Restart BSR

Restart BSR helped to build the institutional potential to support companies in a difficult financial situation, as well as owners of formerly closed companies, willing to start new businesses.

Project summary

Bankruptcies can have a devastating impact on other companies in the value chain, on local communities, on public finances, and on the company owners, their families and their employees. Preventing a bankruptcy is crucial in order to help the business community, avoid job losses and improve public finances. It is also a key to promote social stability by saving local communities, families and company owners from economic, social and mental problems. Furthermore, bankruptcy has an important secondary effect on entrepreneurship as many entrepreneurs do not start a company because of their fear of the consequences of business failure.

Preventative measures

The Restart BSR project brought together innovation actors in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, offering innovation support to SMEs experiencing stagnation and heading towards bankruptcy. Apart from restarting businesses onto a new path of growth, the project kicked off policy dialogue to support innovation and growth of companies facing stagnation or financial distress in the Baltic Sea region.

Budgets

Restart BSR
in numbers

1.60

Million

Total
1.34

Million

Erdf
0.00

Million

Eni + Russia
0.00

Million

Norway

Achievements

Mapping clarifies the status

The partners from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia carried out a series of tests with 40 selected companies (10 from each country). This way the project piloted tools for design-driven innovation that the business consultants and mentors can use when supporting companies in financial difficulties and “restarters”.

Through a series of national events and interviews with national decision-makers, the project partners conducted a state-of-play analysis of the involved countries in the Baltic Sea region on the challenges and barriers facing financially distressed and restarting companies. These challenges included legal barriers, access to finance, social stigma, and others. In addition, the project reviewed and compared the local policies and legal frameworks, as well as support measures regarding non-technological innovation, crisis management, and second chances. Thus, Restart BSR
addressed the lack of an “innovation dimension” in the existing crisis management and second chance approaches. Combining design thinking with actual experiences, the project made a comprehensive publication for business supporters, mentors, and policy-makers.

Supporting toolkit is developed

As a result, the RESTART Baltic Sea Region Roadmap was prepared, providing an overview of the economic situation as well as policies and initiatives relevant to companies in financial distress in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In addition to that, the partners prepared guidelines and future recommendations for policymakers on how to build and strengthen the institutional ecosystem to support companies in financial distress.

Besides, the Latvian partners joined the Early Warning Europe network.

Outputs

RESTART Baltic Sea Region - innovation tools, roadmaps & policy manual

The publication contains analysis and recommendations, that allow the business consultants and mentors to provide adequate advice and innovation support to company owners. This will further help to restructure businesses to avoid bankruptcy and job losses, and – in the medium to long term – also enter a new path of growth and job creation. Moreover, the publication collects more specific roadmaps outlining the strategy and resources in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to help companies and restarters. Key issues addressed in the strategic roadmaps include the identification of key partners, stakeholders, and funding sources, as well as plans for relationship building, fundraising, and communications. Last but not least, the publication presents the international reference guidelines for policymakers to build and strengthen the institutional ecosystem to support companies in financial difficulties in the Baltic States and Poland.

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