There is a focus now on start-ups and the environment for it. A new set-up about “Start-up-Boost” has gathered 4 mln Danish krones, which will be used on supporting new and promising entrepreneurships. There is also an increasing attention put on entrepreneurship and mentors in various institutions of education.
Also, Kolding focuses on creating and extending civic entrepreneurship to stimulate growth and development. Students can choose entrepreneurship as a course at SDU (The Southern Danish University) and in many Primary Schools pupils are taught entrepreneurship. In the department for City- and Development at Kolding Municipality we are facilitating city-spaces where local businesses can demonstrate their products and services; that way we are also supporting entrepreneurship.
Business Kolding share the focus on this and they are working dedicated to support startups. Business Kolding functions as an investment agency: https://www.businesskolding.dk/
Kolding would be very interested in exploring the possibilities of cultural exchange. More specifically we would be interested in “job-swap” for example between employees from libraries or arts and music schools within the Baltic Sea cities. The employees or volunteers could gain an insight into the everyday work life of a colleague in one of the other UBC cities by taking on their responsibilities for a week. An experience that we expect would be valuable to both involved organizations – a further education of the individuals involved in the exchange, but also a learning experience for the involved institutions, bringing the UBC cities closer together.
In Kolding there is a long tradition for civic inclusion/participation in various projects and our experiences from such projects are multiple.
Kolding offers inspiration and also can share and exchange experiences about projects, e.g the ones which starting point is the design vision for Kolding Municipality.
The city would like to meet new partners and gain more inspiration for future civic inclusion/participation projects because it will be an important factor for the future development of the municipality.
As the first municipality in Denmark, Kolding used participatory budgeting as a method to increase citizens ability to receive refugees in the small communities in the area of Kolding.
The same method was used to reduce loneliness among young refugees. With money from the municipality we created a frame to help people get new ideas, that they could vote and get money for.
More information: Pia Hedetoft, international@kolding.dk