ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES

WORKSHOP

ON

Business Incubators in Selected Central-Eastern European and Commonwealth of Independent States Countries

Friday, 23 June 2006

Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary)

H-1093. Budapest, Fővám tér 8. ROOM 297

On behalf of the Norwegian SINTEF erenet has been launched a Project on Benchmarking of Business Incubators in Selected Transition Economies

FOUNDATION DECLARATION

22 of April 2005 Expert meeting of Entrepreneurship was Held in Corvinus University of Budapest. The participants singned the FOUNDATION DECLARATION. The network is an open network, we are welcome anyone to member or observer status, who can fulfill the criterias.

Cooperation among SME Research and Educational Centres of Central and East European Universities Inauguration of the Research and Development Partnership Network 22 April 2005

At the UNECE Forum on Best Practice in Good Governance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) held on 1-2 April 2004 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, the Hungarian Delegation proposed the establishment of a cooperation network amongst the Colleges and Universities in Central and Eastern Europe dealing with entrepreneurship and SME research and education. On 22 April 2005, one year later, this new initiative was launched. So far, 21 institutions of higher learning have joined this research and development partnership network, encompassing the following countries: Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro and Ukraine. The UNECE and its Regional Advisory Service Programme in the field of entrepreneurship and SMEs were instrumental in the establishment of this network. Prof. Péter Szirmai, Director of the Small Business Development Centre at Budapest Corvinus University, emphasized that The signatories of the declaration on cooperation accepted that education plays a significant role in the development ot entrepreneurship and that research and education could ultimately contribute to closing the gap in entrepreneurship between countries of Central and Eastern Europe and those in Western Europe and North America. He went on to say that: Taking advantage of international experience based on research of issues, such as good governance, enterprise-friendly economic and social policies, administrative burden and the financial environment, can speed up the growth of entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe to rival that in western countries. The Research and Development Partnership (RDP) is intended to be an open-ended network, to further cooperation among the institutions in this area, to undertake specific cooperative projects, and to, broadly speaking, contribute to the common intellectual capital in this field. The Inauguration Meeting of the Research and Development Partnership took place on 22 April 2005 at Budapest Corvinus University in Hungary. In addition to the participating RDP institutions, representatives from the UNECE and the Central European Innovation Area Network project wiIl also take part.

For further information, please contact: Dr. Antal Szabó, UN retired Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship and SMEs, UNECE Consultant, Scientific Director of the ERENET, H-1118 Budapest, Pecz S.u.4.,D.ép.fszt.1, Hungary, Phone: +361 2461353 Edina Ötvös, Secretary of Erenet, H-1093 Budapest, Fővám tér 8., E/329. Tel.: +36 1 482 5116, Fax: +36 1 482 5408

Email: antal.szabo@gmail.com