International Conference on “Research and entrepreneurship partnership for the growth and internationalization of SMEs in Danube Region”has been organized within EU Strategy for Danube Region, Priority Area 8 – Competitiveness, jointly coordinated by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Crafts of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of Finance and Economics of Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany. The Conference organization partners in Croatia are Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing University of Zagreb and CBBS, consulting and EU lobbying SME company from Zagreb.

The Conference in figures:

• 24 speakers from 8 EU countries

• 21 presentations, 7 presentations (European & Croatian institutions/Business associations), 6 presentations (SMEs/corporate) and 8 presentations (science /research community)

 • 294 registered participants from 17 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republik, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey). 10 EUSDR countries were present in Zagreb (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republik, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia)

 • 165 participants expressed the interest in starting EUSDR projects or/and in the search for the partners in EUSDR projects.

The objective of the Conference was to foster stronger interaction of research organisations, small and medium enterprises and regional governments towards creation of innovations as key driver for competitiveness of the Danube Region and Europe.

To achieve this, the key stakeholders (research, government and business community) from the Danube Region have been brought together to put forward concrete actions in the following topics:

 • Enabling SMEs in Danube Region easier and faster access to the latest trends, knowledge and innovation in a specific sector or industry.

 • Accessing the relevant information regarding EU programmes and EU support developed for SMEs.

 • Connecting innovation and business supporting institutions, binding them into existing education and research networks to extend the competitiveness.

The presentations are available here .