EUKN - Urban Matrix - Support to existing small and medium sized enterprises and incentives for creating new business

Support to existing small and medium sized enterprises and incentives for creating new business

Introduction

This measure was designed to fill te gap of a local productive fabric network. At the beginning of 2000 the network of small scale production system in historic area of Palermo started to suffer of a lacking of a valid economic strategy.

Problem

This measure was to support several key issues including:

The need to support actions for artisans that encourage the re-establishment and creation on new business forms to encourage the involvement of entrepreneurs and artisans in the local economy;
The need to provide incentives for starting up new professionally organized artistic/cultural events held at historic sites;
The need to revitalise the historic Tribunali-Castellammare district’s theatre, and support the theatre workshop as process for developing entrepreneurship;
The need to set up consulting and marketing systems to: increase the number and quality of horse-drawn carriages in the fleet and to add and improve touristic routes used by them in order to increase the economic impact of tourist spending

Description

This measure is aimed to create new economic realities through the transfer of technology and the promotion of public-private partnership format.

Approach

Call for tenders were issued to private entities by the local municipality of Palermo. The open procedures were set up to facilitate opportunities for SME’s, to enter the tendering process. This process was also used as an opportunity to select people, SME’s and small organization to access public incentives aimed at creating new jobs in the arts.

Results

Better overall local cultural, social and economic life.
More job opportunities in the old area of the city related to the arts.
Improved quality of life for those working in arts, music and theatre.
Improvement to the horse-drawn carriage touristic routes now used by tourists as a sustainable mean of transport in city center.
New cultural environment in city old area, due to local bands organizing summer performances, attended by both locals and tourists, supporting local small scale business run by local residents .

Beneficiaries

Local Community

Resources used

EU (URBAN) - Ministry of Infrastructure – Municipality of Palermo

EU involvement

E.U. Programme URBAN

Contact info

Municipality of Palermo – Environment Department – Special Projects Office
Palermo
Italy
www.comune.palermo.it
Ciro Spataro – Antonio Mazzon – Ignazio Messina (Employees involved in the project), tel. +39.091.7407483

Project start date

//1994

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Business support