BSC Kranj was established as a limited liability company with the task of a regional support institution for the entrepreneurial and economic development of the Gorenjska region. The region is a mixture of highly-populated, highly-urbanised and mainly industrial areas with the sparsely-populated mountains in north west Slovenia, and comprises 17 municipalities in which 9.9 per cent of the inhabitants of Slovenia live on 10.5 per cent of Slovenia’s total surface with a population density of 92 inhabitants per square kilometre. BSC’s founders in 1995 were the Small Business Development Centre, Ljubljana; the Technology Development Fund/Slovene Development Fund, Ljubljana; the Municipalities of the Gorenjska region (Kranj, Jesenice, Škofja Loka, Tržic, Radovljica, Kranjska gora, Žirovnica, Bled, Bohinj, Naklo, Preddvor, Šencur, Jezersko, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Gorenja vas-Poljane, Žiri and Železniki); the Chambers of Craft of Jesenice, Kranj, Radovljica, Škoflja Loka and Tržic; and the Chamber of Commerce of the Gorenjska Region. BSC carries out ‘integratory’ functions between entrepreneurs, chambers, municipalities, ministries and other institutions. It is the leading regional development institution for the entrepreneurial, economic development of the region, also supporting social, environmental and cultural growth in line with the Gorenjska Regional Development Programme 2002-2006. BSC Kranj offers new entrepreneurs the best possible conditions to initiate a new venture at minimum cost and in co-operation with appropriate private and public Slovene enterprise supporting institutions in order to make companies competitive in their own markets. It is engaged in EU projects supporting regional, SME and technological development (for example, the TEMPUS PHARE programmes in 1993 and 1997). BSC Kranj is also a key actor in developing self-employment and education of young entrepreneurs and women and in the implementation of cross-border co-operation programmes such as CEDA RDA NET, a Network of Hungarian, Austrian, Italian and Slovene RDAs.