Local Clusters Social Enterprises Incubators in the Fields of Culture/Tourism & Folk Tradition (InClust)

Greece and Albania due to the lasting recession, have to face an ever expanding crisis and a very hesitant financial environment. In these hostile conditions culture and creation could constitute a real opportunity for a new generation of art and culture producers to make their appearance in the business world.
The project, aims at the exploitation of local advantages and in promoting the exports of local cultural products, with ultimate goal the increase of national and foreign visitors to local events, and the enhancement in quality of life for the citizens. This process also creates new investment and job opportunities as a result of the economies of scale that will emerge.
The basic structures of the initiative are the cultural clusters that will add value at the economy of culture and the creative industries, and the incubators/co-working spaces that will support existing and under-development social enterprises. These entities will stand on a solid theoretical background, developed through the “research and analysis” stage. The transnational network will ensure economies of scale and the capitalization of partners’ know-how and experiences. The coexistence of clusters and incubators in the field in each region will directly increase cross border capacity to support entrepreneurship, business survival and competitiveness.
Moreover the Cross-Border approach is a necessity, since the strengthening of social cohesion and transnational cooperation ultimately supports entrepreneurship and economic development.
The project will be an innovative undertaking for the region, since no clustering or other drastic networking initiative has ever taken place in the culture, tourism and folk tradition in a region that has started to be full of artistic and cultural activities.