Kyrgyzstan Creative Spark

The British Council funded Creative Spark project brought together CACSARC-kg, an NGO in Kyrgyzstan and Coventry University in the UK. In 2018 the project delivered training for 50 and then 25 young heritage entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan. The seminars focused on HIPAMS (heritage-sensitive intellectual property and marketing strategies). Two workshops were held in Kyrgyzstan in January and April 2018 with KyrgyzPatent, the local Intellectual Property Office, and the Traditional Knowledge Division of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

The final ten young entrepreneurs went on a field trip in October 2019 to conduct interviews with seventeen experienced small business owners, helping to develop case studies and a toolkit. The project has developed a database of materials, including the toolkit and case studies, for young entrepreneurs which are available in three languages, Kyrgyz, Russian and English. The young entrepreneurs use these materials to deliver training to other heritage entrepreneurs throughout Kyrgyzstan. They are used by educational establishment, Lyceum No 10 to deliver training in entrepreneurship skills to their pupils, and are available on a CC-BY basis for use by other interested parties.

This repository contains the toolkit and the case studies. These materials are available on a CC-BY basis to use and to adapt in other projects seeking to develop and implement the HIPAM strategies.