As part of CEEIARAGÓN's objective to participate in European projects and to obtain funding for them, two strategic lines of work have been defined

On the one hand, an internal line using the know-how of our business as a business incubator and specialised support for entrepreneurs, and on the other hand, an external line participating in more technical projects by using our facilities and our companies to carry out pilot tests in the most characteristic sectors that we have within our incubator, energy, new materials, etc... Furthermore, within this external line we want to give support in European funding to our companies through agreements with other entities specialised in this area.

Both strategic lines are defined below:

Internal line:

Exchange experiences in the management of policies to promote entrepreneurship.

How to set up and manage a business incubator.

• R&D&I start-up acceleration programmes.
• Creation of a financial ecosystem.
• Creation of business projects, not self-employment.
• Coordinating and connecting business projects with each other.
• How to network: Networking.
• Cooperation programmes and search for alliances.
• Best-practices.
• Reinventing the business model.

External line:

EUROPEAN PROJECTS (ANCES AND EBN)

ANCES

Ances is the National Association of Spanish CEEIS. CEEIARAGON is also an active member of Ances and participates in the programmes and projects organised for its members.

The following projects are currently being worked on:

• Ances Open Innovation. It is a project to open new collaborations with tractor companies that allow generating Open Innovation relationships with the startups of the CEEIs.  In this line, work has begun with Sacyr, Hiberdrola, Ferrovial and Santa Lucía.
• VIP4SME (Value Intellectual Property for SMEs). It is a project to improve intellectual property support services for small and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of enabling them to understand the value of the intellectual capital they develop and own and to define strategies and management practices that allow them to convert this capital into commercial and competitive value.  This challenge is carried out by the National Patent Offices of European countries with local partners that allow them access to small and medium-sized enterprises (where ANCES and CEEIARAGON come in).
• "European Coworkings EOI". This is an international acceleration programme.  It is a mentoring programme aimed at Spanish entrepreneurs with a clear international orientation, whose business projects are tutored by mentors from Member States of the European Union.  It includes a free 4-week stay in a European Innovation Centre.  The programme finances all training and mentoring expenses for the entrepreneurs, as well as the flight to and from the European centre and accommodation for four weeks in the city where the centre is located.  The only thing it does not cover is the entrepreneur's living expenses.

Mentoring takes place both virtually and face-to-face at a European Union centre related to entrepreneurship, innovation and business acceleration.

EUROPEAN BUSINESS NETWORK (EBN)

EBN is a network of 150 certified European Innovation Centres (EICs/BICs) and 100 other organisations that support the development and growth of entrepreneurial initiatives, start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises.  CEEIARAGON is a member of this network of Innovation Centres.

EBN launches in 2017 3 international projects that offer opportunities for researchers, start ups and small and medium enterprises to develop collaborations.

EBN is a strategic partner in 3 new H2020 projects that are aligned with the objectives of EBN and the BICS.

EBN believes that European Research and Innovation Centres will connect businesses and research organisations, which is why it is developing these three projects by strengthening collaboration between the European Union, the United States, Brazil and China.

• NearUs Project will establish a network of research and innovation centres to support innovation and research actors looking for collaboration opportunities in the United States.
• Cebrabic project with a similar objective but to access the Brazilian market.  It will create research and business opportunities for European organisations and stimulate demand for European technology-oriented services.
• Ericena project will establish a centre in China that will connect and support European researchers and entrepreneurs in the Chinese market, helping to strengthen Europe's position as a world leader in science, technology and innovation.

Other projects related to Social Innovation and early stage investment:

•  Schip Project (Social Challange Innovation Platform) aims to create a virtual ecosystem for matching social challenges with innovative solutions.  The concept is to support co-development and implementation by social innovators and small and medium-sized enterprises of sustainable and market-oriented innovations with a clear social impact.
• Project Esil Project will establish a European framework to increase the capacity of European early stage investors.  This programme aims to facilitate the potential of early-stage investment in Europe.  It will facilitate investments by business angels, overcoming obstacles related to market reach and matching key players such as entrepreneurs with business angels and crowdfunding.

Other social projects

• Fostering Inclusive Business Incubation and Acceleration in Europe.  This is a two-year project with the J.P. Morgan Foundation.  The objective is to create a benchmarking system capable of capturing the level of diversity of the intermediaries that support entrepreneurs and to respond to the results collected through the creation of tools and resources that will help incubators and accelerators to improve their methods, practices and processes to become inclusive incubators.