Nine representatives of different micro-regions located in the Austrian Weinviertel area came together for a workshop on “Crowdfunding for small and medium-sized enterprises and public entities” on January 17, 2018, as part of the CrowdStream activities for defining regional crowdfunding strategies and action plans. Starting from the rather classical and already established financing models based on citizen participation, the invited stakeholders – Managers of Climate and Energy Model Regions as well as LEADER-Managers from the area – got also insight into alternative financing models, especially crowdfunding. Based on concrete examples presented by the specialised crowdfunding platform Crowd4Energy, the participants shared the experiences from their own region, highlighting the challenges encountered, but also reflecting on potential in and for the local municipalities, as well as SMEs. As a result, some regions explicitly formulated their interest in the involvement in forthcoming capacity building and pilot activities within the CrowdStream project. 

Copyright: CrowdStream / ConPlusUltra