The resolution of the Council of the Regional Government approving the Regulation on the Azores Business Incubator Network was published in the Official Journal today.
This network aims to intensify the strategies developed by the Regional Government for the promotion of entrepreneurship, business innovation, business competitiveness and the support to regional economic development.
The creation of a business incubators network is intended to be a dynamic factor in the creation of entrepreneurial ecosystems, a driving force in the generation of wealth and job creation by private entities as well as a support measure to companies in the early phase of their life-cycle, considered the most vulnerable.
The future Business Innovation Centre of the Azores (BIC Azores) will be the core of this network as well as the regional technological and scientific parks and the respective incubators. It will also comprise regional technology-based incubators as well as local incubators that are part of local development strategies.
Local incubators are intended to encourage the creation and consolidation of new local companies, thus promoting entrepreneurship as a driving force in a social and economic development that privileges the endogenous products and resources of the Azores.
In this context, BIC Azores will be the managing entity of this project at an operational level, while the Society for the Business Development of the Azores (SDEA), a body under the jurisdiction of the Vice-Presidency of the Regional Government, will be in charge of its strategic coordination and implementation.
The Business Incubator Network falls within the guidelines of the Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and include various actors who play a relevant role in the economic development of the Region, such as the Regional Government, local authorities, business associations, local development associations, the University of the Azores and educational institutions. These entities should take a concerted action in their different areas of expertise to foster entrepreneurial activity in the archipelago and maximise the social and economic results.