Open Call for Consulting Services

TERMS OF REFERENCE:

Support to RCC Secretariat in the organisation of the regional competition event and implementation of mentorship programme for the applicants and winners of Balkathon 4.0

Title:

Technical assistance in the organisation of the fourth regional competition Balkathon, and in mentorship programme development and its implementation

RCC Department: Programme Department

Eligible: Consulting company, consortia of experts

Reporting to: RCC Secretariat

Duration: September 2023 - 15 March 2024

Application deadline: 11 August 2023

Reference Number:

043-023

I. PURPOSE

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support RCC Secretariat in providing inputs through the organisation of the regional competition event, including expert advice and support in different aspects of the competition.

In addition, the consultancy aims to provide structured mentorship support to the registered applicants during the competition, as well as to the winners of Balkathon 4.0, by delivering direct and indirect support in different stages of solution/idea development. Among other, the consultancy will support the winners to develop a concrete and time bound plan aimed at finalisation of the solution and ensure its implementation.

II. BACKGROUND

The Common Regional Market (CRM) 2021-2024 Action Plan is built on the successful initiative and achievements of the Regional Economic Area (REA). CRM puts forward a structured and ambitious agenda focusing on the four freedoms approach in the regional trade area, increasing the attractiveness of the region for foreign investors, creating new digital environment, and upgrading the industrial base and innovation.

Balkathon is a regional competition financed by the European Union and implemented by the RCC that encourages collaboration in the Western Balkans, co-creation, and real-life change, with the idea to help the region, businesses, and citizens to strengthen their resilience to global challenges. So far, three Balkathon editions have been successfully organised, and reached almost 250 applicants since the beginning of the competition, of which 15 solutions from the WB region were successfully developed and marketed.

All competitions brought together young innovative people, start-ups, digital innovation centres, science parks, universities, small and medium enterprises, etc. from the Western Balkan region in order to trigger digital innovative and practical business solutions in different areas. After the competitions, the winners were obliged to further develop their digital solutions in order to be applicable in all WB economies.

Continuing the good practice, the RCC Secretariat is planning to organise the fourth edition of the regional competition event on digital transformation - Balkathon 4.0 in October 2023, as a continuation of the support to young people, start-ups, DIH, SMEs, etc. to exchange knowledge, expand and learn new activities, as well as support the Western Balkan region through the development of new digital solutions.

III. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES Objectives and scope of the assignment

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support the RCC Secretariat in the process of organising the fourth regional competition event in the area of digital transformation -Balkathon 4.0, and to provide structured mentorship support to the registered applicants during the competition.

In addition, the consultancy aims to provide mentorship support to the winners of Balkathon 4.0 in developing their winning digital solution within the developing period of 6 months after the competition.

The event will bring together the digital community, start-ups, experts from various fields and citizens from the Western Balkan region.

Consulting company/ consortia of experts will be engaged for the purpose of this consultancy. This assignment targets all Western Balkan economies.

In general terms, this assignment includes the following:

-Support in the organisation of the competition event with the implementation of necessary actions to be undertaken for a successful organisation of the event;

-Mentorship support and guidance to the registered applicants that qualify for the second phase of the competition;

- Structured mentorship support and guidance to the winners of Balkathon 4.0 in the post-competition period of 6 months in order to make the solutions applicable throughout the region. The mentorship support needs to focus and enable the upgrading of the winning ideas/solutions through provisions of any educational support.

In more concrete terms, this assignment includes the following tasks: Tasks:

The consulting company/ consortia of experts is expected to carry out the following activities in stages:

1.Phase I - competition process

1.1.Provide expert support for reaching out to potential community partners, such as digital hubs, start-ups, communities, organisations across the WB region, etc.;

1.2.Create and manage appropriate communication platform with all channels and all necessary information that will help in conversations during the competition, under the oversight of the RCC;

1.3.Together with the RCC, analyse and review all applications received and provide expert advice in the selection processes;

2.Phase II - mentorship support at the competition

2.1.Provide mentorship support and guidance to the registered applicants that qualify for the second phase of the competition. The support should help them clarify their vision/idea, business plan and presentation for the next stage of the competition, as well as develop new skills where needed, and support them in gaining confidence in the skills they already have. The mentors have to cover all topics and come from all WB economies;

2.2.Provide expert advice and support to directing and managing the livestream of team presentations and the awards ceremony;

2.3.Provide any additional support and advice needed in preparation and organisation of the event;

3.Phase III - mentorship support for the winners

3.1.Provide structured mentorship support and guidance to the winners of Balkathon 4.0 in order to develop their digital solution and make them implementable throughout the region;

3.2.Support the winners in different aspects of their needs, in terms of IT expertise, business and financial processes, fine-tuning of the solution, etc.;

3.3.Provide tailor-made mentorship support to each winning team based on the status of development of their solution and their needs;

3.4.Engage with team leaders of winning digital solutions to define the needs of each winning team in order to better organise dedicated mentoring sessions based on the agreed work plan;

3.5.Support the winners in the preparation of the first presentation of their digital solution at the Western Balkans Digital Summit;

3.6.Provide regular progress updates to RCC through brief monthly reports with specific input on each team's advancement.

Kompletan tekst pogledajte u attachmentu!

Paket Tender

Paket Tender

Nabavka konsultantskih usluga

Preuzmi dokumente

Više o naručiocu