EGNATIA-VAE, as a multifaceted approach to the stregthening of entrepreneurship and competitiveness in eligible regions adjacent to the Egnatia Motorway vertical road axes, involves an integrated intervention programme that not ony exploites the new emerged opportunities but also faces several recorded local problems. The specific needs and challenges to be addressed through the project's implementation concerns the increase and revitalization of business activities, specially of those in border regions relatively remoted from major urban and economic centers, the human recourses' upgrading, as a valuable mean for the enhancement of employability conditions & the sustainable economic development, and the integration of innovation in the business sector, through both networking between academic and business support institutions and the indroduction of mechanisms and tools of business management and innovation support.