EU4Digital has developed a guide on building and enhancing the growth of ICT entrepreneurial ecosystems in the six Eastern partner countries. The document provides a maturity assessment of each country, as well as country-level recommendations for developing the ecosystem.
The entrepreneurial ecosystem is a union of public and private entities, within a national or international scope, that promotes the creation of new companies and ensures their success by offering them access to knowledge, capital, market and resources. Motivated to invest their profits in the same ecosystem, these companies create economic wealth and boost the development of industries, with a focus on innovations, new business models, products, and services.
The guide provides an evaluation of the performance of ICT entrepreneurial ecosystem stakeholders in the partner countries, such as educators, investors, facilitators and connectors. It also offers a benchmarking of Eastern partner countries and East-Central European countries, and provides country-level analysis and recommendations, including practical actions, approximate timing, budget and required expertise for implementation.
To cope with the funding gap, the guide provides recommendations for building the investment capacity. One of the tools to implement these recommendations will be the EaP DISC Capital regional venture funding facility, which was designed by EU4Digital ICT Innovation team experts and will potentially start operating in the coming years. The facility should offer access to capital and knowledge for technology start-ups from idea to growth stages in the six Eastern partner countries.
