Braga coordinates EUROCITIES' Entrepreneurship and SME'S working group

After meeting in Braga in March, the EUROCITIES Economic Development Forum, a network of the most important European cities, met in Grenoble, the French metropolis of the Alps, with the central theme: "Internationalization of cities and economic attractiveness". The more than 100 participants, including municipal and political experts from 45 cities in 20 European countries, took part in working group meetings, study visits to companies and institutions, debates and conferences with heads of European organizations.

It was during this meeting that the city of Braga was elected to coordinate the working group on "Entrepreneurship and SMEs" with the sub-coordination of the city of Barcelona for the next 2 years, thus succeeding Gothenburg and Lisbon respectively. In the next 2 years, the Economic Development Forum will be led by Nantes and Helsinki which succeed Vienna and Nantes respectively.

"This is further recognition of Braga's value and commitment to EUROCITIES. It is good that our peers, from other important European cities, recognize Braga as a reference territory and where the Municipality has demonstrated its initiative and capacity. We were elected to hold the previous Forum in the spring of which we have only received praise for the content, but above all for the excellent organization and now we are entrusted with the coordination of a working group", said António Barroso, deputy mayor, who accompanied by Ana Ferreira, director of InvestBraga, represented Braga in Grenoble.

"We are sure of the work that awaits us but also convinced of our capacity of coordination, aggregation and assertiveness to raise the debate and seek the best solutions to the problems that arise but where the exchange of experiences and the definition of strategies will be the focus of our dynamics", said António Barroso.

The Economic Development Forum has 4 working groups for more specific themes: "Innovation" - coordinated by Helsinki and Espoo; "City branding and international economic relations" - coordinated by Barcelona, Genoa and Ghent; "Long term investments" - coordinated by Vienna, Warsaw and Gothenburg and "Entrepreneurship and SMEs" which will now be coordinated by Braga and Barcelona.

From the action plan presented, in the working group "Entrepreneurship and SMEs" in the next 2 years, will be analyzed, worked on, discussed and prepared documents to influence European policies to support cities on issues such as: attracting and retaining talent; social entrepreneurship; inclusive entrepreneurship; circular economy; local and regional incentives; female entrepreneurship; local and regional development networks; 5G networks; night economy; new forms of financing for SMEs and strengthening, interlinking and dissemination of SMEs in each city.

Ricardo Rio, Mayor and InvestBraga's President also expressed his satisfaction for this responsibility committed to the city, "Braga definitely affirms itself abroad with several initiatives that we have been developing and this coordination within EUROCITIES is the recognition for our active, responsible and diligent presence in this organization that brings together the most important European cities and is an important centre of influence of European policies. This is a clear demonstration that our strategy to promote this dynamic and active municipality where the entrepreneurial and business ecosystem strengthened by the knowledge produced by knowledge centres such as Universities and INL are key elements of our progress is being well developed".

EUROCITIES was founded in 1986 by six major cities: Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lyon, Milan and Rotterdam, and aims to promote the exchange of best practice and to represent the interests of large cities in the EU institutions, promoting the inclusion of urban requirements in European policies.

The network comprises six thematic forums, a range of working groups, projects, activities and events, and offers its members a platform for knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas. It also acts as a key member with the European institutions in defending the interests of major cities and shares key positions in various projects funded by the European Union for cities. EUROCITIES is also a platform that serves as a partner-sharing network for several projects funded by European funds.