The functions and roles of network facilitators

A network facilitator is usually a formal network function or one of the roles of a network manager. In the framework of networks a facilitator is a person with specific competencies who is directed to develop trust to facilitate co-operation between organisations (in our case mainly SMEs) in a given regional or industrial context, despite and beyond their ongoing competition. This trust, if constituting a culture of cooperation, can also be called social capital. So, from a very general viewpoint, they may be called developers of social capital. More specifically, network facilitators are those professionals involved in supporting and valorising aggregation processes of SMEs by promoting and making easier (i.e. facilitating) networking activities and animation of local expert communities, and within this framework, activities of inter-organisational non-formal and informal learning.