Project DIONE was financed by the EC DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity and was implemented in cooperation with Great Britain (Lead Partner), Sweden, Slovenia and Poland. The main objective of DIONE was to ensure a balanced participation of men and women in regional economic development. The project directly addressed women in need of support during the first stages of setting up and running their own companies, mainly in the field of technology or any other in the knowledge-based sector of the economy. A three-month mentoring programme run by 10 GEF mentors was offered to 16 women of whom 10 were entrepreneurs and 6 were planning to set up their own company. They represented a wide range of branches in the field of the knowledge-based economy.