Contributions from the European Union to the development of Brainport Eindhoven : A case study on the contribution of the projects from development programmes and initiatives to the development of the innovation system of Brainport.

Abstract: In the Brainport region, many different projects take place in the framework of EU co-financed programmes and initiatives. Between the different programmes and initiatives, these projects all have a different way to contribute to this development. Firstly, all projects contribute to the activities of organisations in the region. The subsidy that is linked to the projects gives the organisations in the region extra financial capacity, which allows organisations to do something extra besides their regular activities. The relations within Brainport are also very much developed with contributions of the projects of the EU programmes and initiatives. The projects in all programmes had an emphasis on connecting different organisations with each other and the development of new ecosystems. Therefore, especially the network dimension is developed thanks to the EU co-financed projects. The institutions in the region are almost undeveloped by the projects, because the projects have a duration period that is too small to contribute to this. Although some projects instigate the development of knowledge, this is to a far smaller degree than the instigation of entrepreneurial activities, because knowledge is used in the project as a means to do entrepreneurial activities.