Hub Orizont aims to become a space for the development of the entrepreneurial environment in the municipality and the region and will be inaugurated with a launch event on  March 22nd by the Municipality of Bacau. Those interested in attending the Hub Orizont launch event can register on the hub website: https://huborizont.ro/.

The Hub Orizont incubation programme will be run by the Romanian Technology Startups Association (ROTSA) and will address topics such as finding the right solutions for users' needs, customer profiling, product development, marketing and branding, finding the right partners and investors. Registration for the incubator program runs from March 7 to April 7.

The incubation programme includes five stages:

Stage 1: March 7 - April 7: Enrolment in the Incubation Programme

The following are eligible to participate in the workshops:

• Individuals / teams of individuals (two to three founders ) who want to set up and develop companies in the field of creative and cultural industries (CCI) ;
• Companies established no more than three years ago with a CAEN activity in the creative and cultural industries
• Companies are not in a state of dissolution, judicial reorganisation, liquidation, insolvency, bankruptcy or temporary suspension of activity;

Stage 2: April 7 - May 27: The organization of the workshops

During this period, entrepreneurs selected from the applications will participate in workshops to support the development of their businesses. Topics covered include: Problem Validation (finding the right solutions by deeply understanding users' needs); Customer Profile Identification (discovering users' needs for successful product development), Product-market Ffit (finding the ideal product-market fit), Pitching - how to convince investors and key partners, etc.

Stage 3: May 27-31: The selection of teams for the residency

In this phase, 20 startups will be chosen to be hosted by Hub Orizont from the Municipality's budget for one year. Will be selected teams of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs or registered companies that have participated in the first phase of the program, have validated the idea in the right market niche and have high growth
potential.

Stage 4: June 1st - November 1st: Individual mentoring sessions with the teams selected for the
residency.

Stage 5: November 2024: Demo Day - The event marks the end of the incubation programme, where the resident teams will showcase their products and progress made during the programme.

"Our vision for Hub Orizont was to become a vibrant space that would motivate as many city residents as possible to consider the career option of entrepreneurship. We thus wanted to grow this Hub, rebuilt in the former location of the Orizont Cinema, together with the parties involved in the early education and beyond. We want it to become a meeting point for entrepreneurs from Bacau and the actors who support them:
mentors, startup support organizations, business angels, universities, investors. A key role in the development of this Hub is education and we are sure that the workshops and individual sessions proposed together with ROTSA will help many entrepreneurs to develop their businesses more efficiently", said Lucian-Daniel Stanciu-Viziteu, the Mayor of Bacau.

"Throughout its many years of activity, ROSTA has developed programs for founders and people eager to try entrepreneurship primarily in larger cities across the country. Today we are happy to contribute to the birth of Hub Orizont in Bacau. It is our first project in this university city with great economic potential on the
Bucharest - Iași axis, which has also given Romania top entrepreneurs that we are proud of. It is necessary that initiatives of this kind to be supported in as many local urban centres as possible. Our vision and that of the local authorities is that Hub Orizont should become a city agora for entrepreneurs, a living, dynamic place that inspires, motivates and supports the growth of commercially successful companies not only locally, but also nationally and internationally", said Cristina Țoncu, Regional Director ROTSA.

The Hub Orizont is 680 square meters and was created by consolidating, reconfiguring and modernizing the former Orizont cinema. The project is co-financed from the European Regional Development Fund through Regio - Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020. Priority axis 2 Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, Investment priority 2.1 Promoting entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and encouraging the creation of new businesses, including through business incubators

The total value of the funding contract was RON 21.84 million of which the total public contribution was RON 9.48. The investment in the construction of Hub Orizont was RON 10.62 without VAT.

Hub Orizont Bacau was created by Bacau Municipality as a space dedicated to local entrepreneurs. It was launched by consolidating, reconfiguring and modernizing the former Orizont cinema. The overall objective of the project is to develop the entrepreneurial environment in the municipality and in the region by supporting entrepreneurial initiatives in the creative field, developing local economic competitiveness and strengthening the market position of small and medium-sized enterprises.