The National centre for innovation and entrepreneurial learning (NCDIEL) as a non-governmental and not for profit civil society organisation registered in North Macedonia is leading research partner to major universities in the region, local and central governments and international donor organisations, with particular expertise in the fields: development of innovations; transfer of technologies; entrepreneurial learning, competitiveness on company, national and regional level; training and professional development of teachers, professors and administration in the area of innovativeness and entrepreneurship education.

NCDIEL was established in 2009 with financial support for the period from 2009 to 2012 from the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). The Centre is also following the recommendations from the project “South-East European Co-operation of Innovation and Finance Agencies 2009-2012” (SEE-IFA Network) and is acting as an university spin-off.

Nationally NCDIEL maintains continuous collaboration with institutions of all four spheres of the quadruple helix:
• Government: central and local Governments and Ministries (shared projects with Ministry of education and science; Ministry of economy; Ministry of labour and social policy; Municipalities of Skopje and Veles, Agency for entrepreneurship promotion, Bureau for Development of education, VET Centre, Fund for innovation and technological development, etc).
• Industry: trainings for companies; research, analysis and reports on Macedonian business sector for: World Bank, OECD, WBC-INCO, GIZ. Trainings for industrial networks, clusters and associations.
• Education: trainings for University and high-school teaching staff, development of curricula for innovation, small business and entrepreneurship, preparation of teaching materials and close collaboration with many faculties of different research topics.
• Civil society: in addition to the continuous activities in the civil society sector, NCDIEL is also supported and often collaborates with Roma youth NGO, the Roma Resource Centre, CEED, Junior Achievement, MCMS, and other important NGOs in different fields.

Also, the NCDIEL team is founder, co-founder or national partner for many national and international networks, such as: NEEN (National Entrepreneurship Educators Network), YES (Youth Entrepreneurs Support) Network and SEE CEL (South-East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning), which experience enriches their capacities and skills for networking and motivating the actors from different spheres of the society to collaborate, bridging the worlds of practice and academia in the same time.
They have experience with evaluation of entrepreneurial activities of HEI in frame of their cooperation with the European Training Foundation, and the South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning. The NCDIEL team is highly skilled in development of micro, mezzo and macro level innovation and entrepreneurship strategies and measures. They have been involved in the development of strategic documents regarding innovation on international, national and regional levels: The Western Balkans Regional R&D for Innovation Strategy, the Macedonian innovation strategy 2012-2020, Entrepreneurial learning strategy for the Republic of Macedonia 2014-2020, as well as innovation strategies on a regional level and mapping of innovation potential for development of smart specialisation for North Macedonia. Moreover, the NCDIEL team has been active also in various levels of Entrepreneurial learning development. They have developed the Macedonian National Strategy for Entrepreneurial Learning, the national curricula for the subject Business and Entrepreneurship in the first, second and third year of secondary (high-school) education and implementation of innovative and entrepreneurial spirit rising teaching units in the curricula for the subjects: biology, mathematics, chemistry, physics and arts in the last year of the elementary schools. The NCIDEL team has also published numerous books and training materials that are recommended as innovation and entrepreneurship preparation material for universities and secondary school teachers.

The NCDIEL team supported development of more than 60 start-up companies and with different projects supported increased competitiveness among more than 500 Macedonian SMEs.

NCDIEL is currently actively involved in projects within the following programmes and institutions:
– Erasmus+ projects: INTERVET WB: Internationalisation of VET systems in Western Balkans / / SEE SMART SMEs South Eastern European coalition to cultivate SMART SMEs in Europe / Knowhub Reconnecting universities and enterprises to unleash regional innovation and entrepreneurial activity / EntreCompEDU EntreComp for Teachers / CRAYON (Creativity in Action to promote Young Entrepreneurship) / “ECO-SystemApp” / Skills development and innovation support project (SDISP), “Start Up!”,
– Cross border cooperation programme: ICT-enabled start-ups iCBA, Innovation Eco-System INNOV8, Experts and Consultants for BG-MK CBC Capacity Building for Competitiveness and Innovation,
– Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA): Identifying development opportunities for structural changes and export diversification through active sectoral policies, RISE! – Roma Inclusion through Social Entrepreneurship, “Youth Entrepreneurship Support Service”, European Net-work of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs in Macedonia
– Interreg Balkan-Mediterranean: INNOVA project
– GIZ: Mapping economic, innovative and scientific potential in the Republic of North Macedonia for the smart specialisation strategy – 3S
– CEI: ICEIRD (International Conference for Entrepreneurship, Innovations and Regional Development) 2011,
– National programmes (domestic and supported by donors): Through learning about circular economy to development of a successful business concept and pitching in front of business angels, Education and Training of XXI century, Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs through strengthening the cluster association, How do I turn the idea into start-up company, Training for social entrepreneurship of vulnerable groups in the Republic of Macedonia, Trainings for presenting a business idea to investors for high school students, entrepreneurs and teachers in the City of Skopje, Strategy for development of clusters in the Republic of Macedonia with communication strategy for clusters, Organization of the 7th “Balkan and Black Sea Conference – Clusters Days 2016, “Organization of entrepreneurial learning trainings for awareness raising and capacities building”, Organizing the national “Get in the Ring” competition 2016, Measuring and evaluation of the clusters quality according to the EU standards, Training of primary school teachers for introduction of course “Innovation” in IX grade, Establishment of National Cluster Association and training centre curricula development, FINNO – Mechanism for fostering innovation in South East Europe (SEE Transnational cooperation program), Implementation of topics of “Innovation and entrepreneurship” in subjects in primary education, Implementation of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor GEM 2013 for Macedonia, Development of program for support of entrepreneurship, family and small businesses in the Municipality of Veles, Implementation of topics of “Innovation and entrepreneurship” in subjects in secondary education, Through innovative thinking to increased competitiveness: IT education for Macedonian businesses – on-line marketing, e-commerce and doing on-line businesses, Background study for implementation of Entrepreneurial Learning in primary and secondary schools, OECD supported development of “Macedonian innovation strategy 2012-2020”, etc.
– UK Embassy (Building capacity for better employability)
– Norwegian Embassy (Multi-ethnic Education Project) etc.