1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,040 For the first time, the European Commission is awarding prizes in six categories for outstanding 2 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:21,000 activities to promote entrepreneurship at regional and local level. 3 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,500 The European Enterprise Awards will honour the irreplaceable work that local authorities 4 00:00:25,500 --> 00:00:32,500 and initiatives do to help businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. 5 00:00:55,500 --> 00:01:09,500 I came from Romania, I worked as a cleaner. In 2001 I sold an apartment in Romania. We 6 00:01:09,500 --> 00:01:16,500 decided to buy a car and start working together. 7 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:26,500 Social self-promotion means that you have to buy machinery and after a few days you get 8 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:33,500 a 50% reimbursement and a lost fund. I know there are people who help us for anything 9 00:01:33,500 --> 00:01:40,500 that we are not able to do. We were also able to buy a new computer, a new label 10 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:44,500 and we also changed the label model. Thank you very much. 11 00:01:46,500 --> 00:01:51,500 Autopromozione Sociale is the name of the City of Rome's ambitious self-help project 12 00:01:51,500 --> 00:01:57,500 that is one of the nominees for the Responsible Entrepreneurship category. The programme encourages 13 00:01:57,500 --> 00:02:02,500 and supports entrepreneurship that addresses the city's social and environmental needs. 14 00:02:03,500 --> 00:02:11,500 Another example is that of artisans who have different difficulties in the historic centre of Rome. 15 00:02:11,500 --> 00:02:16,500 One of our projects was to finance artisans' enterprises in the historic centre, 16 00:02:16,500 --> 00:02:23,500 so that they would be able to provide support to at least one or two young people from the suburbs. 17 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:30,500 With this we have financed 50 artisans' enterprises and trained more than 120 young people from the suburbs. 18 00:02:32,500 --> 00:02:38,500 While Italy has a long and diverse history of micro-business, the city of Chomotov in the Czech Republic 19 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:43,500 can look back on a hundred years dominated by heavy industry and coal mining. 20 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:48,500 With the decline in jobs in these industries, developing new sectors and kinds of entrepreneurship 21 00:02:48,500 --> 00:02:51,500 has become vitally important. 22 00:02:55,500 --> 00:03:00,500 This is why the city authority of Chomotov has worked to welcome new entrepreneurs 23 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:04,500 by simplifying administrative procedures for businesses. 24 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:08,500 They have been nominated for the Red Tape Reduction category. 25 00:03:08,500 --> 00:03:15,500 Since 2003, the city authority has centralised all departments and streamlined procedures affecting businesses. 26 00:03:15,500 --> 00:03:20,500 The result is the Enterprise Centre, a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs. 27 00:03:31,500 --> 00:03:36,500 The second direction is something that the city can subsidise, 28 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:39,500 something that is not directly subject to the law. 29 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:44,500 For example, if you used to have to pay for a ticket to another building or a bank, 30 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:49,500 now you can pay for it directly in the building or with a credit card. 31 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:54,500 You can get all the information you need from the terminal. 32 00:03:55,500 --> 00:04:00,500 You can also get the forms you need to fill out from both sides of the city. 33 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:07,500 If there is an order ready, there is a system of feedback via SMS. 34 00:04:07,500 --> 00:04:11,500 Cutting red tape is not only important in the Czech Republic, 35 00:04:11,500 --> 00:04:14,500 but is also one of the European Commission's key objectives 36 00:04:14,500 --> 00:04:18,500 in its policy to support small and medium enterprises all over Europe. 37 00:04:18,500 --> 00:04:21,500 The smaller you are, the more difficult it is. 38 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:27,500 If you are a big company, you have a legal service, you have lawyers, you have plenty of people who can do that. 39 00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:30,500 If you are a small company, you cannot. It's very expensive. 40 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:32,500 So you are wasting time. 41 00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:36,500 So what we are trying to achieve in Brussels is to reduce this red tape. 42 00:04:36,500 --> 00:04:42,500 So we have embarked into an exercise of simplification of the European legislation. 43 00:04:42,500 --> 00:04:49,500 We are embarked in an exercise of trying to cut administrative costs by 25%. 44 00:04:49,500 --> 00:04:52,500 But we are also asking Member States to do the same. 45 00:04:55,500 --> 00:04:58,500 The city of Hultsfred is a little town in the south of Sweden, 46 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:03,500 but more than 15 years ago it became the venue of the annual Hultsfred Rock Festival, 47 00:05:03,500 --> 00:05:07,500 which has made the city's name well known in Sweden and beyond. 48 00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:12,500 An initiative of local youngsters together with the Hultsfred local authority 49 00:05:12,500 --> 00:05:15,500 has used the festival as a springboard to promote creative entrepreneurship 50 00:05:15,500 --> 00:05:18,500 in the music and entertainment industry. 51 00:05:20,500 --> 00:05:29,500 The most important thing is to create an arena where young people can make their dreams happen. 52 00:05:33,500 --> 00:05:41,500 We have now almost 25 companies in the building that work with recording music, 53 00:05:41,500 --> 00:05:44,500 that work with events. 54 00:05:44,500 --> 00:05:49,500 We take old recordings and digitalize them to the computer. 55 00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:52,500 We have the Swedish Rock Archive here. 56 00:05:52,500 --> 00:05:59,500 And then we have a lot of education and research and all these things are put together. 57 00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:03,500 And that's creating the new thing. 58 00:06:05,500 --> 00:06:07,500 Thanks to the efforts of the Rock City Initiatives, 59 00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:12,500 the rural district of Hultsfred is becoming a stronghold in the Swedish music industry 60 00:06:12,500 --> 00:06:16,500 and is considered to be the right place to start a new business. 61 00:06:17,500 --> 00:06:22,500 This will be the studio room where you play and set up all the instruments. 62 00:06:22,500 --> 00:06:25,500 This will be the control room in here. 63 00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:28,500 And the entrance to the studio will be there. 64 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:34,500 There is a concerted effort at European level, but also at national and regional level, 65 00:06:34,500 --> 00:06:41,500 to make sure that these SMEs can expand, develop, make money, be successful, 66 00:06:41,500 --> 00:06:47,500 but also that young people can decide to launch themselves into business. 67 00:06:47,500 --> 00:06:53,500 Rock City, Romotop and Roam are impressive examples of initiatives supporting SMEs in Europe. 68 00:06:53,500 --> 00:07:00,500 28 countries have selected 51 nominees for the final phase of the European Enterprise Awards. 69 00:07:00,500 --> 00:07:02,500 The award has six categories. 70 00:07:02,500 --> 00:07:04,500 Entrepreneurial trailblazer, 71 00:07:04,500 --> 00:07:06,500 enterprise support, 72 00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:08,500 red tape reduction, 73 00:07:08,500 --> 00:07:10,500 investment in people, 74 00:07:10,500 --> 00:07:13,500 responsible entrepreneurship. 75 00:07:13,500 --> 00:07:19,500 Finally, the entry that is considered the most creative and inspiring entrepreneurship initiative in Europe 76 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:22,500 will be awarded the jury's grand prize. 77 00:07:22,500 --> 00:07:29,500 The award ceremony is hosted by the Committee of the Regions in Brussels on the 7th of December 2006. 78 00:07:29,500 --> 00:07:36,500 The ceremony is an occasion for formal and informal exchange of experiences between more than 50 regions. 79 00:07:36,500 --> 00:07:40,500 All the nominees have been selected for their successful and proactive approach 80 00:07:40,500 --> 00:07:43,500 in promoting businesses and entrepreneurial culture. 81 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:45,500 But who is really the best? 82 00:07:45,500 --> 00:07:47,500 Who is going to win?