Press Release for Immediate Release – 18th May 2022

Carlow County Council becomes part of ATHENA International Project.

Carlow County Councils - Local Enterprise Office has become part of a new EU project called “Athena” which is funded under Erasmus +. The project aims to adapt and improve work methodologies and tools applied to assist and encourage women entrepreneurship, regarding learning from digital during the pandemic and develop tools for capacity development utilizing digital.

The project roadmap will be developed through close collaboration and increased flows of knowledge between project partners and the different stakeholders in each target territory and target development staff in agencies and young female entrepreneurs from 18-35 years old.

Welcoming the project , Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council Cllr Fintan Phelan said, “I welcome the approval of this project and I look forward to seeing its delivery over he next 24 months”. Commenting on the project , the Cathaoirleach stated that “learning from the pandemic is key and this project is focused on partners coming together and developing a toolkit of digital assets and methods and developing a team of people which in turn will develop new tools and ways of working based on international collaboration”.
Concluding , the Cathaoirleach said “Carlow County Council now has 3 active EU projects with 18 different partners across Europe representing a variety of organisations from local municipal authorities, third level institutions , incubators , NGO’s , Social Enterprises, and private SME’s.

Project lead for the Athena project is Melissa Doyle , Business Advisor with the Local Enterprise Office commented by saying “This project aligns to our work with female entrepreneurs, and we look forward to working with our partners on this project”. Melissa continued to say, “The main project outcome of the ATHENA project will be the development of an experimental development training programme for development staff aiming to increase their skills about new COVID19 situation and how to adapt their work to the new-reality, including digital, online and alternative methods and tools”.

Kieran Comerford , Head of Economic Development & Enterprise with the Local Enterprise Office in Carlow County Council said “We welcome our new partnership with Ayuntamiento de Xativa, Spaina and the seven project partners Sasa Inkubator, Druzba Za Podjetnisko In Poslovno Svetovanje, Doo, Slovenia,Kaunas Science and Technology Park, Lithuania,Gmina Lublin, Poland , Logopsycom Belgium, T2i - Trasferimento Tecnologico E Innovazione Scarl, Italy & Prizztech Ltd, Finland and I look forward to working with them to develop this project”. Concluding Comerford stated “EU projects provide us with an opportunity to develop our capacity as a County and develop new projects and methods by engagement with our EU partners”.

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For further information contact Melissa Doyle on 059-9129783 or e-mail enterprise@carlowcoco.ie