Project SEA Deliverables

Project Outputs

Project SEA (Smart Cross-border Entrepreneurship Accelerator) is an ambitious cross-border project pursuing tangible and sustainable results built around a comprehensive work programme.

The project will strengthen and diversify the local business support ecosystem in the CB region by establishing and piloting the SEA, on the basis of the local business community needs and the collective experience of the consortium members and experts from both countries. Here are some tangible outputs:

  • 5 experienced organisations and institutions of the BG-GR business support ecosystems, building on capacity and exchange of experience.
  • 15 experts (both in-house and external), involved in project management, coordination and implementation in GR and BG
  • 4 face-to-face coordination meetings and about 12 (twelve) online meetings of the project team
  • Production and promotion of 20 motivational videos of participants in the SEAccelerator as part of the Dissemination Strategy
  • 20 multidimensional events organised across the CB region
  • 90 representatives from stakeholders, policymakers and potential project beneficiaries from both countries participating in the SEA background research and scoping process.
  • More than 30 experts (in-house & external) involved in the preparation of training contents, methodologies and delivery packages, part of the SEAccelerator development and pilot delivery in both countries.
  • 120 participants attending the SEA pre-acceleration phase in GR and BG presenting their business ideas, building their capacity, networking and exchanging experience.
  • 30 business ideas by 60 potential entrepreneurs (teams/individuals) directly involved and receiving training, mentoring and coaching in the SEAccelerator pilot delivery in GR and BG; building capacity, improving knowledge, networking and receiving systematic and comprehensive support.
  • 20 mature business ideas (teams/individuals) exiting the SEAccelerator on the verge of setting up start-ups, opening up new jobs in the CB area.

Over and above the aforementioned specific objectives, the SEA project is expected to enable self-employment for the start-uppers themselves, and increase opportunities for new jobs as the companies grow and spin-off. The rest of the participants in the Accelerator will benefit from expert sessions and workshops, improved knowledge and capacity that will allow them to improve their current employability.

Both the SEAccelerator structure and the phase-gate model to be followed, along with the training/mentoring content, are meant to be innovative and state-of-the-art, tailored to regional specifics and involving mixed teams of participants and experts from both countries.

Expected Results

The project will improve the regional business support system and empower the untapped entrepreneurial potential of young people in the area with skills and knowledge on how to create and develop start-up companies. The results will directly bring added value to the entrepreneurship support infrastructure and service provision systems of the CB region by:

  • Enhanced entrepreneurship and business support ecosystem and infrastructure of the GR-BG CB region through the establishment of a fully-fledged SEAccelerator coming with both the tangible infrastructure and the required training content/methodology for its operation.
  • Fostered entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture, and activated hidden potential of the CB region by a series of promotional and motivational events to underpin the SEAccelerator establishment.
  • Fostered 'ownership' to the SEA by the regional stakeholders grounded on their direct involvement in the process of scoping, piloting and sustaining (both institutionally and financially) the established business support infrastructure (i.e. the SEAccelerator and the SEA Start-up Hubs and Co-working spaces). The SEAccelerator itself is the main project result, intended to be sustained beyond the project’s life and to feed the regional business support ecosystem in the long-run due to its advantages for all parties concerned.

The SEA project is expected to contribute to a: number of new enterprises as it is expected to support at least 20 potential ready-to-start businesses backed up with 20 investment-ready business ideas by entrepreneurs evolving from the training and mentoring.

Multiplication of achieved benefits and impact is expected, as the new start-ups grow and expand. Even more so with the Accelerator sustained beyond the project’s cycle, with prospective business ideas in the pipeline attracting investment and turning them into start-ups with each one of them passing the year/accelerator cycle.

Upcoming Deliverables

On this page future deliverables (surveys, strategies, studies, platforms, networks etc.), will available during the course of the project.