The Kick-off meeting of the project Traces – “TRansnational Accelerator for a Cultural and Creative EcoSystem”, co-funded for 1 Million euro by the Interreg V-A Greece-Italy Programme 2014-2020, was held on 16 and 17 May in Lecce (Campus Ecotekne).
The University of Salento – Department of Management and Economics is the lead beneficiary of this project in cooperation with two Italian partners, the Tecnopolis Science and Technology Park of Bari and the Creative Apulia Cluster Association, and two greek partners, the Hellenic Management Association and the Chamber of Achaia. Associated Partners are ENCATC – European Network on Cultural Management and Policy and the Foundation for Ethical Finance.
Traces project, financed under Priority Axis 1 – Innovation and Competitiveness, with a budget of about 1 Million euro, focuses on cultural and creative micro and small and medium enterprises (CC MSMEs) in Apulia and Western Greece regions and addresses the common challenge to promote creative entrepreneurship as a key contributor to competitiveness across all economic and social sectors.
Traces will develop a creative service exchange ICT platform, where creatives can share services between Greece and Italy. The project will implement 10 Local Atelier, 5 in Puglia and 5 in the Region of Western Greece as public spaces to reuse according to the Apulia Urban Lab Model to offer co-working and cross-fertilization services. In addition, the 1st edition of the creativity trade fair, as a biennal event, will be organized, where creatives, entrepreneurs and stakeholders will involve in a creative networking business trip across Puglia and Greece.