05 February, 2026

The Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence is pleased to announce the launch of BEACon, a new Interreg Atlantic Area initiative focused on transforming how business support is designed and delivered across the Atlantic Area.

Developed in collaboration with the Community Enterprise Association Ireland (CEAI), the Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto (UPTEC), Technopôle Brest-Iroise, and Cluster GAIA. This partnership combines deep regional knowledge (Ireland, Portugal, France, and the Basque Country), sectoral expertise, and a shared commitment to strengthening the entrepreneurial landscape across the Atlantic Area.

BEACon will develop an evidence-based, practice-ready toolkit to support business advisors in delivering more effective and impactful guidance to Business Support Organisations (BSOs) majorly focused on Blue Economy. The project aims to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem by ensuring that support services are grounded in proven methods and adapted to the specific needs of the Atlantic Area.

The quality and consistency of business support vary widely, and BEACon addresses this gap by compiling and analysing existing international evidence on what works in enterprise support and translating it into a practical toolkit tailored to regional contexts.

The BEACon Toolkit will provide:

• A scalable toolkit to optimise business training.
• Tailored programmes tailored for SMEs operating in the Atlantic Area.
• Economic impact analysis for continuous improvement.

This approach aims to create a more coherent, effective, and impactful support outlook for SMEs.

By strengthening the evidence base behind business support, BEACon creates opportunities to:

• Improve business survival and growth rates.
• Enhance innovation capacity across the Atlantic Area.
• Support more resilient regional economies.
• Enable policymakers and Business Support Organisations to make data-driven decisions.
• Foster collaboration and shared learning across partner regions.

The project's large-scale demonstration and evaluation phases will generate new insights into how evidence-based support can be implemented effectively and sustainably.

The Hincks Centre looks forward to sharing updates as BEACon advances and to contributing to a stronger, more effective business support ecosystem across the Atlantic Area.

Dune Iriarte Iriondo, 
Intern, The Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence