Kreo tn2 Karlsruhe, Rhône Alpes, Emilia-Romagna and Oxfordshire Thematic Network for the Support of Innovative Companies

6Good practices: the knowledge base of the network

According to the project methodological approach (specified in deliverable D2.1²⁰), a distinction is to be made between “innovation practice” that is “a method and the solutions, useful to innovate, adopted by promoters and organisers of initiatives finalised to support the creation of innovative companies”, and a “good innovation practice” that includes tools, organisations, services and supporting schemes to help innovating companies.

Good practices represent approaches set for responding to the weaknesses observed in local innovation systems and, in particular, in the creation of “science” and “technology” based firms. On the other side, they also represent a way for local systems of innovation to reinforce their strengths.

Several steps have been made for identifying good innovation practices in the various regions. First of all, on the basis of a series of criteria that were set, practices have been selected, a preliminary analysis has been carried out and practices have been mapped according to selected criteria. Based on the partners policy priorities and specific needs (especially those of possible future beneficiary regions that may take advantage of knowledge transfer and implementation of selected practices), a sample of practices that have been qualified as being “good innovation practices” has been deeply investigated, using the specific questionnaire established as a major tool for information collection and analysis.

6.1Criteria for the identification of good practices

Four main thematic priorities have been identified with the aim of selecting appropriate practices, (see deliverable D2.1²¹ for further details) and for each priority, specific topics have been defined:

1. 
   New approaches in the creation of innovative firms
   

(corresponding to Workpackage 3)

Research has concentrated on the identification of “research-industry technology platforms” as a tool to favour economic improvement through the development of specific technology clusters. Research on clusters shows indeed that, as a whole, they have a major impact on local economies and are fundamental in the process of discoveries and commercialisation: concentration make new ideas emerge and clusters make innovation easier to commercialise.²²

Platforms have been identified in all regions according to a series of sectors (nanotechnology and microelectronics, biotechnology and nano-biology, genomics, diagnosis and advanced mechanics).

Identified platforms show different common features:

1. 
   They gather the various actors involved in the sector (research and higher education institutions, industry – usually both large enterprises and SMEs – and, in most cases, public players).
   
2. 
   They aim at the development of co-operative activities between the various actors involved.
   
3. 
   They aim at attracting new actors (especially from industry).
   
4. 
   They favour the starting up of new businesses.
   

Other important features that have been detected in some of the platforms regard, for instance, specific services they provide: most platforms favour the emerging of joint research projects using specific operative tools they have set (thematic networks, specific working groups), even if they do not usually carry on research directly. An additional interesting feature present in some of the platforms (e.g. Minatec Idea’s Lab) is that, for favouring new ideas to emerge and technology applications to be identified, they involve potential users from a very early stage through organising “creativity sessions” and they realise “prototypes” for specific technology applications and test the latter.

1. 
   Research centres/universities spin off supporting mechanisms
   

(corresponding to Workpackage 4)

This priority regards the identification of mechanisms that enable to reduce the research-industry exchange cycle. This wide theme has enabled the identification of specific topics on which the research has concentrated:

1. 
   Business incubators i.e. organisations that “accelerate and systematise the process of creating successful enterprises by providing them with a comprehensive and integrated range of support”.²³
   

Practices identified as “business incubators” have some common characteristics linked first of all to the nature of their direct beneficiaries (they mostly focus on enterprises or business ideas with a technological content and especially those based on research outputs). They provide support to project holders (managerial support and some cases of back-up services) and most of the times they provide space and common facilities (fax, computing facilities, etc.). There are however many differences among the practices according to their focus (some of them are university business incubators), the services provided, the knowledge intensity of projects, etc.

2. 
   Research spin off & industry-science relations promotion offices/services/ programmes, i.e. practices aiming at developing relationships between the research base and industry.
   

Identified practices are of various nature: some of them are schemes targeted at developing exploitation of research outputs through collaborative research projects; some practices regard specific projects aimed at providing a basis for the exploitation of research outputs (e.g. mapping of research competencies or technology screening services); some others regard specific organisations or offices set for technology transfer activities mainly developed by research institutions.

1. 
   Real and virtual networks for supporting innovative companies
   

(corresponding to Workpackage 5)

This thematic priority mainly regards networking initiatives at local and trans-regional levels. Three main themes have been identified:

3.1 Mentoring

Mentoring networks give access to qualified individuals with the aim of providing beneficiaries (businesses and project holders) with those skills that they may be missing. Interesting experiences in this field relates to initiatives and organisation of various natures (e.g. business incubators, specific programmes, etc.).

3.2 Financing

Also in this case, identified practices are of very different nature in terms of the enterprise phase they operate at (pre-seed, seed or development), beneficiaries (either project holders or enterprises), type of finance they provide (either grants or private equity) and the type of services that offer.

Some practices are real investment networks (typically, the business angels networks), some are venture capital companies, whereas others are local schemes providing funds to project holders.

The main common feature of the practices corresponding to the criteria for selection is the technology focus, i.e. they are directed to business ideas and enterprises with a high technology content.

3.3 Networks (“real” and “virtual”) for Industry-Science relations and Start up promotion

These initiatives aim at enhancing science-industry relations. They are very different one form the other, depending on several features and in particular on the characteristics of their main beneficiaries (e.g. research or industry), the services they provide or how they are provided (e.g. on line or off line), if they have or not a sectoral focus, etc.

Typical networking services include:

• 
  organisation of events, workshops and seminars;
  
• 
  access to contacts;
  
• 
  information on specific topics linked to the goals and activities of the network (information on research results through, for example, an access to a database of publications, etc.).

  Most networks identified are sectoral focused, the aim being to favour the formation of technology clusters. The distinction between research and industry platforms and sectorial oriented networks has been established on the nature of the main services they provide: in particular, platforms provide networking services, but they also play a major role in the development of collaborative research.

  
  
  
  

1. 
   Learning programmes for entrepreneurs
   

(corresponding to Workpackage 6)

This theme has been identified as a main priority for enabling enterprises to be created starting from research outputs. Therefore, on one hand it is necessary to raise awareness among research and higher education institutions and, on the other, it is necessary to provide appropriate managing training for the new entrepreneurs.

Three main topics have been pointed out:

4.1 Business plan competitions

The aim of this type of initiatives is to enable new businesses to emerge; specific training for project holders or new enterprises taking part in the competition is often provided mainly in the business planning process.

4.2 Training and matching schemes

Here again, different types of services and practice natures have been identified i.e. practices providing training to new entrepreneurs as well as access to skilled individuals, with competencies that could be missing in the benefiting enterprises or project, that may enter the new enterprise team.

4.3 Tool kits manuals

Tool kits manuals are aimed at supporting new enterprises and project holders in various fields. They may be specific to one single enterprise function (e.g. marketing) or issue (e.g. innovation), or they may cover all functions for a specific type of company (e.g. enterprises of a certain economic sector). They may also be used for self-assessment or may have been developed for “consultancy” purposes.