WAIPA Annual Report 2011

WAIPA Report of Activities 2011-2012
well as Innova Norway. A follow-on
meeting, with the same participating
IPAs, was held on December 10-
11, 2012, in Copenhagen, hosted
by Invest in Denmark. Each
representative explained how it
is structured, while the Invest in
Denmark showcased a benchmarking
study with data collected during the
process of re-defining its operations.
Topics as the Euro crisis and
what it means for IPA work, the
applicability of a business-like/
sales like approach to IPA work,
the lead generation vs. investment
project generation, as well as
which approach should be adopted
in relation to emerging markets
as sources of FDI projects are
among the issues discussed by a
group of IPAs bearing very similar
characteristics and, therefore,
sharing many challenges. These
meetings have provided everyone
with good insights, and promoted
thoughtful sharing of experience
among peers.
5 th WAIPA Focus Meeting,
Ljubljana, Slovenia
November 14-15, 2012
This latest edition of the WAIPA
Focus Meeting of Ljubljana,
Slovenia, shifted from a focus on
the investment facilitation in 2011
- in which officers deal mostly with
investors that have already been
targeted or set forth – to an enquiry
with the IPA towards effectively
searching for leads, and promoting
(through different possible channels)
their Eastern European country’s
potential offers. The meeting was
attended by representatives of the
PAIiIZ, IPAK and Mevlana, besides
Slovenia’s former JAPTI (current
SPIRIT of Slovenia). Chris Knight
(FDI Intelligence) presented a
broad view on the project flows (and
types) to Eastern Europe, generally,
and to South-Eastern Europe in
particular. Each IPA representative
explained their recent experiences
in identifying prospective investors
and the use they make of different
channels of communication. Partial
results for the WAIPA Marketing
Survey (see WAIPA Survey Results)
conducted in October/ November
2012 were shared and discussed
with participants.