START UP Clusters actively participated in National Agency for Regional Development “Support to Entrepreneurs Associations in 2010” project that has just ended.

This program of support to associations of entrepreneurs through grants was done in order to:

• strengthen capacity of entrepreneurs associations and widen the range of services they offer to their members,
• affirmation of associating and networking of entrepreneurs,
• contribute to entrepreneurs culture level increase,
• more even regional development of entrepreneurship,
• establish and develop public – private partnership.

Since the cluster members expressed the need for trainings, project proposals are based on the general education for management and other employees, through trainings providing qualifications of mutual interest for the members of associations.

National Agency for Regional Development recognized this need as a realistic one, so it approved the project proposals related to “Workshop and business mentoring for Start Up Clusters management on making of project documentation for applying with domestic and international organizations in order to strengthen cluster competitiveness and business networking.” The implementation of the project starts once the grants contracts with National Agency are signed (deadline is September 30, 2010).

This is how Start Up Clusters, as associations of entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises - pillars of economic and regional development worth investing in, are becoming recognizable not only regionally, but at the national level as well.