In 2017, 238 thousand beneficiaries took advantage from the City entrepreneurship supporting activities.

The development of the residents’ entrepreneurial activity is a very important lever for the social and economic development in the market economy, hence the support for this activity is the focus of the City’s attention.

Support for the development of entrepreneurship in Poznań in 2017 was provided by measures aimed at improving the level of entrepreneurship education in schools and universities and promoting entrepreneurship and the best enterprises from various industries. In cooperation with and at the invitation of Poznań schools, universities, career offices, offices and other institutions, workshops, information meetings, job and entrepreneurship fairs were organized, whose task was to promote entrepreneurial attitudes and increase knowledge of entrepreneurship among the inhabitants of the city and the district.

Poznań Entrepreneurship Days

An important event in the field of supporting entrepreneurship was the 7th edition of the Poznań Entrepreneurship Days, which took place in 2017 on the premises of the Poznań International Fair and in the “+jeden” Co-working Space. The event brought together experts and specialists from over 50 companies and institutions related to the subject of entrepreneurship as well as a large group of participants. In total, about 2.1 thousand people took part in several dozen different meetings, workshops, and panels, and got acquainted with the offer of companies and institutions providing services for business entities.

The following took place as part of the event:

Final Gala of the 14th edition of the competition for the title of the Poznań Entrepreneurship Leaderhttp://www.poznan.pl/mim/lidermsp/
Poznań Business Partner – an event addressed to people who run a business or think about starting their own business and are looking for practical knowledge on the possibilities of developing their own business, communicating with customers, financial management or e-business
“Startup Poznań 2017” – Poznań is one of the leading startup centres

Startup Poznań

Startup Poznań is an initiative under which the City of Poznań, in cooperation with representatives of business support institutions, investment funds, technology companies and the start-up environment, develop solutions thanks to which the start-ups established in Poznań receive support in the field of promotion and knowledge necessary for the development of business operating on the basis of new technologies. The aim of the initiative is to promote start-ups involved with the city, support their development, provide access to the necessary knowledge, activate the local community and develop an already functioning ecosystem. There are almost 250 startups operating in Poznań, in various stages of development. Poznań is currently the source of 5-10% of start-ups known and operating in Poland.

Final Gala of the 14th edition of the Poznań Entrepreneurship Leader:

The main objective of the Competition is to help outstanding enterprises belonging to the SME sector, to build a lasting position on the market by creating opportunities to present their offer to a wide range of partners and potential customers and to promote and disseminate examples of successful implementations of innovative products, services or technologies developed in Wielkopolska’s scientific centres. The Poznań Science and Technology Park of the Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation has prepared an additional award in the form of a package of professional consulting and training services, as well as substantive and infrastructural support for the winner in the Startup category.

In 2017, the Poznań Entrepreneurship Leader winners in the respective categories are as follows

Medium-sized Enterprise – Euroklimat Sp. z o.o. Sp.k.
Small Enterprise – NEPTIS S.A.
Micro-enterprise – Akademia Rozwoju Kompetencji Maciej Sasin
Startup – NOTINOTE Sp. z o.o.

A special mention in the Small Enterprise category went to ARP Ideas Sp. z o.o.

Zaułek Rzemiosła

In 2017, a programme was initiated for the promotion and support of unique crafts in Poznań, entitled “Zaułek Rzemiosła” (“Crafts Alley”). The aim of the programme is to support the process of economic, social and cultural revitalisation of selected areas of the city of Poznań, to promote and protect valued and sought-after craft specialisations and to professionally activate the unemployed with qualifications in crafts.

Participants in the programme may include active craftsmen representing unique specialities who are potentially interested in running their businesses in the areas covered by the programme and who are members of the Wielkopolska Chamber of Crafts in Poznań as well as non-associated ones. In addition, the programme is open to unemployed persons with qualifications in craft trades who wish to take up business activity under the programme and who are registered with the District Labour Office in Poznań.
The “Zaułek Rzemiosła” programme is a multi-annual programme and will be implemented in various areas of the city.
A plan of the programme’s visual promotion was also initiated through such actions as a dedicated Facebook page and a tab on the website of the Poznań City Hall.

Klub Mikro przedsiębiorców

Another initiative implemented in 2017 in the scope of supporting entrepreneurship was the activity of the Klub Mikro przedsiębiorców (“Microentrepreneurs Club”). This is an initiative of the District Labour Office in Poznań addressed to people who established their own businesses thanks to a non-refundable subsidy granted by the Poznań City Hall. The main objective of the Club’s establishment and operation is to provide ad-hoc assistance to young entrepreneurs in the form of consultations run by specialists and advisers, lectures, trainings and workshops thematically related to running a business. The idea of the Microenterpreneurs Club also includes mutual cooperation and exchange of experiences by its participants. The activities of the Club were developed on the basis of experience and the organizational base of the Poznań Centre for Entrepreneurship Support.

Information websites

The information websites for entrepreneurs attracted the interest of over 200 thousand users. Among the most visited were the Poznań Business Partner (tabs: City for Entrepreneur, Business Info, Trainings, Consultancy, Activities), as well as the websites of the Poznań Entrepreneurship Days and the Poznań Entrepreneurship Leader.

Number of beneficiaries of measures supporting entrepreneurship in 2017

Measure	Number of beneficiaries
Training and advisory services: BAAD, DLO, PCGF	12 623
Entrepreneurship promotion: participants of the Competition and Gala of the Poznań Entrepreneurship Leader, Poznań Entrepreneurship Days and Startup Poznań events at the “+jeden” Co-working Space	2 160
Subsidies for starting up business activity by the unemployed granted by the District Labour Office (DLO)	448
Tenants of the Poznań Technology and Industry Park	87
PCGF loan sureties	371
Participants of the “Zaułek Rzemiosła” Programme	5
Real estate property tax exemptions for technology parks	2
Users of the “+jeden” Co-working Space	4 113
Information websites for entrepreneurs (Poznań Business Partner, including websites: Company, Leader, Entrepreneurship Days)	212 309
Total FB pages (including: FB Poznań Business Partner and FB “+jeden” Co-working Space)	5 887
Total beneficiaries of the measures	238 005