On 3-4 November 2016 the kick-of-meeting took place in Radom (Poland). The coordinator of the project – the Institute for Sustainable Technologies – National Research Institute – hosted the partners in Radom.
The partners discussed the main aspects related to the commencement of the project. Moreover, they presented the research brief on business models in their countries, especially they indicated from where the knowledge on business models can be taken. The results are presented below.
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Poland – the coordinator prepared a list of publications in which it is possible to find information about business different models. Moreover, the presentation about different kinds of business models was shared to the partners. It was stated that in Poland we can learn on business models on post-graduates studies, but also on bachelor or master studies concerning economics, management, finances.
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Italy – it was stated that the knowledge on business models can be taken from the curricula on university level. There are also contamination labs where it is possible to get to know with information about business models. The partner prepared the description of the elements of business models: key activities (question to consider, typical activities, categories for key activities), key partnership (key questions, types of partners, motivations behind partnerships, key partners and value propositions). In the Marche Region the majority of the companies has a traditional business model based on small dimension and family companies. In the last years one of the main problems is to manage the generational change and to separate the ownership to the management. In the last 3 years the Government has implemented politics to support the creation of business start-ups, based on high levels of education and innovation, developing new business models. Different organisations support start-ups, offering services, tutoring and counselling (also on business models): Incubators, Accelerators, Industry Associations, Universities, business schools. In general most of the training on business model is limited to Universities as an extracurricular activity and private consulting companies. At the moment there is no chance to implement the topic of business models in formal curricula. To develop business models and foster entrepreneurship in some universities were created Contamination Lab. They offer different services (business management, copyright, patents, business strategy) and promote the sharing of experiences and ideas between university students of different sectors. In secondary schools, there are extracurricular project focused on business, student enterprises or project management. The training materials used are mainly: business canvas model, business plan, and administrative and financial tools/resources/topics.
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The Czech Republic – the partner said that probably the knowledge on business models can be taken from universities, but it will be very hard to get any information on this issue (especially on knowledge and skills), as the curricula are not commonly accessible and the staff from universities is not so willing to share the education materials with people who are out of university. The partner presented several websites at international level from which we can get knowledge on business models.
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Greece – similarly to Czech partner, in regards to Greece it was stated that business models are part of university curricula, but it is not easy to get them as you are not included into the university (e.g. a teacher, a student).
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Slovenia – information on business models can partly be found in regional business chambers, formed with intention to help and to advise local SMEs. Additionally, information can also be found at university level, which is accessible for the organisation.
