“I.C.E. Incubators for Cultural Enterprises” is a project financed by the MED Programme
– a programme of European territorial cooperation for the Mediterranean, integrating
its Axis 1: “Strengthening innovation capacities”.

Cultural and creative enterprises are a very particular kind of economic organizations; they could be originated by ideas that often rise from a cultural sentiment associated to a low business content or they could offer sophisticated and innovative solutions but often they are designed only for a market niche; typically this kind of enterprises are composed by entrepreneurs and people that have a professional background very far from managerial approaches.
The Toolkit for Cultural Enterprise Incubators aims to give a contribution in terms of reflection, approach and managerial instruments.

It is concluded the directory about the cultural and artistic enterprises that are part of ICE network. This edition gathers information about these SMEs and intends to contribute to the disclosure of their activity and products.

As part of the 6th International Project Meeting, the transnational “Art and Business Forum”, convened on December 2 in Évora, joined together in a single day and in the same place, for the first time since the beginning of the project, all the ICE Net agents, including partners, experts and representatives of 24 art and cultural companies. This initiative sought to deepen and promote possibilities of cooperation, as well as present the results and expectations of the project. During the Forum, all companies had the opportunity to participate in meetings of about 15 minutes with their counterparts in other regions of Europe, with the goal to establish contacts, exchange experiences and deepen the possibilities for cooperation  proposed by ICE expert network.

In August 2011, CIMAC, ADRAL and Fundação Eugénio de Almeida signed a cooperation protocol intended to lay the groundwork for the creation of a culture focused incubator in Alentejo Central. This collaboration intends to study the feasibility of such an incubator associated with the future Centro de Arte e Cultura, whose inauguration is scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.

On last 24th of November, in Viterbo, BIC Lazio launched a call for expressions of interest aimed at collecting new business ideas in the cultural field. The final goal is to select start-ups or existing enterprises for the new BIC Lazio’s Cultural Incubator, which will open on mid-2012 and where associated entrepreneurs will receive an organic system of consultancy services.