On the 15th and 16th of October took place in Barcelona the fourth and last meeting of the CINet Project, which was entitled
Workshop on Creative Entrepreneurial Venturing (the Workshop's programme is available
here).
In the morning of the 15
th October, we gathered creative practitioners, researchers, entities promoting entrepreneurship, would-be entrepreneurs in the creative industry, and UOC students. First, a module of Open Seminars was given by three experts in the field,
Professor Jan Brinckmann,
Professor Philip A. Dover, and
Professor Sean D. Williams, who explored the broad areas of entrepreneurship and creative innovation.
The second part of the morning was devoted to Business Projects. A selection of the best projects prepared by participants in the CINet’s course was presented, either face-to-face or online. Key international market players offered their feedback and guidance. The winner project was
Xopvision Cloud Digital Signage, prepared by Pedro Miguel Cardante. We congratulate M. Cardante for his interesting creative initiative!.
In the afternoon CINet partners celebrated a closed panel session to internally discuss project’s development. The day concluded with an informal dinner at a typical tapas restaurant located in the city centre.
In the afternoon, CINet partners held an internal session in order to discuss the project’s development. The day concluded with an informal dinner in the city centre.
In the second day, José Porfírio (CINet’s coordinator) presented an overview of project’s objectives, activities and outputs. Immediately afterwards, a panel discussion on the project’s findings and implications was conducted.The workshop ended with an
inspirational speech on the topic "
New Challenges and Possible Directions for Entrepreneurship in Southern Europe", which was given by Professor Sean D. Williams.
Figure 1. Inspirational speech and CINet partners at the Workshop
An interview with Inma Rodríguez, Director of CINet's UOC team and Director of the Digital Business Research Group (
The Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, or UOC) is a leading pure-online university in Europe. The Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) is the UOC’s research centre. It investigates the behavioural and economic effects of the interaction of digital technologies with the individual’s and organisation’s activities. The Digital Business Research Group (DigiBiz) develops its activity at the IN3, and is accredited as a Consolidated Research Group. The DigiBiz studies the new business structures and strategies within the knowledge economy.
The UOC’s main contribution to the CINet project has been threefold. First, the team has undertaken an analysis of the creative entrepreneurial system in Spain, with particular attention to the entrepreneurial ecology of the greater Barcelona area, and has explored transferability lessons from Nottingham’s Lace Market to those areas. Our analysis is based on secondary (local and country-level) data, extant literature, and data from a survey that we conducted in 2014.
Second, the UOC’s team has collaborated with other CINet partners in the design of methodological strategies for innovative training in creative entrepreneurship. In addition, the team has prepared four video case studies on the topic – all available on
our site; and has run an innovative pilot course in creative entrepreneurship, aimed at 30 Spanish would-be entrepreneurs within the creative industry.
Third, the UOC’s team has been coordinating the dissemination of CINet’s activities and results. With this purpose in mind, UOC took care of the project’s website design and implementation, the CINet’s communities on LinkedIn and Facebook, and the project’s newsletter. The team also organised the
final CINet Workshop, in Barcelona, which gathered world-class researchers in entrepreneurship and provided opportunities to participants in the CINet pilot course to present their best business ideas to key market players. Additionally, the UOC’s team has presented CINet’s preliminary results at a scientific conference, and published a paper in an impact journal.
Who are the members of your team, and what are their roles within the project? From your viewpoint, what are the lessons already learnt from your experience within the project?The UOC’s team is made up of a multidisciplinary group of scholars, all of them members of the Digital Business Research Group.
Professor Josep Lladós performed the analysis of the national and local entrepreneurial ecosystem, and was assisted by
Professor M. Carmen Pacheco in the implementation of the survey.
Professor Eva Rimbau collaborated in the methodological design of the CINet course, prepared four video cases, and directed the teaching action in Spain.
Professor Gisela Ammetller has managed the CINet’s external communications online, and
Professor Inma Rodríguez-Ardura has coordinated and supervised the team initiatives, and organised the CINet’s Workshop in Barcelona.
Furthermore, the team received technical support from Alba Bon and Wu Kung Lin Yau, and Silvia Gironés took responsibility for the tutoring activities of the pilot.
In a recently published interview (available
here), Professor Sean D. Wiliams, a guest speaker at the last CINet workshop, comments the myth of the ‘hero entrepreneur’ and suggests activities to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Southern European countries.
The lectures given in the module of Open Seminars at the last Workshop can be watched here:
lecture of Professor Sean D. Williams;
lecture of Professor Jan Brinckmann; and
lecture of Professor Philip A. Dover.
Last but not least, CINet's team would like to thank all newsletters' readers for their support along our two-year (2013-2015) project.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016.
Inma Rodríguez Ardura, Associate Professor of Marketing at the UOC, considers that: 