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

KREO TN2

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

Contract IPS-2001-41018

Deliverable D4.1

Services for new entrepreneurs in business incubators: evidence from the KREO regions

Authors: Lucie Sanchez, Valeria Bandini - ASTER

Table of Contents

1 Executive summary 3

2 Objectives 4

3 Methodology 5

4 Business incubators: definitions 6

5 Incubators: features 7

6 Main incubators present in the KREO regions 9

7 Incubation services 23

8 Conclusion 39

9 Bibliography 40

1Executive summary

Starting a new business always represents the beginning of a difficult path influenced both by internal as well as external factors. Internal factors are mainly linked to the new business’ resources (human, capital, knowledge) whereas external factors are linked to surrounding environment (competitors, legal framework, tax policy, employment law, etc.). Support may be useful for helping improve internal resources and understand how to face external framework conditions.

There is a wide range of actors involved in the support of new businesses at international, national and, of course, local levels. Some examples are: institutions active at all levels, chambers of commerce, business associations, consultancy companies, etc. An important type of support structures are the so called “business incubators” that may play a major role on various aspects related to the new company life cycle, starting from the detection of innovative enterprises and the reinforcement of the business project, to the provision of consultancy on all business related issues in its early stages, up to the help provided to the new business for building its own tools to become independent from the business incubator direct support.

The present study aspire at becoming a working tool for different types of actors: business incubators’ operators, organisations setting up a business incubating structure or other types of service providers addressing new businesses. In particular, the focus of this tool resides in the provision of services in incubating structures.

The study is based on experiences developed in four European regions that can demonstrate an extremely supportive environment for innovative businesses, namely: Karlsruhe, Rhone-Alpes, Emilia-Romagna and Oxfordshire (the regions belonging to KREO network).

The methodology include the use of second source information (both a wide literature review and information collected in the various regions within the KREO network), the selection of case studies in the four regions according to a series of criteria, the analysis of the service provision in each structure and, using case studies from the various regions as well as examples from the scientific literature, the definition of a “service model” for incubating structures.

There are many sorts of “business incubators” and often, differences are huge from one structure to another. Differences mainly reside in their funding sources, in their sectoral focus, in the links they have with the research base and in the business development phases they intervene on.

Other differences also regards their location: an incubator located in a rural area will face different issues as compared to a urban incubator.

The present study will only concentrate in urban and peri-urban structures. In particular, 10 case studies have been selected in the four regions and analysed according to the above differentiating factors.

Incubation services are then identified, analysed and illustrated with specific examples from the KREO regions, in order to provide a complete range of possible service supply.

2Objectives

The idea behind the present study was to achieve a tool addressed to (1) business incubators operators, (2) organisations intending to set up a new business incubating structure and (3) services providers operating in the area of business start up support. Main objectives are the following:

• 
  provide a general instrument for the definition of services offer provided by a business incubator;
  
• 
  starting from enterprises needs, analyse what are the services that can be provided by a business incubator;
  
• 
  identify a complete range of services an incubator may provide, showing case studies from the four KREO regions.
  

3Methodology

The methodology used to carry out the present study has been based on the following principles:

• 
  the collection of information has been done on the basis of available documentation, both existing literature on the subject and, in particular, the KREO questionnaires regarding successful incubation initiatives developed in the various regions, as well as updated information available at web sites and promotional material
  
• 
  the study as been conceived as a practical tool and is based on concrete case studies
  
• 
  define a complete set of services that an incubator may provide, based on the experiences of the four KREO regions, with the objective of sharing the knowledge within the network and transfer it to any other possible interested organisation.
  

The study has been carried out through the following phases:

1. 
   Literature review on business incubators (benchmarking studies, impact analysis, etc.)
   
2. 
   Definition of main features in business incubating structures
   
3. 
   Identification of relevant structures in the various KREO region, according to the following selection criteria:
   

• 
  incubators financed with public funds have been selected: this ensures that the initiative has a local development purpose;
  
• 
  initiatives supporting new businesses in the early stages have been considered, with beneficiaries in any development phase, from the idea definition phase up to the first business development stage;
  
• 
  a focus has been made on initiatives supporting the starting-up of technology based firms;
  
• 
  structures with links with the research base have been privileged;
  
• 
  consolidated and/or innovative structures have been included.
  

4. 
   Identification and analysis of the specific services provided in the various cases;
   
5. 
   Definition of a business incubator services model using KREO case studies to respond to new businesses concrete needs.