The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and USAID will together fund this three-year, $5 million program. The “Excellence in Innovation” will work to strengthen BiH companies’ ability to offer new, high value-added products and services that are in demand in domestic and global markets.
The “Excellence in Innovation” project, implemented by Education Development Center (EDC), combines strong business start-up skills with economic development expertise. The project approach begins by identifying ICTs that can quickly and significantly improve SMEs’ competitiveness. It then co-invests with local entrepreneurs to establish for-profit, third-party service providers, called e-BIZ Enterprises, which offer these “high impact” ICT services.
The EI Project will create four e-BIZ Enterprises to serve four industries in BiH:
• Machine Tools Advanced Technology Center – will offer advanced technology services that open new international markets to machine tool SMEs, attract significant new business and foreign direct investment.
• Agriculture Tracking/Tracing System – will provide agriculture producers with affordable, user-friendly cell phone–based tracking/tracing and other services that strengthen their ability to enter European and US markets.
• Wood Products Advanced Technology Center – will offer advanced technology and training services enabling wood products manufacturers to compete in new, higher value-added market niches.
• Tourism Portal – will offer online services to attract international tourism into BiH.
The EI Project in BiH is a three-year activity modelled after the highly successful e-BIZ project in Macedonia, which drew commendation from industry experts, generated over 1,200 new jobs, and directly improved the competitiveness of target SMEs in international markets.
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