STIMULATING AND SUPPORTING NEW BUSINESS IN IRELAND

WESTBIC participates in Preparatory Phase of new Northern Periphery Programme (NPP)

By James Donlon, April 27, 2007

The next phase of the Northern Periphery Programme will include the western counties of Ireland and all of Northern Ireland excluding Belfast. As part of the launch Seminar and Partenariat held in Derry on April 24th-26th, WESTBIC submitted a number of proposals for consideration at the event.
One of these was selected as a Lead Proposal for discussion in the area of Incubating Creative Industries. Joe Greaney, WESTBIC Director, presented the proposal to an international audience drawn from the eligible partner regions. These included delegations from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Western Scotland along with Northern Ireland and the Western counties of Ireland. There was a high level of interest in the Partenariat workshops that followed with a range of complementary initiatives already semi-developed among the potential partners.

Several Preparatory Applications are now being prepared in the various theme areas with WESTBIC assisting the development of an incubation programme for creative industries along with local partners in the Donegal and Derry area.

WESTBIC is also interested in identifying and pursuing additional initiatives that can benefit from inter-regional co-operation and exchange aimed at adding value to economic and entreprise development and innovation in the region.