|
22/06/2010
Filas at the Europe INNOVA & EPISIS Conference
The Europe INNOVA Annual Partnering Event was held in Copenhagen on June 14-16. The three-day event, held in conjunction with EPISIS INNO-Net, focuses on the theme of “services innovation as a catalyst for the Europe 2020 strategy.”
On Day 3, Mr. Andrea Romagnoli participated in the Round Table on “New forms of financing innovation in services” and delivered an interesting presentation on “New Forms of Financing Creative Industries: the example of Project ImMediaTe”.
The challenge that Filas purses through Project ImMediaTe is to find an effective intersection between two different business and financing models In order to identify the best models and assist people with the "right" ideas to raise the "right" money and people with the "right" money to invest in the "right" ideas.
FILAS has significant experience in administering the Lazio Audiovisual Fund implemented to addresses the market failure through GAP financing. The Audiovisual Fund is not a grant, but a risk-based investment that finances projects rather than equity.
While some weaknesses persist (a bias towards traditional AV rather than digital media and the fact that territorialisation makes cross-border financing impossible), over the course of three years, the fund has become the foremost regional resource in the field and represents a new model to invest venture capital money normally unavailable to the audiovisual sector.
On the basis of this experience, Filas developed Project ImMediaTe to assist people with the "right" ideas to raise the "right" money and people with the "right" money to invest in the "right" ideas.
The key twin concepts of the project are to train entrepreneurs and make investors more aware of reciprocal possibilities and opportunities through a service toolkit providing three main packages addressing investment readiness, international support and skill base broadening.
The ImMediaTe Consortium is coordinated by FILAS, the Financial Development Agency of the Lazio Region in Italy, representing the Rome cluster through its Audiovisual Fund. The consortium features 10 partners from 7 EU Member States, including 5 clusters/funds, 2 educational institutions and 3 specialised service providers.
|