Best unconventional project
Applicants in this category have all developed an exceptional project in an activity not typically associated with a chamber of commerce. The project in question demonstrated that it fulfilled specific needs and objectives of the chamber and its SME member community, in creating jobs and strengthening their local economies. Out of 15 applicants, the five chambers below have been selected by the jury to present their projects at the ICC WCF 8th World Chambers Congress in Doha, Qatar, 22-25 April.
Excellent SME - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia
The Excellent SME project is a great opportunity to further develop and strengthen the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia's partnership with other chambers and their member companies around the globe. Initially it was built to promote SMEs and strengthen their position on the international market. Following the project's success in Slovenia it is now extending to the rest of the world, bringing substantial benefits to a very broad audience of stakeholders. Website visitors get a confident mark of trustworthy websites, where they can convey their requests/purchase without fear of fraud. Certified companies get to promote their conversion rates and business in general and hence increase their income. More businesses are aware of the importance of ‘good standing’ status and consequently of the necessity to improve payment discipline. And there’s also a possible positive effect on the CCI’s income.
The most digital chamber network in the world - Finland Chamber of Commerce
This project has involved a digitalization of essential processes across the national network of 19 chambers for effectiveness, speed, collaboration and thought leadership. Digital presence conveys the image of an active, modern and communicative chamber group. Through this project transparency, openness in communication and the embracement of new technologies have been achieved. The chamber is now able to deliver better services to members at a lower cost.
The Smoffice - Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
The Smoffice was a national contest to give away the worlds smallest office to an aspiring start up company in Durham free for 60 days. The purpose of the contest was to gain national attention for Durham's hot entrepreneurial scene. The contest also included a free desk, laptop, professional services and a six-month lease on a downtown condo.
An innovative system to protect consumers from unsafe products - Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Under this system, government
bodies communicate information about unsafe products to KorEANnet (the GS1-compliant e-Catalog run by GS1 Korea) as soon as they identify a product safety issue. In turn, KorEANnet sends the information to retailers on a real time basis. With this information, the sale of these products to consumers is automatically blocked at the point-of-sale (POS) terminals. As of October, 2012, UPSS has been implemented at 37,000 stores in 32 retail distributors
nationwide. Thus, more than 17 million consumers per day enjoy a safe shopping environment.
Alliance pro skilled professionals - Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The increasing shortage of qualified professionals is becoming more acute, forcing commercial enterprises as well as whole regions to rethink HR-strategies. Meanwhile economic losses due to vacant positions run into thousands of millions. With the Alliance pro Skilled Professionals, the Chamber of Commerce Nuremberg for Central Franconia has started a network that aims, above all, to develop: „meaningful job application documents and references“ for the Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg and the over 160,000 companies domiciled there. Together with strong partners from politics and business, the Alliance pro Skilled Professionals pools resources, know-how and ideas, develops new strategies and projects to become even more interesting for employees from all over the world. The key to success will be a lived and region-wide Welcome Structure.