erenet
WORKSHOP ON “Business
Incubators in Selected Central-Eastern European and
WORKSHOP SUMMARY REPORT
AIM OF THE WORKSHOP
The ERENET -
Entrepreneurship Research and Education Network of Central European
Universities together with the SINTEF - The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial
Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology through ENTRANSE implement
project aiming at supporting the design and establishing business support
institutions in transition and emerging market by analyzing the best practices
in business incubation process in selected Central-Eastern European countries
(CEE) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). 13 countries participated
in the project by preparing national studies on business incubation in their
countries. The Workshop on “Benchmarking Business Incubators in Selected CEE
and CIS Countries” held on
The Workshop was organized by the financial assistance of the SINTEF
including travel and accommodation of the national experts, organizational
costs and logistics. The Canadian Business Incubator Association provided
assistance in financing the participation of the national expert from
The Workshop was aimed at:
(i) Sharing experiences in best practicing in business
incubation in CEE (
(ii) Discussing
the modalities on how to design, establish and manage business incubator in the
new EU countries in emerging and transition economies, which could operate in
sustainable manner in such a way, that those to contribute to the creation of a
sound SME-sector.
Participating countries making presentations and moderating the Workshop
27 participants from 11 countries attended
the workshop, academicians preparing the national business incubation studies,
government authorities, business incubator associations and international
organizations from
TOPICS COVERED
PROGRAMME
OPENING
· Welcoming address by Antal Nikodémus, Deputy Director of the Innovation Department, Ministry of Economy and Transport (Hungary);
· The aim of the Workshop by Due-Gundersen Gunnar, Chief of Operation ENTRANSE, SINTEF - The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology - International Operations (Norway)
· Methodology of
preparation of the Workshop by Antal Szabó, Scientific Director of the ERENET (
SURVEY PAPERS
· The experiences of the
Canadian Business Incubators based on the Model of Incubation Success by Laurence
Hewick, President, Canadian Business
Incubators, a Division of Hewick Research Inc. (
· Benchmarking of
Business Incubators based on the National Presentations by Zoltán Sipos, Doctorandus, Corvinus University of
Budapest (
DISCUSSION ON HOW TO ESTABLISH
BUSINESS INCUBATORS AND MAKE THOSE SUSTAINABLE
Moderator:
Krzysztof Zasiadly Presentation
Assistant
moderators: Due-Gundersen Gunnar and Antal Szabó
Rapporteur: Zoltán Sipos Results
Call
for Assistance and Cooperation in Establishment of Business Incubators in
Armenia
Presentation
by Tigran Sukiasyan,
Senior
Economic Assistant, OSCE Office in Yerevan Presentation
Due-Gundersen Gunnar, Chief of Operation ENTRANSE, SINTEF and
Antal Szabó, Scientific Director of the ERENET
Highlights
of the discussions
Opening
Statement by the Representative of the Hungarian Government
Survey
and National Presentations
- To
facilitate job creation & thus promote economic development
- To
reduce SB early stage failures
- To
maintain youth within communities
- To
facilitate tech transfer (link between research & commercialization)
- To
rehabilitate existing sectors (agriculture & mfg.) & promote
community re-development
- Needs
Analysis: stakeholder awareness &
support (CBI), regional profile, & PEST analysis.
- Feasibility Study: is an incubator
needed and if yes, what type & where should it be located…plus solid
market & financial base.
- Incubator Biz Plan: governance,
operations, marketing & financial strategies.
- Project Development: obtain
resources, implement and establish evaluation system
- Management
Development: ongoing management
dev/certification on international best practices.
National
Presentations were made based on the Questionnaire focusing on three main
issues:
(i)
The
development of business incubators, science and technology parks in the
country;
(ii)
Benchmarking
of business incubators; and
While
preparing national studies the experts focused on the following issues:
1. Does a business incubator need to have
a business plan prior its establishment?
2. What are the criteria of success of a
business incubation process?
3. What kind of services should a business
incubator provide?
4. How long incubation period to chose for
a tenant?
5. How many incubator place do you need
and what kind of facility?
6.
Who
are the stakeholders∕local alliances of the business incubators?
7. How to finance business incubators?
8. How to create clusters and network of
enterprises?
9. How to select the best possible
incubator manager?
10. How to select the business incubator
supervisory board?
11. How to evaluate the activities of the
business incubators, science and technoparks?
12. What are the criteria of the
sustainability of business incubators, science and technoparks?
Based
on the national studies the ERENET Secretariat prepared two background papers
All presentations made at
the Workshop are available at the ERENET web-site at http://www.erenet.org