S&T Country Report - Albania - WBC-INCO Net

D) Business-start-up Centres/ Technology Incubators
The objective of business incubators is to foster the creation of new companies in
innovative sectors. However, in many SEE countries and FYR of Macedonia is not an
exception, incubators are still limited in number and resources, and they are more
focused on employment creation rather than on innovation. The services offered in
incubators should be extended beyond physical infrastructure towards high value
added services. As with business advisory services, examples include:
• Business planning / feasibility studies;
• Marketing;
• Access to finance;
• Quality standards; and
• Mentoring/business angels.
In moving towards a knowledge-based economy, incubators should be linked with
universities, research institutions and innovative sectors in order to become an
engine for growth and productivity (OECD 2005).
In FYR of Macedonia, several successful business incubators were established six to
ten years ago under a World Bank financed programme which targeted recently
privatized businesses with surplus premises as partners. Since that time, no new
incubators had been established or funds allocated for this purpose until the recent
establishment of the YES incubator (on a project basis, with donor support). There is
no strategy for business incubators and no funds have been allocated for them.
There is a new programme for 2007 - 2010, but it does not foresee either further
support for existing incubators or the establishment of new ones (OECD and EC
2007).
There are five Regional Enterprise Support Centres (RESCs) in the country, three
Enterprise Support Agencies (ESAs), seven business incubators (with a further one
under preparation), and the Prilep Region Enterprise Development Agency (PREDA).
The RESCs were founded in 1999 by the EU PHARE Programme. They received
financial support until the end of 2002. After 2002, these centres continued
functioning and were financed by revenue received in providing services to
enterprises, as in the past, but on a fee basis. In 2004, APERM (Agency for
Promotion of Entrepreneurship of the Republic of Macedonia) provided budget
support to these centres, in the form of support for specific project work. Presently,
these centres are part of the APERM network.
The goal of the ESAs is to support and promote entrepreneurship. These agencies
were founded by DFID (UK Government) in 1999. Like the RESCs, they became selfsustainable
in 2002, earning income from the services they provide to enterprises.
The ESAs offer a larger number of services to clients, and recently they have started
organising seminars and training on the adoption international standards. They
receive financial support from the APERM, based upon the implementation of
APERM projects.
The Prilep Region Enterprise Development Agency (PREDA) is an entrepreneurship
support agency for the region of Prilep and was founded by the Swiss government.
page 23/MKD