crucial priorities for the regional development.
UoP 7:
Through the InCompass project, the University of Patras achieved to enhance firstly its ability to collaborate in a regional, national and
international level and secondly it found out ways for identifying best practices that are well suited at regional level. In addition, project
helped the UoP to recognize/verify the importance of creative and regional industries and this importance has been set by decision makers
as one crucial priorities for the regional development.
Med 11
Across all the study visits, Medway identified a total of 54 good practices which a showed a relevant example to Medway context (described
in the Regional Implementation Plan Part One) base of the following assessment criteria:
1. Workspace models – can the practice relate to existing or proposed workspace provision in Medway?
2. Incubation – can the practice be applied to existing or proposed incubation support in Medway?
3. Events – can the practice relate to existing or proposed events activities in Medway?
4. Education/Learning – can the practice be applied to existing or proposed learning provision in Medway?
5. Business Development – can the practice be applied to existing or proposed business development activity in Medway?
6. Network Development – can the practice be applied to existing or proposed network development activity in Medway?
7. Strategic – can the practice be applied at a strategic level in Medway/among Medway partners?
These 54 practices have been identified in 14 incubators, and across the 8 countries organising study visits:
Creative Factory, Rotterdam
Fabbrica Del Vapore, Milan
Media Evolution City Malmo
MINC Malmo
Ideon Innovation Lund
Danish Design Centre Copenhagen
LX Factory Lisbon
Carnival Lab Patras
Factoria Cultural Aviles
Camden Collective London
Cockpit Arts London
Trinity Buoy Wharf London
London Accelerator London
Centre for Creative Collaboration London
Although one study visit was organised for Medway and London, they are independent regions and London is a very unique case in the UK.
Being so close, Medway is largely influenced and has the same macroeconomic and regulatory [Link], the best practices
observed in London could potentially be transferred in Medway and should not be considered of being part of the same area.
The 54 best practices have been channelled into 7 independent projects (described in the Regional Implementation Plan Part Two) for
the local area. Although their transferability has been assessed, some projects have not been implemented yet and the success of these
best practices is still to be confirmed:
Strategic Partnership. The project provided some strong examples of strategic governance, most notably in Malmo and the MINC
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example. Medway Council has got a Cultural Partnership although it is not linked to the Regeneration and Economic Development. It is
proposed that a more formal, and potentially independent, strategic partnership for the development of creative industries could provide a
delivery role for both the CP and RED. It has been suggested that the Regional Implementation Group established for the purpose of this
project carries on meeting to discuss the development of the creative industries in the local area.
Incubator/Hatchery: there is no incubator of creative industries as such in Medway. A few coworking spaces for the creative sector are
present in the area but don't include the specialist support and business development elements of an incubator. This best practices has
been observed in many different partner areas: Ideon Innovation (Lund), MINC (Malmo), Cockpits Arts, London Accelerator and Centre for
Creative Collaboration (all 3 in London). The recipients of this project could be the coworking spaces (Nucleus Arts, Sun Pier House) in
the case of incubators or Higher Education Institutions like University for the Creative Arts, University of Kent and Mid Kent College in the
case of the Hatchery, all with the support of Medway Council's Regeneration and Economic Development and the Arts Team.
Small Business Finance Scheme: establish a small business and finance scheme for Cultural and Creative Industries in Medway. This
best practice was observed at Cockpit Arts in Medway. Medway Council already run interestfree loan for established businesses to grow.
This project could create a specific fund to enable small business financing of creative businesses. Medway Council Regeneration and
Economic Development team would be the recipient of this good practice.
Business Development Project: Establish a business development project to provide support for Cultural and Creative Industries in
Medway. This best practice was observed in several partner areas: MINC (Malmo), Cockpit Arts and Camden Collective (London). It is not
clear who would be the recipient of the best practice at this stage but would require the support of key partners like Medway Council and its
Business Support team as well as Educational Institutions.
Event Programme: as observed at the Carnival Lab in Patras, this project would open existing and new events to local creative
businesses for commissions and contracts. Medway has got a several renowned festivals like the Dickens Festivals or the Fuse Festival
and they are run by Medway Council.
Music Venue: establish a music venue and multipurpose creative space in Medway. Although this has not been seen in any of the other
partner regions, there are a few models of buildings offering colocation of creative production and consumption. Creative Medway CIC
would be the recipient of these best practices and be supported by local organisations (Nucleus Arts) for the management of the venue.
Creative Agency: expand the creative agency project running in Mid Kent College (Aspire). There are some parallels to the paid
commercial arrangements for students at the London Accelerator. Aspire provides handson project experience in a commercial
environment. This would expand the scope of the project and increase the range and quality of services on offer by including students from
Medway Universities and external expertise. Mid Kent College would be the recipient of this best practice.
Another key achievement of the project has been the creation of the RIG. The composition of the Regional Implementation Group evolved
as the project went and the interest from different partners grew bigger. The first RIG meeting took place at the Centre for Creative
Collaboration and involved a limited number of organisation. As we relocated the RIG in Medway, local organisations and HEIs showed an
interest and got progressively involved in the project. The expertise around the table was really varied and complementary. The nature of the
partners grew the interest to work together on the theme of creative industries as everyone saw an opportunity to get something out of the
collaboration. It was the first time that all these organisations sat around the table to work together on a specific subject.
Sw13:
Uppsala County: The review pointed at three main areas which need attending to in the County of Uppsala.
The first is a need for space for companies within the cultural and creative industries to develop and show their work and to meet and
develop new possible collaborations with in the sector. A second area is the need for more flexible business development methods to
support companies. Today, companies in the cultural and creative industries and the tourism industry find it difficult to get into the existing
innovation system in the County of Uppsala Uppsala. A third area concerns the need to strengthen networks within and across businesses
to promote innovation, by finding new partnerships, new products and services. Efforts can be categorized into three areas:
1. Spaces for creativity
2. Business development
3. Innovation
The target groups are small and mediumsized enterprises and associations in the cultural and creative industries and tourism industry,
cultural creators and researchers.
PBN 14:
Due to the fact that there are no creative incubator units in Hungary, it was very important and useful to see the various examples from all
over Europe. A lot of relevant information have been gained which can defenitely be used in the future. The experiences of the supporting
units, we see now models which could be tried to be adopted. Another important learning was that not only Hungarian but also SMEs in
other EU member countries face the problem of making business abroad or to get into foreign markets. Therefore, the settingup of the
virtual incubator unit has been started, where most of the InCompass partners showed interest.
The overall learnings are already implemented into the regional development plan, which is a great succes not only from the project's view
but also for the whole WesternHungarian region.
1.2 Please assess the participation and involvement of the partners in the project. Were
all your partners active? Did they attract other local/regional actors to the project events?
All partners were active within their own regions and within the interregional events. They attracted other strong local/ regional/ national
actors to the project events through their Regional Implementation Group engagements and other dissemination events. Key RIG
members from the participating regions included:
D&A P1 and DCC P8
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Dundee City Council Diane Milne, Alan Dobson, Stan Ure, Head of Economic Development, Stuart Murdoch, Director Cultural Industries,
Allan Watt, Project Manager Dundee Waterfront. D&A College Veronica Lynch, Director External Relations, Grant Ritchie, Depute Principal,
Anne Cant, International Manager, Simon Hewitt, Academic Head Creative and Digital Industries, Fiona Muhsin, Creative and Digital
Industries lecturer. Dundee University Alasdair McGill, Head of Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Strategy, Georgina Follet, Vice Principal
and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design, Michael Marra, Head of Design in Action. Angus Council, Alison Smith, Head
of Economic Development, Cllr Mairi Evans, Convener Economic Development. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Clive Gillman. Wasps Studios,
David Cook. Creative Dundee, Gillian Easson, Owner. Elevator, Gary McEwan Chief Executive and also Honorary Professor of
Entrepreneurship at Dundee University, Graham Morgan, Director, Simon Fraser, Project Manager. Fleet Collective, Lyall Bruce. Abertay
University, Paul Durrant Director, Gregor White, Head of Creative and Digital Industries. Scottish Enterprise, Joyce Matthew, Account
Manager Creative Industries and Peter Noad, Infrastructure Project Manager. Dundee Maker Space, Grant Richmond. MAJR Properties,
Richard Meiklejohn, CEO. Maklab, Richard Clifford. Phillip Long, CEO V&A Museum of Design
AV 2: Aviles RIG members have been very active and collaborative on InCompass project activities:
In the Interim Conference and the Aviles Study Visit, included the active participation of the following Aviles RIG’s institutions: Valnalón,
Cultural Factory, La Curtidora, the School of women entrepreneurs of Asturias and BICCEEI Asturias (also member of Interreg IVC’s
projects Creative Growth & BooGames). Some of these hosted study visits and attended the project conference and participated as
speakers in the Conference.
Regarding the Final Conference, a representative from Valnalón attended and participated in the morning panel.
Del 3: RIG amongst others: Pim de Bokx (Dutch Incubator Association), Hugo Bongers (Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences),
Jeannette Nijkamp (idem), Jorn Douwstra (Mun. of Delft), Stephanie van Mal (idem), Rene Kooyman (Utrecht School of Arts), Bart Ashmann
(Delft University of Technology), Farhan Alibux (entrepreneur), Vera Cerutti (entrepreneurs, consultant), Elselien Smit (entrepreneur), Jeroen
Heemskerk (entrepreneur), Chantal Olffers (Mun. of Rotterdam). Study visit Rotterdam: Jurjen Lengkeek, Gabrielle Muris (RDM
Campus/DNAMO), Yvonne Trip, Roel van der Bolt, Cor van Asch, Gabor Everaerts (Mun. of Rotterdam, Port of Rotterdam), Leo van Loon
(Creative Factory). Extraordinary RIG meeting at annual conference of the Dutch Incubation Association: three RIG members,
supplemented with Rebecca Richardson (Creative Factory)
KTU 4: There were 33 members selected to participate in Lithuanian regional implementation group (RIG). The members were selected
from different fields: existing creative and common business incubators, creative entrepreneurs, SME’s, education and government unit
representatives, in order to collect a comprehensive information and study of good practices as well as obtain feasible conclusions for
Lithuanian regional policy improvement.
Ligita Valalyte, Science and technology park Technopolis;
Gediminas Banaitis, Kaunas City Municipality;
Vitalija Romanoviene, Kaunas City Municipality;
Mindaugas Danys, Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Lithuania;
Evelina Karkutyte, Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Lithuania;
Erika Furman, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania;
Ieva Dicmonaite, Specialist of EU funding in Lithuania;
Daiva Nazaroviene, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania;
Rasa Levickaite, Kazimieras Simonavicius University;
Vytautas Ratkevicius, Uzupis Creative Cluster;
Edgaras Leichteris, The Forum of Knowledge & Economy, Lithuania;
Monika Petraite, Kaunas University of Technology, Executive school;
Marius Urbonavicius, Vilnius Academy of Arts Design Innovation Center;
Alius Levinskas, CECHAS creative agency;
Daina Urbonaviciene, Lithuanian Council for Culture;
Aurimas Pautienius, International School of Management;
Vaidotas Norkus, Kaunas University of Technology, Design centre;
Jurate Tutlyte, Vytautas Magnus University;
Andrius Vilkauskas, Kaunas University of Technology;
Roma Surviliene, National Association for Creative and Cultural Industries;
Žilvinas Jancoras, National Association for Creative and Cultutal Industries;
Giedrius Bagdonas, Užupis Arts Incubator;
Inesa Kurklietyte, AMI Incubator of Audiovisual Arts;
Darius Žakaitis, Rupert Centre of Art and Education;
Raimonda Laužikiene, Culture Factory;
Palma Urbanaviciene, Telsiai Arts Incubator;
Daiva Pereviciene, Anyksciai Arts Incubator;
Greta Mikalauskaite, Raudondvaris Arts Incubator;
Tadas Balciunas, Incubator of Architecture;
Audronis Imbrasas, Arts Printing House;
Kristina Puleikyte, Vilnius Academy of Arts Design Innovation Center
WGr 6 and UoP 7:
Key members of RIGs:
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• Mr. Apostolos Katsifaras (Head of the Western Greece Region)
• Mr. Vasileios Antonopoulos (Viceregional Governon of Aitoloakarnania)
• Mr. Spyros Papaspyrou (western Greece Region)
• Ms. Eirini Vasilopoulou (Patras Municipality)
• Mr. Dimosthenis Giagkas (Agrinio Municipality)
• Mr. Spyros Zafeiropoulos (Municipality of Ilida)
• Mr. Platonas Parlafekas (Chamber of Achaia)
• Mr. Konstantinos Bokas (1st Vice President of the Chamber of Aitoloakarnania)
• Mr. Nikos Kotsonis (Federation of Peloponnese & Western Greece Industries)
• Mr. Gerasimos Mentzelopoulos (Patras Science Park)
• Mr. Dimitris Papailiou (Corallia Clusters Initiative)
• Mr. Theodoros Abazis (Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras)
• Mr. Vasileios Avdikos (Panteion University)
• Prof. Christos Bouras, Prof. Kostas Tsekouras (University of Patras)
Med 11:
The Regional Implementation Group was composed of 8 partner organisations and 14 people:
Medway Council Regeneration and Economic Development Estelle Timothy, Vincent Hagnere Project leader
Medway Council Arts Team Caren Stafford Project leader
Thames Gateway Kent Partnership, Richard Longman Regional development organisation
Nucleus Arts Centre Dalia HalpernMatthews, Claire Poynter Arts Centre organisation, creative coworking space and gallery space
Sun Pier House Heather Burgess Arts Centre organisation, creative coworking space and gallery space
University for the Creative Arts Amie Rai and Uwe Derksen HEI University specialised in Creative Industries careers
University of Kent Peter Hatton and Kevin Dawe HEI, School of Music and Fine Arts
MidKent College Steve Cole and Michael Smith HEI
Creative Medway CIC Matt Peacock Consultant and Local Community Interest Company
Swe 13: [Link] County. Regional coordinator. UU Innovation/Uppsala University, Visit Uppland, Uppsala Municipality. 2. Lund
Municipality coordinator. The Creative Plot/Ideon Business Park
PBN 14: it had various levels of groups, formed. Firstly, with the authority, responsible for the acceptance of the Territorial Operative
Program (that is the Municipality of county Vas), Mr. Daniel Holdosi and Mr. Ferenc Marton. Than with key local business players, who have
a central role in local feasibility checks and potential implementation (that is Mr. József Grebenár HR company owner, Mr. László Sákovits
and Mr. Tamás Kovács, marketing company owner, all of them specializied on startup and creative industries) and further intermediary
organizations participating on events (Mr. Károly Balogh, Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Dániel Magyar, Regional Innovation Agency), who act
as partner organizations in the subsequent implementation activities.
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2 Contribution of interregional cooperation to the project’s achievements
2.1 Link to previous INTERREG IIIC experience
Does your project build on a previous INTERREG IIIC project? Yes X No
If yes, please provide the acronym of this previous project:
If yes, were any of the practices identified during the previous project transferred during the
Yes No
INTERREG IVC projects
If yes, how many of these practices were transferred?
In case of transfer, please provide further information below.
2.2 How has interregional cooperation contributed to your project’s achievements? In
addition to the spinoff activities described in the precedent section, are there any other
benefits / lessons learnt / added value obtained through interregional cooperation?
The InCompass project aimed to deliver better evidence based policy making. The transnational approach has helped the project partners
and policy makers in the regions to identify examples of good practice, share results and experiences and develop transferable tools and
methodologies. One of the key learning points from the InCompass project was the role of the different social, economic and cultural
contexts. This provided learning for policy makers and incubators alike. As a reverse point to this, these different perspectives made it more
difficult for the transfer of practices and policies. It did however enable gaps in opportunities in regional policy frameworks to be identified.
The interregional cooperation was one of key components of the Incompass project for helping the partners to exchange ideas and
thoughts about study visits focused on the identification of good practices providing financial sustainability to creative incubators. Through
this cooperation, CP3 Lead Delft University created a best practices Toolkit where 16 best practices were selected from about 170 good
practices observed in study visits and under the conditions of five criterion as were discussed in Szombathely thematic seminar. The
Western Region of Greece (in cooperation with the University of Patras) utilised this Toolkit for producing its Regional Implementation Plan
by focussing on some of those best practices which were more suitable to the region characteristics.
In addition, this interregional cooperation into the creative sector give partners the opportunity to identify that some of those practises not
only supported the provision of financially sustainable incubators, but also can increase neighbourhood prosperity, such as Creative
Factory and DNAMO Incubator in Rotterdam. This has acted like a spill over effect on the wider economy and given some boost to urban
regeneration.
One of the InCompass partners, Medway Council is also the lead partner in an INTERREG IV A France Channel England project focusing
on the support to Creative Industries and town centre regeneration: Recreate. The findings of the InCompass project have fed into
elements of our Recreate project and also fed into new project ideas for future European funding opportunities under the programme
period 2014 2020.
The interregional cooperation has allowed Medway Council staff and their consultant to find out about economic, regeneration and
business models of great added value to improve the situation of and the services towards the creative industries in the local area. It
provided a wealth of knowledge and experience of setting up, running and sustaining models to support the growth of the creative sector.
The interregional cooperation was used to feed into Medway's Regional Implementation Plan which will be shared internally with the Head
of Regeneration and Economic Development, the Principal Business Support officer and the Principal Economic Development Officer at
Medway Council.
Medway Council has been represented across all the study visits organised during the project and this has made possible the observation
of all the best practices to populate it's Regional Implementation Plan. The InCompass project also made possible the creation of a group
of key organisations under the Regional Implementation Group in which everyone agreed to meet and develop of strategy for the creative
industries for Medway. The best practices observed were also largely discussed during the meetings of the RIG and these discussions
populated the different projects for Medway.
During the study visits, partnership working has been very effective and have led to the creation of 7 study visit reports of high quality and
which were very useful to the discussion in all of the local RIG meetings. Most of the partners have agreed to develop new European
opportunities and ideas emanating directly from the project include: a virtual incubator, a project linking creativity to regeneration and many
others of interest to partners.
During the project lifetime, both good practice cases as well as negative examples have been presented and all have provided a learning
experience for the participating regions. This was particularly useful for a region like Szombately in Hungary where incubation is being
developed from scratch which can be extremely expensive. This experience resulted in the creation of the Virtual Incubator concept which is
a much more cost effective solution. This also enables the interregional cooperation being continued and the international partnership
and its combined network to support the incubatees within the participating regions.
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2.3 Clustering activities
Did you organise/participate in any joint activities with one or more INTERREG IVC projects working
X Yes No
on a similar theme (e.g. organisation of joint events)?
If yes, how many of these activities were organised / participated in?
The Hungary based partner, PBN, ran 7 Interreg IVc Projects at the same time which meant that a lot of the activities were done together.
Because PBN was responsible for preparing the Regional Economic Development Plan for County Vas for 20142020, all the experiences
gained from the 7 IVc projects were integrated straight into the strategy. There were more joint events, dissemination possibilities, joint press
conferences organised within the collaboration of all of the IVc projects.
One of the RIG members of the Aviles partner, BICCEEI Asturias, has participated in Creative Growth project ([Link]
The results of Creative Growth were presented at one of our RIG meetings. In the same call, BICCEEI Asturias also participated in the BOO
GAMES project. Such project was presented at the InCompass Interim Conference, that took place in Avilés on November 2013.
Our Delft partner was engaged with CIE (Cleantech Incubation Europe). They attended some project events, but no common activities were
organized. Although both InCompass and CIE were about incubation, the economic sectors (creative versus cleantech industry), organisation
and schedules of the two projects were too different for common activities.
Please briefly describe these activities below (name of the IVC projects you have worked with, place, date, topic of the event, etc.).
Other INTERREG IVC Projects of PBN:
DIFASS
MESSE
TR3S
WORKING 4 TALENT
DESUR
PLUSTEX
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3 Durability of the project and its results
3.1 What will happen to the project’s results now that your project is coming to an end?
Will there be institutional structures that will maintain and/or disseminate the project’s
results? For Regional Initiative Projects, have you developed an action plan in order to
mainstream the lessons learnt from the exchange of experience?
There have been several examples of ongoing structures that will maintain and/or disseminate the InCompass results.
Within a Dundee and Angus Context, Dundee City Council has appointed Creative Dundee to support the continuation of the Regional
Implementation partnership beyond the project. Also D&A College has engaged with Creative Dundee to continue some of the work
undertaken during InCompass and ensure partners implement the good practices identified as beneficial from other regions into our
Dundee and Angus organisations. This will ensure that these initiatives are implemented within agreed timelines and where possible
mainstreamed as policy approaches for future benefit.
For our Delft partner, the ability to create a sustainable institutional structure is not in their own hands, as they are not regional policy
makers themselves. Nevertheless, they are continuing engagement with policymakers in Rotterdam and Delft about the results of the
project, possibly within the context of followup activities. Furthermore, some publications based on the project are planned.
Within Lithuania, the KTU partner has indicated that good practices were identified are presented to national key players in the field and it is
expected that the recommendations from the RIG report will be taken into account when drawing new national policies. KTU RSP and a
project partner will continue to develop its activities on lessons from study visits learnt. The network which is built on the basis of RIG
membership will help the KTURSP to better reflect on the needs of client companies as well as to develop more attractive environment for
creative businesses. New coworking spaces were already opened in the institution based on some good examples from study visits.
Within Medway, firstly, the consultant working on the project, Matt Peacock has put together a timeline for the implementation of the Medway
projects as part of the Regional Implementation Plan. This plan will also be shared with Medway's upper management team to feed into
wider strategies and instruments as described in Section 1.
The findings and experience of the Incompass project have also been really useful in order to develop Medway's new European project
ideas for crossborder collaboration under the Interreg V A 2 Seas programme and for Interreg Europe. The Va2 project will focus on
creative hubs and links with universities to provide support to SMEs and professional experiences for graduates in the creative sector. This
will include physical as well as virtual creative hubs with elements of business supports and growth and the results and reports written up
as part of the project will surely be disseminated within these new projects.
The Incompass website will also be a great legacy for the project. A link on our Recreate project website will signpost all beneficiaries to
the InCompass website.
In Hungary, the project results are constantly disseminated through various channels, such as the Virtual Incubator Unit PBN is
coordinating, but also for proposing new project ideas and cooperations and partnerships. While there's no concrete written action plan,
the toolkit for the InCompass best practices are constantly in use.
3.2 What will happen to the partnership after the closure of the project? Will the
partnership continue to cooperate on this issue? Are any followup projects planned? If
so, please name and briefly describe them.
There are 9 project concepts identified from the InCompass partnership. Some are for Interreg Europe next project call and some for
Horizon 2020 or Erasmus + funding strands. These projects are: 1. Quantifying the Social Return on Investment as a measure of impact
from incubation, enterprise and creative and cultural industries interventions. 2. Design Led Business Approaches to business
development and innovation etc. 3. Virtual Incubator – SME focused service based on network of incubators partner organisations. 4.
Linking Creativity to Regeneration. 5. Improvement of Local ecosystem with an energy efficiency perspective. 6. Open Innovation Concepts
for Creative Industries. 7. Sustainable Regions utilising energy production techniques like Anaerobic Digestion. (All 7 of these are concepts
for Interreg Europe) 8. Creative Training Networks (Universities partnering with SME’s etc. (Horizon 2020). 9. Early learning interventions to
support enterprise and employability. (Option for either Interreg Europe or Erasmus+).
In addition, as a spin off project from the partnership, Aviles led a successful bid under Creative Europe for a SYMBOLS project in which
D&A College have become a partner. D&A College also successfully obtained ERDF funding to develop in incubator and embed an
entrepreneurial culture across the College.
D&A College are also continuing to work with Delft University within the Interreg IVb NSR project Creative Cities Challenge Reloaded which
will proceed to a next stage bid within Interreg Vb NSR.
3.3 What communication actions do you feel have been most useful in disseminating the
Control number: f829248f4fbc1ed9d767de19f9c1d89b
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project’s achievements? Can you provide any examples of how your communication
activities will ensure that the results will last after the project has ended?
A cross functional series of communication mechanisms was instrumental in getting the messages of the InCompass out to partners and
interested parties.
The website has been an extremely useful way of getting the overarching messages out to interested parties ([Link]).
This was particularly successful by recording more the 25.000 visits to date. As an example, on January 2015 (beyond the project duration)
the web site has recorded 1.669 visits. The fruitful results of the web may be due to the quality, the quantity and the periodicity of the
information included. The Aviles partner led this activity and worked extremely hard on creating a useful, visually appealing and functional
web, always connected to the social networks. This supplementary promotion through social media interventions has onward generated
further interest to a wider audience.
The newsletter which has had 6 issues across the lifetime of the project meant that more detailed stories focusing on the study visits and
the learning from the project was a good way for discussive content to be disseminated. These together with the 7 study visit reports will
always be available through the website for continuing access. The good practices toolkit led by our Delft partner has been an excellent
reference tool for policy makers and will also be accessible beyond the project through the website.
The project was presented at a variety of European, National and regional business, incubation themed and at academic conferences, and
our Delft and University of Patras partners hope to complete some publications in academic and professional journals.
The dissemination events that every partner has organised in their own regions were also one of the most useful communication actions
for disseminating the project achievements as these events allowed for a greater level of discussion and how these practices could impact
individual organisations. As an example, the Western Region of Greece sent more that 150 invitation for the 6th RIG through email which
were accompanied with a brief project's progress report and many references to the InCompass website. Moreover, it was made an effort
of obtaining all the potential stakeholders into the region's RIG with the aim of achieving the essential involvement of our community.
Finally, the projects result were presented firstly to 56 individual from 17 different stakeholder in the region's 6th RIG and secondly
approximately to 100 individual by the WGR participation in the Creative Workshop 2014 arranged by the Panteion University.
The video footage of the final conference being accessed through the InCompass website will ensure that the results of the project will last
beyond the project. This coupled with the partnership engagements throughout the life of the project and this being sustained beyond its 3
year lifetime will ensure the project's messages have longevity and continuity. A follow up Interreg Europe project or series of projects will
further enhance the likelihood that these findings will be built upon and disseminated to a wider audience.
4 Challenges
Did you face any particular difficulties / challenges during the project’s implementation?
What measures were taken to face these difficulties / challenges?
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Most partners reported that they faced no specific challenges with this project but those that did are included in this section.
From the perspective of the lead partner, one of the challenges which took place during the early stages of the project was one of the
partners, BIC La Fucina from Italy going into receivership. This resulted in additional time for the lead partner and for the Milan Municipal
authority to take the responsibilities of that partner and to remove them from the partnership. A RFC was the approach taken to address this
formally. Also, the lead partner Dundee College underwent a merger with Angus College to become Dundee and Angus College midway
through the project. This resulted in the existing project manager, Andrew McKenzie and the key finance contact, Kathleen McGuire both
opting to take Voluntary Severance and leave the College. This resulted in Veronica Lynch taking over the lead project management role
and Laura Miller taking over the lead finance contact role. They both took a short period of time to become familiar with the project and its
partners. This was dealt with by making partners and the JTS aware of these combined changes and creating a revised contract and
partnership agreement as a result. This did however lead to a request from JTS for a new approbation certificate even though D&A
College's legal status had not changed as Dundee College was the host college for Angus College. In addition, the FLC did not change.
We were receiving conflicting advice from our UK contact point to say that a new certificate would not be required and from the JTS insisting
that it was. It took between April and June 14 to resolve this situation and in the end a new Approbation certificate was provided.
The Medway partner reported some challenges although not specifically in relation to the project implementation. They reported being
aware of their project underspending but that this did not prevent Medway Council achieving the project outputs including the Regional
Implement Plan.
From the beginning of the project, they reported being clear about the fact that Medway Council is not a region as such but a unitary
authority. However, their focus was to engage a large local partnership with a regional influence: University for the Creative Arts is present
in Medway and Kent, the University of Kent and Thames Gateway Kent partnership have a regional influence too. Medway reports that the
closure of the project was slightly problematic as they were not made aware until late that there was no closure period in the project and
that all expenditure had to stop on December 31st 2014. Between the Final conference taking place on 18th November 2014 and the end of
December, this did not leave them enough time to collect all the evidence and do our First Level Control on time. Therefore, our time spent
in January to close the project and the last FLC invoice can't be claimed for and are a loss for Medway Council's core budget.
The Delft partner reported that it was difficult to engage local experts and stakeholders in the Regional Implementation Group for a period
of three years. In the end they had a relatively small, but quite loyal RIG. They compensated for this by discussing the draft of the regional
implementation plan with a wider audience at the Dutch Incubator Association conference, where they organized a workshop which worked
well.
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5 Experience gained and feedback on the programme
5.1 Please report on your experience on project management.
➢ Project coordination / implementation of foreseen activities
This was reported as largely positive by partners. Some reported delays with their FLC and this did cause some delays for the lead partner
in ensuring that all documentation was able to collated in time for the final reporting deadlines.
The Medway partner reported, 'With a limited knowledge of the creative industries when taking over the project, we were fortunate to have
the right consultant on board who provided the knowledge, the expertise and some of the network to implement some of our activities. The
organisation of the Medway London study visit for example was successful because our Consultant had an excellent understanding of the
project objectives, the partners expectations and had a great knowledge of the creative industries, especially in London.
Locally, our partners made it easy for us to organise our Regional Implementation Group and made sure almost everytime that one
representative would attend our meetings. Finally, Dundee College was a very proactive and experienced lead partner which helped the
general administrative and financial management of the project.
➢ Financial management
This was reported as largely positive by partners. Only 3 partners reported more specific comments.
The lead partner reported, 'There were some challenges in year with partners being behind the forecast spend although the activities were
continung to be able to be delivered. The reallocation of BIC La Fucina budget took longer to complete than the lead partner and the
partnership had expected. This meant that the additional activities which Milan Municipality and that Delft had undertaken to deliver were
under more pressure of time than would normally be expected'.
University of Patras reported, 'The financial management from UoP and the LP was efficient. The only problem that UoP faced during the
project implementation was the delays from the FLC. In detail, UoP sent all the list of expenditures according to the timeline set by the LP;
however the response of our FLC usually took longer that expected, and sometimes after the deadline that was set by the LP'.
Medway Council is facing a great underspend in the Incompass project. The Project officer and programme coordinator were only
appointed in April 2013 and went full time from June 2013 whereas the Incompass project started in January 2012. It was therefore very
difficult to catch up this time in terms of spending in the staff costs budget line. Staff costs were overestimated and the main underspend
comes from this specific budget line.
In terms offinancial management, the INTERREG IV C has proved to be very efficient and the process of claim submission simple. The
limited number of budget lines simplifies the inputting of project expenditure and the monitoring tools are very clear to understand and use.
5.2 How would you evaluate in general the INTERREG IVC programme implementation?
Please indicate strong and weak points as well as ideas and proposals for improvements.
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Strong:
Good relationships existed between the JTS contacts and the lead partner. Advice and support was provided in a timely manner when
required and this worked extremely well.
Delft reported, 'Compared to our experience in Interreb IVB, the IVC projects are much more focused and generate more new and useful
insights'.
Hungary partrner PBN reported, 'Because with the help and achievments of the project, effective support can be given to decision makers to
develop regional strategies. In the case of PBN, we had the opportunity to have concrete influence on the regional development plan, so a
lot of learnings of various INTERREG IVC projects are already implemented'
.
Weak:
One of the partners reported, 'The JTS sometimes behaves fussy and bureaucratic. Examples are the need for a new FLC statement for
every minor reduction of the claim (of e.g. 100 euros), asking questions about other projects which we hardly can answer, and the de facto
impossibility to claim the final FLC invoice and other invoices that are received in the last weeks before the end of the project period. All
together, this means a too large share of time has to be spent on procedures, rather than on the project itself, and difficulties with
payments of invoices to third parties. Furthermore, the strong focus specifically on regional policymakers is not always appropriate, as not
all found best practices are within their capacity and competence for implementation. In the case of InCompass, e.g. the incubator
management should be taken into account as well, especially as the aim of the project was to reduce the involvement of regional
government in incubators (at least financially).
Suggested improvements:
Requests for change approaches could have been completed more quickly. This was particularly the case where one of the partners went
into liquidation and other partners requested additional budget to undertake the liquidated partner activities or to undertake activities which
were additional to the project plan. This meant a shorter time for delivery, although both the Milan and Delft partner managed to deliver
these in time in the end.
For the end of the project, as a minimum, it would have been useful if the FLC costs and an allowance for staff time would have been able
to be claimed the costs associated at least one month beyond the end of the project. Also, it would have been useful if the final 20% budget
shift RFC process was able to be invoked at least 1 month beyond the end of the project end. It is not until all partners have submitted their
final claims until the true drawdown becomes clear. More flexibility on this timeline for RFC would have benefitted the partnership overall as
well as the lead partner.
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5.2.1 Programme information and application (information events, application pack and
forms, consultations, availability of the JTS/MA etc)
(5 very good, 4 good, 3 neutral, 2 poor, 1 very poor)
5 X 4 3 2 1
Comments/proposals
5.2.2 Approval, contracting, and startup (conditions for approval, lead partner seminar,
subsidy contract, consultations etc)
(5 very good, 4 good, 3 neutral, 2 poor, 1 very poor)
5 X 4 3 2 1
Comments/proposals
5.2.3 Monitoring, implementation and finalisation (reporting, consultations, workshops
and seminars, payments, final report etc)
(5 very good, 4 good, 3 neutral, 2 poor, 1 very poor)
5 X 4 3 2 1
Comments/proposals
Largely good however there were some delays with payments and particularly with RFCs.
5.3 Any other issues / comments / suggestions?
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PART II
INTERACT – Project achievement report
There are 79 cooperation programmes across the European Union and each of them is unique. The variety of actions is the strength of these
programmes but at the same time it makes it hard to explain their effect to outsiders. While programmes can say quite a lot about the outputs of
individual projects, but it is currently impossible to see the accumulated result of what has been achieved by the territorial cooperation projects
across EU. This information is needed to help to explain the added value of cooperation between Europe’s regions and ensure support to
cooperation activities in future. To collect this kind of information is the objective of the below questionnaire, which is piloted in approximately 20
European cooperation programmes.
For completing this questionnaire, you are encouraged to set aside for a moment the existing project and programme indicators, and instead to
look at your project with fresh eyes and identify one most important achievement your project delivered.
The collected information will be displayed using digital maps, and used to demonstrate to stakeholders the range of effects being achieved by
cooperation projects in every part of Europe.
1. Type of achievement
Please identify only one main achievement you consider the most important outcome of your project. In this context, the achievement is
understood as the most significant and immediate advantage of carrying out your project activities; a change your project has made. Describe it
in max 200 characters and indicate the main users targeted by the achievement. Please also choose one type of the achievement, where your
example best fits in (tick box). It may happen that your achievement fits into more than just one type – in this case please chose the one that is
considered the closest to the main purpose of the project.
Type of the achievement Description
New knowledge or analysis (e.g. studies,
surveys and analysis)
New ways of working (e.g. change or
The regional implementation groups and RIP planning process was the aspect which gave
significant improvement of working
most value to the InCompass partnership. By having partners from policy makers,
methods, skills, practices, procedures
educational institutions, industry partners and incubators themselves provided both a formal
and structures; for example guidelines, X
and informal structure which will sustain beyond the project. This has encouraged policy
strategies, tool kits where these are used
makers to consider their decisions with end users in mind and the incubators to learn from
by the relevant stakeholders and have
similar organisations in different partner regions.
produced changes in practices)
Changes to policy or public behaviour
(e.g. new or amended laws, regulations
or changes to public behaviour)
Product or service (e.g. delivery of
concrete outcomes such as new services
or products)
2. Theme of achievement
Please select only one theme, which your Economic development
X
achievement described above contributes
Environment
to.
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InCompass - PR 6 Version 3 Sent date: 19/06/2015 08:09
3. Value of cooperation
Cooperation is of course a vital element in territorial cooperation programmes. The following fields try to capture the added value of the
cooperation in implementing the project activities leading to the achievement. Thus, the information in the following fields relates to the way the
particular achievement described under point 1, and not to the project as a whole.
a) Nature of cooperation
To a To a
Question Yes large minor No
degree degree
Does the project build on
X
Please answer each of these three an existing partnership?
questions by choosing one answer option. Has cooperation been
intensified/extended during X
the project?
Will cooperation continue
X
after the project?
b) Benefits of cooperation
What were additional effects of the cooperation for your partnership when working on the identified achievement?
Please choose the most suitable option for each effect.
To a To a
Effect Description Yes large minor No
degree degree
The project partners in neighbouring regions/countries
Awareness raising are more aware of cooperation possibilities and X
project results.
Long term networks were created within and/or outside
Extended networks the partnership, which will be used in future X
cooperation.
Confidence and trust Partner organisations trust each other and have more
X
building confidence in working together in future.
Changes in the knowledge and/or performance of
Knowledge transfer partners occurred due to the knowledge transfer within X
partnership.
Abilities, skills and behaviour of individuals were
Capacity building strengthened and institutional structures and X
processes improved.
Cooperation resulted in identification of new ideas for
Development of new ideas
future cooperation and revealed initially unforeseen X
and solutions
solutions.
The partnership agreed to work together on certain
Commitment to new /
issues and it will take action beyond the approved X
additional actions
funding period.
The achievement costs per partner were lower than if
each partner would implement it by himself, despite
the additional costs for project management. This
Cost savings X
includes also saving of any other resources which can
eventually be expressed as cost savings – i.e. time
and human resource savings as well.
Please specify:
Other: Partners have increased their own profile both within
X
Increased profile their own region and across the partner regions
where InCompass touched.
c) Territorial impact
Partner organisations
Partner regions X
Who or what area is affected by the Partner countries
achievement as described in question 1? Whole / most programme
Please choose only one option describing area
the most extensive impact. Whole / most EU area
It is not yet possible to
know
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InCompass - PR 6 Version 3 Sent date: 19/06/2015 08:09
d) Transferability of achievement
Yes X
Would it be possible to transfer the main Yes, but only to some
achievement as described in question 1 to extent
other organisations / regions / countries No, but this achievement
outside current partnership? could inspire others
Please choose only one option. Not at all, it was not
meant to
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InCompass - PR 6 Version 3 Sent date: 19/06/2015 08:09
Contact details and signature
Please provide contact details for obtaining information about the project after its official closure.
Institution: Dundee and Angus College
Address: Kingsway Campus
Postal code: DD3 8LE
Town: DUNDEE
Country: Scotland
Region: UK
Contact person: Veronica Lynch, Director External Relations
Phone: +44 1382 834847
Fax:
Email: [Link]@[Link]
Website: [Link]
Place, date: ...........................................................................
.........................................................................................
Name and title of the signatory
.........................................................................................
Signature and stamp of the Lead Partner
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The InCompass project engaged policy makers by developing action plans to mainstream lessons learned, organizing workshops, and facilitating discussions with a wider audience at events such as the Dutch Incubator Association conference . It also influenced regional strategy development by identifying and sharing best practices, ensuring they were considered in local and national policy formulations across regions like Lithuania and Medway . This facilitated ongoing engagement with key stakeholders and decision makers in the creative and cultural sectors .
The InCompass project facilitated the exchange and implementation of good practices by organizing study visits and engaging regional partners in shared learning experiences . The project identified practices with potential for transfer, such as desk charging models and detailed application processes from creative hubs in Rotterdam and Milan, and ensured these were integrated into regional institutions . The network of regional implementation partners further supported the exchange of these practices .
The InCompass project faced several challenges, including the receivership of an Italian partner, which necessitated reallocation of responsibilities and adjustments to partnership agreements . Additionally, regional partners like Medway faced challenges in managing project closures and underspend issues due to late appointments of staff . These were addressed through careful reallocation of tasks, timely communication with stakeholders, and adjustments in planning and implementation strategies .
Regional variations significantly impacted the implementation and outcomes of the InCompass project. In Hungary, the project results were disseminated through the Virtual Incubator Unit, promoting new partnerships and co-operation, but lacked a concrete action plan . Conversely, Medway's unitary authority structure and late awareness of project closure requirements affected their final reporting and financial outcomes . These variations necessitated tailored approaches for engaging stakeholders and implementing project activities effectively .
In the Medway region, the InCompass project faced financial management challenges, particularly underspending due to overestimated staff costs and late staff appointments. The project addressed these issues by adjusting financial forecasts and reallocating project responsibilities to ensure continued activities despite budget constraints . Moreover, Medway partners adjusted project timelines to meet expenditure deadlines and engage with local partners effectively to mitigate underspending impacts .
The InCompass project ensured sustainability and dissemination of its results through various institutional structures and partnerships. Dundee City Council appointed Creative Dundee to continue the regional partnership, and D&A College engaged with Creative Dundee to implement good practices identified during the project . Additionally, public engagement and dissemination took place through channels like workshops and conferences, and project findings were shared via the InCompass website .
The InCompass project contributed to the development of creative hubs by supporting the creation of physical and virtual spaces that provide business support and growth opportunities for SMEs and professional experiences for graduates . In Medway and other regions, findings from the project informed new European project ideas focusing on cross-border collaboration, linking universities and creative industries to enhance SME support systems . The project's dissemination strategies ensured these practices were adopted and mainstreamed within regional policies .
Effective communication strategies for disseminating the achievements of the InCompass project included a comprehensive use of digital platforms such as the project's website, which recorded over 25,000 visits . Additionally, cross-functional communication mechanisms, workshops, and conferences were instrumental in engaging stakeholders and ensuring widespread knowledge exchange and uptake of project results . These strategies allowed for ongoing visibility and influence of the project's outcomes beyond its formal completion .
The InCompass project highlighted the importance of proactive and experienced project coordination, as exemplified by Dundee College's leadership. Despite some partners experiencing delays with financial controls, the project managed to maintain efficient financial management through careful forecasting and reallocation of resources . The project also underscored the need for consistent communication and engagement within regions, as seen in the successful organization of study visits and meetings with stakeholders .
The InCompass project significantly influenced policy instruments in Dundee and Angus by fostering regular and deeper engagement among Regional Implementation Group partners. It ensured a continuation of partnerships beyond the project to focus on enterprise and incubation as policy tools supporting the creative and cultural industries . Additionally, the project transferred good practices, influenced Regional Outcome Agreements of the universities and colleges, and supported Dundee City Council's successful UNESCO City of Design bid .