Regional Development Centre of Koper (RDC) participates as a partner in the project BON COURAGE. Applicant of the project is the German craft association (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks – ZDH, Berlin) in cooperation with other 21 partners from 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Republic of Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
The project began in June and will last until the end of May 2006. Its primary purpose is to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) place themselves in the wide European market. It wishes to accomplish this mainly by encouraging entrepreneurial support organizations towards integration, planning joint strategies and exchange of experiences, which every partner gained in its own country. Basic information about the extensification process was acquired by various state and local projects and can be drawn from many sources. Now it is necessary to encourage SMEs at finding opportunities on a bigger market and it wishes to accomplish that by promoting mutual information – to begin a process of communication among entrepreneurs and support organizations.
SMEs comprehend changes, which occurred with the EU enlargement, in different countries or also regions differently; the only thing common is the fear of new, whether that is cheaper labour force or longer tradition. The change in comprehending the enlarged EU is desired to be achieved by handing positive experiences with operating on a common market and by exchanging knowledge of 14 countries, which will be gained with the project.
RDC Koper will participate in almost all stages of the project, namely its implementation, on all international meetings, at exchanging information on course of activities with the leading partner and others, at writing reports, coordination of activities in the local environment, and notifying about the project on a local and international level.
