Ebn impact 2016

EU|BIC
2016
INCUBATING INNOVATION
IMPACT REPORT
ACCELERATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

EU|BIC 2016 IMPACT REPORT - INCUBATING INNOVATION
Facts, figures and analysis of the data from the 2014
annual survey of the EU|BIC Network.
Statistical characteristics of the survey:
Total number of potential participants: 151
Respondents: 128 (85%)
Method: on-line self-evaluation questionnaire plus
subsequent validation by the EBN Quality Team
Source: EBN Quality System (www.ebn.eu)
©EBN,Brussels-Belgium2016.Reproductionisauthorised
provided that the reference is acknowledged. www.ebn.eu
Environmental production. This publication is printed
according to high environmental standards.
Contents: EBN
Design: Altitude

1
The after-effects of the global recession have been manifold: increased unemployment,
downsizing and offshoring, decreased entrepreneurship, slow growth, ultra-cautious
investors and confused policy makers. Such a scenario, affecting European economies,
requires macroeconomic and fiscal reforms, labour market changes, drastic budget control,
but also policies which create conducive environments for job creation, innovation, and SME
development.
Political leaders and the private sector realise that entrepreneurs and innovators are the agents
which are most likely to create the jobs and stimulate the growth that the economy needs.
Boosting entrepreneurship is seen as the most promising solution to secure a better future,
especially when coupled with a ‘total innovation’, smart and open approach.
Regional policy is the EU’s main tool to deliver the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
Smart specialisation and the pooling of resources to address common challenges will pave the way for Europe’s future
prosperity. The new EU Regional Policy will help Europeans to successfully navigate the new frontiers in new technologies,
in open collaboration, in social innovation, in green- and bio-economy, in digital transformation and in international
markets. The statements behind the ‘European Innovation Council’1
initiative also clearly indicate the shift towards a
market-driven, market-creating innovation policy, following the aim to scale up disruptive innovative businesses.
The current economic climate of Europe actually offers promising opportunities to drive change; a revolution can only
be created by true innovators and entrepreneurs. The ability to respond to change, a questioning mind-set, agility, a
partnership orientation and openness to embrace non-traditional solutions and, above all, the courage to start as well as
stop will be key to this revolution. Skill acquisition and efforts aimed at the deliberate cultivation of entrepreneurial DNA
will also further this story.
EU|BICs have an essential role in delivering this revolution by operating with a quadruple objective: (i) building and
growing new business objects, new startups and spin-offs, (ii) transforming existing firms into more competitive ones
with innovation support mechanisms, (iii) concentrating and attracting talent and investors around nodes of excellence,
and (iv) creating value at the crossroads between large and small firms through open innovation schemes.
EU|BICs prioritise support for individual entrepreneurs and firms who show a clear case for innovation. The method
deployed by the EU|BICs in the accompaniment of these entrepreneurs, was built on three principles: a standard
methodological backbone, a labour-intensive and long-term partnership, and a flexible, customised approach.
This 2016 EU|BIC Impact Report captures the essence of how the EU|BICs deliver these objectives, based on qualitative
and quantitative analysis of annual performance indicators. This data confirms how the EU|BICs add real and tangible
value to the much-needed European economic recovery.
Philippe Vanrie, CEO, EBN
FOREWORD
1
https://ec.europa.eu/research/eic/

2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................................8
A PICTURE OF THE EU|BICS IN 2014.......................................................................................................................10
EU|BIC today............................................................................................................................................................10
The Ecosystem........................................................................................................................................................12
The Facilities............................................................................................................................................................14
Housing....................................................................................................................................................................15
The Core Expertise..................................................................................................................................................16
The Business Model................................................................................................................................................19
The Clients...............................................................................................................................................................21
THE EU|BIC INCUBATION SERVICE VALUE CHAIN...................................................................................................24
Lead Generation......................................................................................................................................................24
Pre-incubation........................................................................................................................................................27
Incubation...............................................................................................................................................................28
Growth Services......................................................................................................................................................29
ACCESS TO FINANCE................................................................................................................................................31
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................................34
CONTACTING THE STARTUPS..................................................................................................................................35
EU|BIC MEMBERS.....................................................................................................................................................37
CONTENTS

3
Figure 1: Nature of EU|BICs ....................................................................................................................................12
Figure 2: Strategic alliances ...................................................................................................................................13
Figure 3: Facilities ...................................................................................................................................................15
Figure 4: Entry and exit strategies .........................................................................................................................15
Figure 5: Physical incubation .................................................................................................................................15
Figure 6: Human resources.....................................................................................................................................17
Figure 7: Core expertise ..........................................................................................................................................17
Figure 8: External expertise ...................................................................................................................................18
Figure 9: External expertise - man/days ................................................................................................................18
Figure 10: Public income ........................................................................................................................................19
Figure 11: Private income ......................................................................................................................................19
Figure 12: Expenses ................................................................................................................................................19
Figure 13: Clients ....................................................................................................................................................21
Figure 14: Clients by innovation type ....................................................................................................................21
Figure 15: Patents ...................................................................................................................................................21
Figure 16: Client by age ..........................................................................................................................................22
Figure 17: Client by gender ....................................................................................................................................22
Figure 18: Number of clients supported ................................................................................................................24
Figure 19: Deal-flow for startup creation...............................................................................................................24
Figure 20: Lead-generation activities ....................................................................................................................25
Figure 21: Lead generation.....................................................................................................................................25
Figure 22: Pre-incubation services ........................................................................................................................27
Figure 23: incubation services ...............................................................................................................................29
Figure 24: Growth services .....................................................................................................................................29
Figure 25: Financial services offered/facilited ......................................................................................................31
Figure 26: Access to finance - total clients supported ..........................................................................................31
Figure 27: Clients supported - clients funded .......................................................................................................32
Figure 28: Breakdown of funding/amount ............................................................................................................32
Figure 29: Breakdown funding/client.....................................................................................................................32
TABLES OF FIGURES

4
EBN is an established not-for-profit international
association of incubators, innovation centres, clusters
and other intermediaries who help innovative startups
and SMEs develop their innovative businesses. Our 250
members are mostly public-private partnerships with a
local economic development remit, and are spread over 40
countries in and out of Europe. Of those, around 150 are
labelled quality-certified EU|BICs (Business and Innovation
Centres). These EU|BICs are exclusively awarded a quality
label by EBN that attests the excellence of their business
support services. Each year, EBN conducts a performance
survey to those 150 EU|BICs in order to track, identify and
analyse the network’s added value to the economy. This
EU|BIC 2016 Impact Report is, therefore, an analysis of the
facts and figures of that survey with the aim of showcasing
and benchmarking the impact these organisations have in
theregional,nationalandultimately,Europeanecosystem.
The data in this report relates to 2014 activities.
The year 2014 was particularly intense and challenging
for our members. Given the inherent public mission of
many EBN members, their activities suffered particular
difficultiesrelatedtopublicfunding,totheimplementation
of co-financed projects and their overall activity. Two
main external factors contributed to constraining the
activities of our members: the transition period between
framework programmes in the EU (from FP7 to H2020 and
new Structural Funds reforms), and the reduction of public
investment into numerous entrepreneurship support
structures at regional and national level.
Nevertheless, despite, or perhaps because of the
continuing uncertain economic situation, 2014 was also a
very active year for the EU|BICs. Despite the unfavourable
conditions, the EU|BICs continued to develop extensive
actionsofsupporttotheirlocalentrepreneurialecosystem,
exercising new tools, processes and methodologies of
support to savvy entrepreneurs.
The figures in this report show the Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) set for the EU|BICs were achieved through
an efficient mixed utilisation of public and private funding.
Throughout the year, close to 80,000 clients received
entrepreneurship and innovation support services, be they
potential entrepreneurs, early-stage startups, established
SMEs or at times, large companies. Over 12 months, the
EU|BICs helped create more than 4,000 new startups with
a survival rate of 87%, the highest level seen in Europe.
Altogether, the EU|BICs were responsible for fostering the
creation of over 19,500 jobs, which – given the high survival
rates – are likely to remain long-term.
Economic efficiency is definitely one of the values targeted
by the EU|BICs. Each job created by EU|BICs in 2014 costs,
on average, €9,298. The public financial contribution to
each job created was just €6,312 - an historic low for the
network – leaving little doubt about the capacity of the
EU|BICs to deliver cost-efficient and sustainable measures
to secure continuous growth and job creation.
EU|BICs have also proven to be a valuable catalyst of
innovation support from the very beginning of the business
development funnel. In total, EU|BICs organised over 2,800
events to promote entrepreneurship, with participation
of over 137,000 attendees. The EU|BICs feel these events
are very relevant at regional level, as they stimulate
people with innovative ideas to pursue the journey of
entrepreneurship they might have dismissed until then.
These events have also been the main lead generators of
the EU|BIC’s deal-flow for startup creation. From there, the
expert coaches and mentors working in the 150 EU|BICs,
have scanned and examined more than 73,000 business
ideas that eventually led to the creation of over 4,000
startups – in one year alone.
2014 was also a transformative year. Far from being a
static community, the EU|BICs recognised the need to
innovate their way of delivering entrepreneurship support
services, and they seized the opportunity to transform
them. EU|BICs do not believe in the ‘one-size-fits-all’
approach, and instead opt for increasingly more tailored
support mechanisms. This also meant that new and more
appropriate tools needed to be built and mastered by the
EU|BICs’ experts.
Over the past year, this prompted the introduction of such
new instruments such as co-working spaces, end-user
testing facilities – including living labs, rapid prototyping
centres and Fab Labs – and an overall wider cooperation
with other fundamental players in the innovation
ecosystem: technology transfer offices, research centres
and the risk capital industry.
We cannot forecast the future, but the numbers in this
report make us think of the development of a new type of
EU|BIC: more connected, more open and more resourced.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

5
However, incubation remains the backbone of the
activities practised by the EU|BICs, which despite its
traditional look, is far from being outdated. Even if more
than 80% of the EUBICs operate physical incubation
facilities (the 'hardware'), what we mean by 'incubation' is
rather the process and content of the valuable services to
the entrepreneurs (the 'software'). This report shows that
incubators managed by EU|BICs have outstanding results.
In 2014, on average, an incubator managed by an EU|BIC
provided support to 41 tenants with 12 graduations and 13
new entries – which in turn provides the vital turnover of
startups that is key to the success of these same EU|BICs.
But there is no business without money. From an
investment perspective, close to €500m was raised by the
EU|BICs for more than 7,600 clients. EU|BICs are a solid
tool to mobilise public funding such as grants, loans and
EU Structural funds, but more needs to be done in the
private sector. Although connections to private funding are
already present they remain accomplished mainly through
business angels networks.
Finally, 2014 shows as well that, albeit the excellent results,
the EU|BIC community still has margin for improvement.
This is especially true in the delivery of some aspects of the
servicevaluechain,suchasthemuch-neededstartupscale-
up phase. However, what distinguishes the EU|BICs from
any other business support organisation, from incubators
toaccelerators,fromtechnologyparkstoentrepreneurship
centres, is that they comply with the EU|BIC Quality Mark
Criteria. These criteria ensure they focus on continuous
improvement while providing the opportunity for serious
quantitative and qualitative benchmarking.
Throughout this report examples of EU|BICs and their
clients are used to illustrate the successes of the EBN
quality system and the performance of the EU|BIC network.
In conclusion, EBN-certified incubators consistently
delivered good results with high impact. They did so with
the support of EBN’s unique quality certification and
benchmarking model, and while there are still points of
improvement, EBN continues to believe in the value of
EU|BICsascatalystsofjobsandgrowththroughinnovation.
They do this notably because they demonstrate their
capacity to evolve, to change and to adapt to increasingly
complex ecosystems and demanding end-users.

6
EBN IMPACT
CLIENTS SUPPORTED
AWARENESS
2,843
EVENTS
PARTICIPANTS 137,187
DEAL FLOW
Innovative ideas
73,262
Startups
4,077
SURVIVAL
Survival rate within
the incubation period
90%90%
Survival rate after
the incubation period (3 years)
87%
Startups
8,775
SMEs
18,717
Large companies
485
EBN is a network of around
150 quality-certified EU|BICs
(business and innovation
centres) and 100 other
organisations that support
the development and growth
of innovative entrepreneurs,
startups and SMEs. EBN
is also a community of
professionals whose day-
to-day work helps these
businesses to grow in the
most effective, efficient and
sustainable way.
Seed capital
Own funds
Business angels
Venture capital
Bank loans
Public funding schemes
EU structural funds
47.40%
12.89%
6.92%
13.54%
7.61%
5.97%
5.06%
0.44% Crowd-funding
0.17% Others
JOBS CREATED
New jobs
in SMEs
9,484
Total
19,716
10,232
New jobs
in startups
+ =
COST PER JOB CREATED
€6,312
Public financial
contribution
€2,985
Private financial
contribution
1 JOB
ACCESS TO FUNDING
Funded
7,663
Supported
12,453 Client
Total funding raised
€480,000,000
Key Performance Indicators measured through the 2015 EU|BIC quality survey. Number of respondents: 128

7
EU|BICs are organisations
which give support services to
innovative small and medium
sized businesses (SMEs) and
entrepreneurs. They are
recognised through a quality
certification scheme, which
enables them to use the EU|BIC
trademark. By delivering tailored
services embedded in a wider
incubation process, EU|BICs
provide the support needed by
any venture to plan and execute
a successful commercially viable
business, which will generate
wealth and jobs, and that will
have positive impact on the local
and national economies
and on the world at large.
572
Potential
entrepreneurs 32
Startups
DEAL FLOW
Financial simulation
Project development
Internationalization
Access to funding
Business planning
Coaching and mentoring
Training
Business modelling Housing
Marketing
Innovation assessment
Strategic partnering
Feasibility studies
Risk analysis
Innovation diagnosticsSkills assessment
B2B
Legal support
Clustering
Business idea acceleration program
Product/Service assessment
Startup acceleration program
Accounting
Technology Searches
Business intelligence
B2C support
Open Innovation
HOUSING
HOUSING
194Employment
by tenants41Companies
hosted
in incubators13New
tenants
12Graduations
SERVICES DELIVERED
Incubators
Internationalisation
platforms
Fundraising
platformsTechnology and
testing centres
Technology
transfer office
Rapid prototyping
centres
End user
testing facilities
FACILITIES
Coworking
spaces
CLIENTS SUPPORTED
Startups
146
SMEs
69
Large companies
4
STAFF
Training entrepreneurs
General management
Communication, events and animation
Incubator management
Project management
Administration
Entrepreneurship support
3,98
3.10
2.65
2.46
1.83
1.53
1.15
BUDGET
32%
Public income
68%
Private income
€1,498,000
Key Performance Indicators measured through the 2015 EU|BIC quality survey. Number of respondents: 128
THE TYPICAL EU|BIC

8
EBN is an established not-for-profit international
association of incubators, innovation centres, clusters,
accelerators, entrepreneurship centres and other
intermediaries who help innovative startups and SMEs
develop their innovative businesses. Our 250 members are
mostly public-private partnerships with a local economic
developmentremit,andarespreadover40countriesinand
out of Europe. Of those, around 150 are labelled quality-
certified EU|BICs (Business and Innovation Centres).
These EU|BICs are exclusively awarded a quality label by
EBN that attests the excellence of their business support
services. Each year, EBN conducts a performance survey to
those 150 EU|BICs in order to track, identify and analyse
the network’s added value to the economy. This EU|BIC
2016 Impact Report is, therefore, an analysis of the facts
and figures of that survey with the aim of showcasing and
benchmarking the impact these organisations have in the
regional, national and ultimately, European ecosystem.
The data in this report, relating to 2014 activities, was
gathered from on-line self-assessment, on-site audits and
quality control by EBN.
The year 2014 was particularly intense and challenging for
our members. Given the inherent public mission of many
EBN members, their activities were exposed to particular
difficultiesrelatedtopublicfunding,totheimplementation
of co-financed projects and their overall activity. Two
main external factors contributed to constraining the
activities of our members: the transition period between
framework programmes in the EU (from FP7 to H2020 and
new Structural Funds reforms), and the reduction of public
investment into numerous entrepreneurship support
structures at regional and national level.
Nevertheless, despite, or perhaps because of the
continuing uncertain economic situation, 2014 was also a
very active year for the EU|BICs. Under these unfavourable
conditions, the EU|BICs continued to develop extensive
actionsofsupporttotheirlocalentrepreneurialecosystem,
exercising new tools, processes and methodologies of
support to savvy entrepreneurs.
THE INNOVATORS
More than anything else, the story of the EU|BICs is
the story of entrepreneurs who managed to create
successful companies from very innovative ideas, and
have contributed significantly and realistically to the
economic growth of their territories. These entrepreneurs
are not alone. They are part of a much wider community,
which every year engages with the EU|BICs to get help in
transforming their dreams and concrete realities.
Miha Berus is a passionate wine producer, and has
always lived on a farm. Miha Jelenc is an experienced
software developer. This dynamic Slovenian duo teamed
up to create ‘Vitis Tech’ whose goal is that of generating
a system to support wine producers and the wine-making
process by providing real-time information on the various
production phases. They are now supported by EU|BIC
Inkubator Sežana (Slovenia).
Stanislav Němeček and Tomáš Mužík are two Czech
researchers who have developed an innovative way to
speeduplaserprocessingmethodologies.Theyhavesetup
‘Matex’ a company with the unique offering of commercial
laser processing of materials: welding, hardening and
custom cladding. EU|BIC Plzen (Czech Republic) helped
them develop this venture.
Dr Nick Miller Jones is the former leader of the life science
divisions of a UK leading technology consultancy. He has
developed a non-invasive medical test to detect bladder
and prostate cancer biomarkers. He was driven by the wish
to provide more efficient non-invasive medical diagnosis
solutions to ease the life of patients and doctors. He has
now launched his company ‘Arquer Diagnostics’ and is
supported in his venture by NE-BIC, the EU|BIC operating
in Sunderland, UK.
Meet Ahmad Fayek and Ibrahim Almasry. The two
Egyptian entrepreneurs have a very strong ambition:
that of solving the problems derived by energy shortages
in the Middle Eastern countries. Their objective was to
invent a green energy device that could resist very harsh
environmental conditions. Turning to the Technology,
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) in Egypt, they
were able to create ‘Green Light’.
Saverio Pagano, Simone Peirani and Maurizio Valle are
three Italian entrepreneurs who founded ‘Smart Track’.
They were determined to find reliable solutions for indoor
GPS tracking to facilitate the job of rescuers in emergency
situations. After winning a business competition they were
hosted by the Incubator BIC Liguria (Italy).
Natércia and Fernando Barbeiro are a married
Portuguese couple who both have business management
experience. They created ‘Softvoice’, a software company
INTRODUCTION

9
providing automatic identification and data capturing
solutions for any kind of point of sales. They were driven
by the objective to increase productivity and return on
investments. Experiencing startup difficulties, they turned
to DNA Cascais, the EU|BIC working in Cascais (Portugal),
for support.
‘Reputation VIP’ was set up by Bertrand Grin and Nicolas
N’Guyen in Lyon, France. The team developed a solution
to control, monitor and protect the online reputation of
human beings. The EU|BIC Novacité (France) has been one
of the main elements of their success.
Meet Dr Sinead Bleiel a former researcher from the
University College Cork, Ireland. She found a way to
provide new encapsulation means for substances relative
to animal health, nutrition and therapeutic drugs sector.
She found a gap in the current market and now manages
Anabio Ltd, with the support of Cork BIC (Ireland).
Dr Panayiotis Philimis is a mechanical engineer, who
invented a disruptive portable device that can be deployed
in less than 10 minutes to allow either manual or powered
wheelchairs to ascend/descend any number of staircases
in buildings and urban infrastructure that are currently
inaccessible. He founded ‘Rampco’ to commercialise the
product and received support from EU|BIC Cyric (Cyprus).
These entrepreneurs have different life stories, different
profiles, work in different sectors and have very different
needs. Nonetheless, they also have several things in
common: they are all entrepreneurial risk-takers and are
often ahead of their times. In this report, we will showcase
their specific stories, challenges and solutions.
There is one more fundamental common factor that brings
these entrepreneurs together, they all turned to an EU|BIC
to find adequate support. An EU|BIC is:
• a place where the innovative entrepreneurial
community finds competent entrepreneurship
support
• aplacewherestartupscanthrive,SMEscanstrengthen
and large companies can innovate
• a place where serious people, coaches and mentors
deliver support services
• the central point around which a regional innovation
strategy materialises
• a certified business support organisation with a
‘continuous improvement’ mind-set
• part of the EBN community, a wide, dynamic and
diverse community spread around Europe and
beyond
By reading this report you will be introduced to EBN and
the community of EU|BICs. You will understand who they
are, what they do, what results they achieve and how they
do so.

10
BIC Plzen, DNA Cascais, BIC Liguria, North-East BIC, Cyric,
Cork BIC, TIEC, BIC Inkubator Sežana, Novacité, are full
members of EBN, part of the 150 EU|BICs. Innovation
and entrepreneurship stories, such as those previously
presented, can therefore be found in 150 locations spread
around the globe and dynamically networked by EBN.
France, Spain, Italy and the UK are the countries with the
highest number of EU|BICs. However, EU|BICs are a strong
component of the local innovation support ecosystems
also in other smaller European countries such as Ireland,
Portugal, Belgium and the Czech Republic. A growing
number of EU|BICs have also been established in non-
EU countries, showing how the certification process is
more and more viewed as an international best practice.
Organisations have also been certified as EU|BICs in Brazil,
Taiwan, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Russia, etc. Additionally,
interest has been expressed in many other regions that will
hopefully join the community soon.
EU|BICS TODAY
By facilitating the startup and growth of innovative
ventures, Business and Innovation Centres (EU|BICs)
are increasingly becoming central components of local
innovation ecosystems. By delivering tailored services
embedded in a wider incubation process, EU|BICs provide
the support needed by any venture to plan and execute
a successful commercially viable business, which in turn,
will generate wealth and jobs, and have a positive impact
on the local and national economies and, hopefully, on the
world at large.
EU|BICs transform research, ideas and dreams into solid
business realities. By supporting private entrepreneurs
to develop their ideas, they follow a mission of public
interest, which is very much tied to any local economic
development objective of any province, region, country
or public administration. But they also sit in the middle of
private sector and industry. As such, an EU|BIC is often the
expression of a true public-private-partnership.
Supporting entrepreneurship in general is not an easy
task. Much attention needs to be dedicated to each
entrepreneurial project, in order to try and understand the
aspects of a future venture. The focus is on assembling its
multifaceted components into a winning cocktail, which
can be served, on local and global markets. Moreover,
when innovation is involved, the whole picture becomes
blurrier as uncertainty of products and markets reach
higher thresholds.
The services provided cover areas such as: business
ideas/projects assessment, business planning guidance,
economic and technological intelligence, business
modelling and financial simulation, ad-hoc training,
seed and early-stage financing, personalised coaching,
physical incubation infrastructure, international business
development support, constitution and animation
of clusters and communities of innovative firms, and
collaborative projects development.
All the entrepreneurs featured in this publication
provide good examples of how serious and committed
entrepreneurship support can bring important growth
components to an idea or a newly established company.
A PICTURE OF THE EU|BICS IN 2014

11
EU|BICs therefore have a delicate job that needs to be
taken seriously, as they are working with dreams and
expectations of real people and they have to do it facing
uncertain conditions. A mistake or a misjudgement could
easily become a missed growth opportunity for the local
economyandrepresentaswellasharpturninthedirection
of someone’s life. It is a serious business, one that has to
be implemented scrupulously and with total commitment.
Many EU| BICs were established in the 80s under the
auspices of governmental programmes that saw in them
an opportunity to face the heavy de-industrialisation
processes that were hitting western economies hard.
After more than 30 years of experience, many lessons
have been learned. We are able to pinpoint some of the
‘Dos’ and some of the ‘Don’ts’ that should be followed by
any institution (public or private) that wishes to venture
in the industry by creating an incubation programme, an
incubator or an EU|BIC. The EU|BIC experience in Europe,
as represented by EBN, the European BIC Network, has
made it possible to frame the innovation-based incubation
service value chain. EBN has identified the services that
need to be delivered to startups and existing companies to
support their entrepreneurial adventure at any one stage
of the companies’ development phase.
A typical incubation service value chain can be described
as “stimulate, detect, seed, breed and develop”, which calls
for specific services to be delivered to entrepreneurs at the
proper time and place. From an operational perspective,
this translates into the following specific segments of the
overall value chain:
Let’s focus on one of them: Vitis Tech. Miha Berus is
an electrical engineer, who grew up on a farm and is
a passionate wine lover with a small vineyard of his
own. He has always been strongly connected to the
agriculture business and through time, he started to think
how convenient it would be to be able to control the
fermentation process. This inspired him to connect his
engineering skills with agriculture experience and develop
ITandIoTsolutionsforwinegrowersandwinemakers.Miha
Jelenc is an experienced software developer who worked
on different successful projects that were not connected
with agriculture. He’s also co-founder of some successful
startups that gave him much experience in the field of
databases, SCADA systems, mobile applications. Their
early stage idea was followed by market research, which
did not give good results. This stimulated Miha Berus even
further in pursuing a unique solution. In 2014 the two
entrepreneurs teamed up to create Vitis Tech after the
Latin term for wine grape ‘Vitis’. The company is located
in Sežana, which gives the company a good starting point
for cooperation with the winemakers and winemaking
equipment manufacturers in Italy and Slovenia. When
their short term business plan was finished they decided
to join the BIC of Sežana which helped them set up their
company and offered them free space in a co-working for
3 months.
CEO of Incubator Sežana, Denis Cermelj,
when talking about Vitis Tech says : “once
in the incubator, the company applied to
the national Startup competition of the
year, which encourages the development
of innovative companies. The selected
companies are financially supported in the
product development phase. Inkubator
Sežana helped Vitis Tech improve
their business model and prepare the
application for the competition. Vitis Tech
succeeded and received support from the
Slovene Enterprise Fund”.
“We are very satisfied with our timeline
until now, Inkubator Sežana’s support
and Startup competition have enabled
us to develop our product very fast. Our
collaboration with industry, experts and
institutes makes us optimistic about the
future. However, we wish to find some
new connections and collaboration
abroad. That should help us in finding the
right product/market fit for global sales”
declares CEO of Vitis Tech, Miha Berus.

12
EU|BICs are recognised through a quality certification
scheme, which enables them to obtain the EU|BIC
Trademark (the only EU recognised label qualifying
innovation-based incubators at European level and
beyond) that certifies the compliance to the EU|BIC
Quality Mark Criteria. These criteria are divided in five
mains pillars: Mission, Organisation, Services to Innovative
Individual Entrepreneurs / Startup Enterprises and SMEs,
Activity Measurement and Quality. They are applied
through a globally strict approach to ensure that the
quality standards are being met, but also through an open
and flexible attitude, due to the many different ways in
which the criteria can be met. Given such flexibility, the
exact definition of an EU|BIC ultimately depends on the
characteristics, needs and demands of the territory it
intends to serve, as EU|BICs must respond to these and
tailor their services accordingly.
THE ECOSYSTEM
The ecosystem concept has never been so crucial
as it illustrates perfectly the complexity of players,
infrastructures, roles, interactions, interferences and
synergies which can be observed in a living territory which
is trying to recover economically and technologically.
The entrepreneurs’ support ecosystem is booming and
numbers of new players, initiatives and programmes are
enteringthisseriousgameandinteractingwithestablished
players,suchas:co-workingplaces,startupscentres,digital
accelerators, mobile apps camps, boot camps, startup
week-ends, hackathons, crowdfunding platforms, young
entrepreneurs’ networks, Fab-Labs, social innovation labs,
women entrepreneurs’ communities, clusters, etc. At the
heart of this transformation are leading communities of
professional enablers such as the EU|BICs, organised and
networked by EBN.
The diversity of EU|BICs can be understood when assessing
the typology of the accredited organisation (Fig 1).
Figure 1: Nature of EU|BICs
Entrepreneurship/Business Centre
Regional/Local Development Agency
Science/Technology Park
Regional/Local Innovation Agency
Local authority
University
Technology Centre
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Research organisation
Cluster
25%
19%
14%
11%
8%
8%
5%
5%
3%
1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Lead generation Incubation
Pre-in cubation
S c a l e - u p
Attracting
innovative ideas to
your EU|BIC
Finding
a scalable
and replicable
business model
Setting up
and supporting
the startup
Supporting
the expansion
phase of scalable
businesses
NATURE OF EU|BICS

13
Many are the different types of organisations that can act
as an EU|BIC, as long as they deliver the innovation-based
incubation service value chain. This can be done within its
totality (as most of the entrepreneurship centres) or as a
part of a wider organisation (as for example the case of a
regional development agency, which dedicates a unit to
manage and deliver the EU|BIC functions).
Probably, the most distinctive efficiency factor of an EU|BIC
is that it understands that it cannot work as a stand-alone
one-stop-shop. EU|BICs are definitely embedded in their
local ecosystem, and are a fundamental part of it, but
by far, not the only fundamental component. EU|BICs
would have a difficult life if they do not acknowledge
the catalyst effects of working locally (and globally)
with others. A simple look at the strategic alliances of an
EU|BIC (Fig. 2: EU|BICs’ Strategic Alliances), will facilitate
the comprehension of the dynamic and complicated field
where EU|BICs generally operate.
Where universities and R&D institutions are a strategic
partner (92%) for developing research spin-offs, or for
leveraging on the student pool for attracting young
innovators, Regional Development Agencies are there
(83%) to make sure that activities are actually aligned with
local priorities. Where the finance community is present
to ensure investment opportunities to startups and SMEs,
connection with large companies (50%), are there to
provide opportunities for corporate venturing and open
innovation.
The connection that EU|BICs are able to make between
universities and research centres is one example of the
dynamic leverage effects that sound cooperation can
bring. The combination of research (developing new
products) and entrepreneurship support is a common
practice adopted by several EU|BICs.
Figure 2: EU|BICs’ strategic alliances
Regional/Local Development Agencies
Chamber of Commerce
Science/Technology Parks
Banks
R&D institutions
Seed funds
Business School
Technology Centre
Ventue Capital funds
Large Companies
Tech Transfer Office
Business Support Organisations
Accelerators
International Organisations
BAN networks
Export agency
International Corporations
Crowdfunding Schemes
Rapid Prototyping Centre
Science/Technology Parks
Rapid Prototyping Centre
NGOs
13%
23%
24%
26%
32%
42%
33%
38%
41%
48%
50%
51%
52%
55%
65%
65%
68%
11%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
83%
79%
60%
49%
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

14
THE FACILITIES
EU|BICs are organisations that behave as multi-purpose
platforms, sometimes integrating additional functions
such as acceleration programmes, seed and/or angels
financing instruments, one or several clusters for which
they provide animation and management, coworking
spaces, fab-labs, open innovation initiatives, living labs,
entrepreneurship awareness and/or training programmes,
etc.
EU|BICs are internally organised to respond to the needs of
localentrepreneursandtotheset-upofthelocalinnovation
ecosystem they work with. They combine the ‘soft’ services
with the ‘hardware’, and combine the internal facilities and
resources with external players as needed.
While the management of incubators has always been
a stronghold of the EU|BICs’ offer, it is interesting to see
how, for example, coworking spaces have been opened
in many EU|BICs. Indeed 77% of them report managing
them. However, other services are being deployed through
the use of specific platforms, with a strong increase
since the year before. As international growth is being
increasingly sought after, EU|BICs report that 43% use a
specific platform, while 36% have embedded fund raising
platforms in their daily operations. Figure 3 shows the 2014
status of some of the facilities adopted.
The story of Matex, besides being the story of an innovative
Czech startup, is also the tale of a successful collaboration
betweenEU|BICPlzeň andtheUniversityofWestBohemia,
where the two researchers developed their idea.
Coaches within BIC Plzeň were contacted by two young
researchers with a business idea at the end of 2004.
Stanislav Němeček and Tomáš Mužík wanted to create a
company that would provide services of metallography,
mechanical testing, in the field of laser technologies. This
was not an easy thing to do as ten years ago the use of
laser technologies for industry was not a common practice
in Czech companies.
The Company founders were convinced that these
technologies would become more accessible in the future
and they saw an opportunity to start the business using
their knowledge from physics and material engineering
research.
Matex was soon created and located in the incubator.
BIC Plzeň helped them to develop their idea into a
feasible business plan and to gain funding from a bank
that provided financing for the first high-tech equipment
needed for launching the services to clients. The EU|BIC
provided flexible spaces in the incubator close to
the Science and Technology Park Plzeň and in close
proximity to the university. In cooperation with the EU|BIC
Plzeň, Matex applied for grants for new research and
development projects and for further equipment which
was necessary to expand their business activity.
Jana Klementova, director of EU|BIC Plzeň
expresses her satisfaction: “The founder’s
research background and their good business
idea led to creation and development of the
innovative company that is now well placed
on a market with high demand for its services.
The qualified staff and advanced technology
equipment of Matex are now an essential
resource for delivering high-tech services and
for the company success. We take pride that
the company was declared in 2014 as the best
company of the region and won the Vodafone
Business Awards competition”.

15
Figure 3: EU|BICs' facilities
Figure 4: Percentage of EU|BICs reporting having incubation
entry and exit strategies
Figure 5: Physical incubation, mean values
In2014,EU|BICshosted4,327companiesintheirincubators,
which were providing jobs to 20,196 persons. Furthermore,
1,322 new companies have entered the incubators, while
1,200 graduated and exited.
A typical EU|BIC, when providing housing services, offers
incubation spaces to 41 companies providing work to 194
persons. An incubated company remains in the facility
a little over 3 years. On average 12 companies exit the
incubator every year leaving space for newcomers. This,
on its own, is a dynamic community of startups!
Coworking spaces
Internationalisation platforms
Fundraising platforms
Technology Transfer office
Technology and testing centres
Rapid prototyping centres (e.g. Fab Lab)
End user testing facilities (e.g. Living Lab) 13%
20%
28%
28%
Entry strategy
Exit strategy
20%
77%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
74%
81%
HOUSING
Provision of incubation space, which is still one of the core
services offered, is provided by 82% of the EU|BICs, who
on average manage 5,400 square meters of space with
an occupancy rate of approximately 78%. Importantly,
incubators are places that support the difficult startup
phase of a company and not ‘office complexes’ where
companies should establish themselves for a long period.
Most of the EU|BICs report having an entry strategy (81%)
and an exit strategy (74%) for companies who want to
be (or are) hosted in an incubator. Indeed, the average
incubation time is just over three years. However, we
would expect more EU|BICs to report having entry and exit
strategies, showing that in these fields there are margins
to improve.
Employment by tenants
Companies hosted in incubators
New tenants
Graduations
0 50 100 150 200 250
41
13
12
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
FACILITIES
ENTRY AND EXIT STRATEGIES
PHYSICAL INCUBATION
194
77%
43%
36%

16
THE CORE EXPERTISE
The art of managing a startup or an SME should not be
underestimatedasitrequiresthecombinationofsignificant
skills and practical expertise. It is very important for policy-
makers on all territorial levels to have the capacity to
understand and even anticipate what the needs are, the
priorities, the problems, the trends, the critical issues of
SME managers, not only as a theoretical projection, but as
a set of solutions. EU|BIC teams are experts in this field.
To deploy the innovation-based incubation value chain,
EU|BICs adopt a mix of internal and external expertise.
Overall, the EU|BICs employ over 2,100 people. A typical
EU|BIC has an average workforce of 18 people, of which
around 12 can be identified as delivering core activities.
The breakdown of staff by role is shown in figure 6.
Arquer Diagnostics Ltd, is a company founded in 2005 by
Dr Nick Miller-Jones, former leader of the Life Sciences
Division of Scientific Generics Ltd, one of the UK’s leading
technology consultancy companies. With more than
20 years’ experience in the biotech, life sciences and
healthcareindustries,DrMiller-Joneshasdevelopedahigh
sensitivity,highspecificity,enzyme-linkedimmunosorbent
assay urine test for the diagnosis of bladder cancer.
The founder came across the concept whilst reviewing
the literature to identify potential markers of bladder
and prostate cancer. The original research was funded
by Cancer Research UK and Dr Miller-Jones reached a
commercial agreement with Cancer Research Technology
to licence the specific biomarkers for use in Immunoassay
detection of urological cancers. Over the subsequent
years, the detection methodology has been greatly
simplified and can now be used as part of standard clinical
laboratory testing.
In 2012, they decided to locate in the EU|BIC of Sunderland
in the North East of England as they recognised the
availability of local talent in the region, a fantastic
location to tap into different skill sets including research
and development scientists and product management.
Since securing significant external funding in December
2014, a new management team was established and
headquartered at the EU|BIC, Sunderland. The company
established an experienced research and development
team with a background in bringing diagnostic products
to market. Their test is currently undergoing final product
trials before being launched during the second half of
2016. The company has recently signed a manufacturing
and supply agreement with Euro Diagnostica BV and is in
discussion with a number of pan European distributors.
In 2015, Arquer Diagnostics had the
opportunity to expand its laboratory
space within North East BIC facilities
from 300 sq ft to 1555 sq ft. “The
space is exactly what we need and
having the flexibility to grow is
paramount to our business needs. We
have good quality broadband at the
EU|BIC which means that we can use
communication to our advantage; I
often work remotely and the facilities
enable me to communicate with the
duel sites effectively”, says Dr Ian
Campbell.

17
Figure 6: EU|BICs' human resources, mean values
Typically, EU|BIC coaches deliver a wide set of
services ranging from startup support to fund raising,
from technology and innovation assessment to
internationalisation. Figure 7 provides a good idea of what
the core expertise of an EU|BIC staff could be.
n General Management
n Incubator Management
n Communication, events and animation
n Administration
n Entrepreneursship support
n Project Management
n Training entrepreneurs
n Others
0,00
1,53 3,98 1,83 2,46 1,38 1,15 2,65 3,10
2,00 4,00 6,00 8,00 10,00 12,00 14,00 16,00 18,00
HUMAN RESOURCES
Support at startup
Fund raising
Technology / innovation assessment
Marketing
Commercialisation
Support at creation
ICT development
Legal advice
Human resource development
Other
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 7: Core expertise of EU|BICs' staff
CORE EXPERTISE
99%
84%
75%
73%
63%
59%
59%
38%
32%
30%
16%

18
ExternalconsultantsarenotusedbymanyEU|BICs,however
a certain number of consultant days are contracted, as
specific needs need to be covered with specific expertise.
Figures 8 and 9 show the level of engagement with external
experts. EU|BICs seek external expertise mostly when
getting assistance with the IPR domain, for legal services
(where in-house legal consultants may be too much
of a ‘nice to have’), or for accounting purposes. Some
core functions of the EU|BICs are sometimes externally
contracted, when a coaching exercise requires for instance
deep sectorial knowledge and expertise, or when an in-
house full training programme cannot be provided.
Figure 8: EU|BICs' external expertise type
> 300
14
Intellectual Property
Legal Services
Training
Coaching & Mentoring
Marketing
Financing
Accounting
Support at creation (legal/procedural)
Design and product development
EU and Donor Funding
Other (Specify)
0% 60%10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
EXTERNAL EXPERTISE
Figure 9: EU|BIC external expertise - man/days
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
< 50
67
50-99
26
100-199
11
200-300
9
EXTERNAL EXPERTISE
74%
63%
59%
59%
55%
49%
50%
48%
42%
26%
12%
80%70%

19
THE BUSINESS MODEL
Overall, in 2014, the surveyed EU|BICs had an income of
over €191m, 68% of which coming from the public sector,
not changing significantly from previous surveys. An
average EU|BIC worked in 2014 with an average income of
€1,498,000. Public funding is justified as it serves a public
interest mission, through the development of regions, and
the creation of wealth and jobs. Indeed 46% of the public
income comes from direct subsidies to pay for investments
and running costs.
Figure 10: EU|BICs’ public sector income breakdown
n National, regional, local bodies
n EU Structural Funds
n Other public subsidies
n Public income through national
& regional programmes
n Incomes from EU programmes
n Other public income
43%
15%3%
20%
12%
8%
PUBLIC INCOME
Figure 11: EU|BICs' private sector income breakdown
n Housing
n Business support services to
client SMEs/Entrepreneurs
n Private sponsoring
n Other private income
58%
15%
20%
7% PRIVATE INCOME
Regarding expenses, EU|BICs used in total,
approximately €183m to deliver the incubation value
chain services, the majority being for human resources
(56% for payroll andconsultants), providing the clear
indication that innovative entrepreneurship support
is a labour-intensive activity. An average EU|BIC had
costs of €1,432,000. Interestingly, 8% of the total
costs represent direct subsidies to entrepreneurs,
with an increase of over 6% from the last years.
Figure 12: EU|BICs' breakdown of expenses
12%
8%
15%
1%
6%
2%
13%
44%
EXPENSES
n Payroll
n Consultants and external experts
n Subsidies to entrepreneurs
n Overheads
n Extraordinary expenses
n Depreciation
n Financial costs
n Other costs
Focusing on the private sector income, which composes
32% of the total income, it is clear that 73% comes from the
provision of direct services in the incubation field (income
from housing is 58%) and from technical consultancies
sold to the local entrepreneurial system (15%). Private
sponsoringhasincreasedfrom2%to7%fromthelastsurvey.

20
RampCo is a perfect example of how partners from a
research background, SMEs, and end-users successfully
jointocreatedisruptivesocialinnovationthatcanimpact
the global market significantly. RampCo is coordinated
by CYRIC, Cyprus Research and Innovation Center who
has identified the solution to current accessibility issues
faced by wheelchair users in their everyday life.
Through a successfully funded FP7 SME call submitted
by EU|BIC CYRIC who formed this consortium, the team
started the Rampco project in 2014 to work on physical
prototype of an innovative portable traction ramp from
smart composite materials for automatic ascending and
descending of wheelchair users. This disruptive portable
device can be deployed in less than 10 minutes to allow
either manual or powered wheelchairs to ascend/
descend any number of staircases in buildings and urban
infrastructure that are currently inaccessible.
Initially, a thorough review of policy and standards
was carried out. Different ideas for traction system,
balance mechanisms, platform etc. were conceptually
designed. Questionnaires were created for two different
targeted groups, handicapped and building owners. The
questionnaires for handicapped were completed in two
workshops and as a result the best concept was selected.
In addition, the detailed specifications of mechanical,
composite, electrical and electronics components were
defined and the core-design phase was carried out
taking into consideration all relevant standards and EU
directives. The software that integrates all the individual
functions of RampCo with the required logic and sensory
feedback with two web-based and mobile applications
were developed. Thus, by using geographical location
data, the RampCo notifies the user of the exact location
of the system while at the same time it provides the
ability to pre-book RampCo online in order to be used
at a specific time and location. Also, it allows the owner
to get remote access to the operating system of RampCo
for monitoring and controlling purposes.
The project’s overall outcome, from the engineering
perspective, is a fully operational, powerful and safe
prototype that passed all international relevant
standard tests that completely satisfies and exceeds the
initial requirements given by the participating SMEs.
The total number of permanent wheelchair users
worldwide is estimated to be over 100 million, but
yet accessibility in most of the buildings worldwide,
remains an unsolved problem. RampCo provides a
breakthrough, cutting edge-innovative and high quality
solution on building accessibility for individuals with
kinetic disabilities, and more specifically wheelchair
users who will be able to have access in more buildings
and spaces without the need of any assistant.
“We believe Rampco could have a great
impact on the life of disabled citizens.
RampCo is a disruptive patented concept
that could have a massive uptake to serve
a large number of cases with a difference
in elevation, which are currently left
inaccessible or are serviced in a poor way,
with no provision for use by disabled
citizens without assistance, and more often
than not, with a compromise on safety or
aesthetics (e.g. public buildings, hotels,
museums, archaeological sites, exhibition
centres, industry, banks, shops, private
homes, etc.)”, says Dr. Panayotis Philimis ,
founder of CYRIC.

21
THE CLIENTS
By delivering the overall incubation service value chain,
EU|BICs work with many types of clients. From potential
entrepreneurs (people or teams with an idea that have not
yet set up a shop), to startups (early stage small companies
before the scale-up phase), from established SMEs to large
companies. The breakdown of clients can be seen in figure
13. As we can observe, a huge amount of work was carried
out with potential entrepreneurs (by setting out strong
pre-incubation activities), and with SMEs through the
deployment of serious growth services.
The breakdown of client by innovation type is displayed
in figure 14. A component of non-innovative companies is
still supported, a trend that has remained constant over
the years. However, innovation is not only technology-
oriented. Disruptive innovation is always present, however
smaller incremental innovation is very important and not
beingdisregardedbytheEU|BICcommunity.Approximately
47% of the companies are focussing on ICT solutions. A
measurement for technological innovation would also
be the activities of the EU|BICs in the acquisition of IPR.
To that end, over 3,000 clients have been supported. The
numbers of patents filed and those granted are shown in
figure 15.
Figure 14: Clients by innovation
50%
30%
20%
n Technological innovation
n Non-innovative
n Non-technological innovation
CLIENTS BY
INNOVATION TYPE
Figure 13: EU|BICs' clients
60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000
0
Potential
entrepreneurs
51,754
8,775
Startups
18,717
SMEs
485
Large
companies
CLIENTS
The typical EU|BIC client is male (74%), aged 30-50 (60%),
working with a varied set of interests which translate into
the development of both technological and non-tech
innovation, which are mostly focussed on the delivery of
ICT solutions.
Figure 15: Patents filed/granted with EU|BICs' support
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Potential
entrepreneurs
92
56
Startups
242
166
SMEs
143
148
n Number of patents filed
n Number of paptents granted
PATENTS

22
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
<30
26%
30-50
60%
>50
14%
Figure 16: Client by age
CLIENT BY AGE
Figure 17: Client by gender
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Male
74%
Female
26%
CLIENT BY GENDER
Social innovations are new solutions (ideas, products,
services, models, markets, processes, etc.) that
simultaneously meet a social need (more effectively than
existingsolutions)andleadtoneworimprovedcapabilities
and relationships and better use of assets and resources.
The EU|BIC community has been increasingly involved in
developing socially innovative solutions. Approximately
12% of the clients served were developing innovations and
creating companies aiming at producing a positive impact
throughout the globe.
The majority of the EU|BICs’ clients are aged between
30 and 50. Innovation, and the will to become an
entrepreneur, usually comes at a later stage in life, when
working experience has already been accrued. Clearly, this
statement does not hold true when EU|BICs are university
based, where the majority of the clients are younger. From
thegenderperspective,74%oftheclientsaremale.Gender
equality among clients remains an issue which needs to be
tackled by EU|BICs and their stakeholders.

23
Greenlightisanexampleofacompanycreatinginnovative
solutions for the renewable energy management and
energy backup market needs, with a socially oriented
mind-set.
Ahmad Fayek and Ibrahim Almasry, both graduates from
the University of Cairo created their startup in 2014 with
theambitiontosolvearealproblemintheMiddleEastern
countries and more specifically in Egypt. Indeed, energy
sources shortage and electricity is a critical problem that
affectsdevelopmenteffortsandpeople’slives.Onemight
think that thanks to the sunny climate, solar energy is
the easy solution. Yet, even the development and use
of green energy such as solar lighting in Egypt can be a
challenge because of harsh environment conditions such
as heat, humidity and dust. These conditions shorten the
product life time very much and affect the credibility
of green technology. Their company Fagr Advanced
Systems offers solutions that combine renewable energy
with high technology solutions to generate clean and low
cost energy. Their main product Green Light focuses on
a street lighting system that combines solar energy with
lighting control and power saving technologies enabling
to cut power costs. The system requires minimum
maintenance and has a life of more than 25 years. Green
light saves up to 6% of the total energy consumption in
Egyptandensuresstreetsaresaferevenduringblackouts
with a long lifetime.
After being selected by NU100 competition, an Egypt
entrepreneurs’ competition that aims to foster
innovation, Ahmad and Ibrahim received a seed fund to
develop their initial prototype. They successfully applied
for Start IT, a TIEC incubation programme starting on
April 1, 2014. From the very start, TIEC was enthusiastic
in supporting the startup as they were convinced their
innovative idea would impact Egypt’s energy problem
significantly. TIEC’s incubation programme only selects
startups with high commercialisation potential and
applicants are scored on a number of criteria: ICT-
based idea, innovativeness, readiness supported by a
miniature model, etc. But most important, they must
solve a real problem and offer smarter or cheaper
solutions to urgent problems.
Today Green light provides low cost, high quality,
clean and sustainable lighting for two main customers:
government including ministry of transportation
and private sectors including compounds, farms and
factories. Samples of Green light products are installed
in different malls and compounds including one famous
shopping mall in Giza and one subdivision in Cairo.
When asked how they look at the future
Ahmad Fayek and Ibrahim Almasry state:
“In the short-term we want to reach 10 to
15 customers in Egypt, representing about
20, 000 units. On the long term we definitely
want to be the best supplier of solar street
lighting systems in the Middle East and
Africa”. The incubation package offered
by TIEC consisted of consultancy services,
marketing services, access to technical and
business consultations, mentoring and the
provision of internet access, basic hardware
and software tools. Rasha Tanatwy, TIEC
Director says: “We immediately identified
Green light as a promising startup to solve
one of our biggest energy challenges locally
and globally. There was an obvious market
need and their business model was valid.
One of our main difficulties though while
supporting them was to find the needed
electronic components they were not able to
find locally, we had to order them from other
countries which added extra time and extra
cost”.

24
Taking into account the various specificities that make
each one of them unique, EU|BICs deliver the incubation
service value chain to innovative companies and existing
SMEs, from lead generation to startup creation, from scale-
up to SME development. Figure 18 provides an idea of the
number of clients that receive services from an EU|BIC,
however, in this chapter, a more in-depth analysis of the
various phases of the value chain are presented.
LEAD GENERATION
Lead Generation is the set of activities implemented by any
given company to generate consumer interest or enquiry
into products or services of the business. Therefore, for
an EU|BIC, lead generation is the set of activities carried
out to generate interest to create new innovative startups
and to channel innovation-oriented support to startups,
SMEs and large companies. Figure 18 also shows that on
average, in 2014, an EU|BIC provided support to 146 SMEs,
69 startups (of which 32 were freshly created in 2014) and
four large companies.
THE EU|BIC INCUBATION SERVICE VALUE CHAIN
The average deal-flow numbers (see figure 19) show that to
create 32 new startups it was necessary to attract 572 new
business ideas, bringing a conversion rate (from enquiry to
startup) of 5.6% .
Figure 18: An EU|BIC's clients, mean
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Startups
69
SMEs
146
Large
companies
4
NUMBER OF CLIENTS SUPPORTED
Figure 19: EU|BIC deal-flow for startup creation, mean values
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
572
172
67 50
32
DEAL FLOW FOR STARTUP CREATION
Enquiries Potential entrepreneurs
selected
Business plans StartupsFeasibility studies

25
A mix of off-line/on-line activities was carried out to generate interest and to attract clients to the EU|BIC, as displayed in
Figure 20.
85%oftheEU|BICswereactiveinsettingupandconducting
promotional events. Overall, 2,843 promotional events
took place in 2014 to which, over 137,000 people
participated. Therefore, on average, an EU|BIC organised
26 events in 2014 (1.8 events per month) with an average
participation of 41 people at each one (Fig. 20).
Among these promotional events, a set of more technical
events were also organised, such as Startup Weekends,
hackathons, competitions, awards, etc. These are the so-
called lead-generation business development events, of
which a breakdown of performance per EU|BIC can be seen
in figure 21.
Figure 20: Percentage of EU|BICs per lead-generation activity
Networking
Website
Promotional events
Press articles
Public presentations
Partnerships
Newsletters
Social media networking
Projects
Awards
Competitions
Startup weekends
Hackathons
Boot camps
92%
90%
85%
80%
77%
73%
67%
66%
62%
53%
51%
34%
22%
19%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
LEAD GENERATION ACTIVITIES
Figure 21: Lead-generation events, mean values
45,00
40,00
35,00
30,00
25,00
20,00
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
n Lead generation events
n Participation per event
Promotional
events
26
41
Startup
Weekends
1
18
Hackathons
2
9
Boot
camps
2
8
Awards
2
21
Competitions
3
36
LEAD GENERATION

26
The story of SmartTrack illustrates how entrepreneurs
can gain access to incubator support through the
participation in promotional events such as startup
competitions.
Smart Track was founded in 2014 by three Italian
entrepreneurs: Saverio Pagano, Simone Peirani and
Maurizio Valle, following the successful conclusion
of a research project and constant support provided
by EU|BIC Liguria (F.I.L.S.E) through the Smart Cup
competition, where the EU|BIC helped the team design
the business plan and define the startup strategy.
People spend more than 80% of their time between four
walls, at the office, at home, in covered public spaces
(schools, hospitals, cinemas and the like), and normal
GPS systems fail to work properly in those situations.
“Just imagine – says Simone - how easier it would be to
manage emergency situations, or to rescue endangered
people if we could precisely localise them even in a
closed environment, or tracking children and patients
in a hospital… there are loads of applications for a
technology that enables reliable indoor tracking”.
This well-assorted team therefore aimed (and
succeeded) to develop a new technology capable of
providing effective and reliable indoor geo-localisation
services. With the support of the EU|BIC, their managed
to understand that there were great possibilities to take
advantage of serious market opportunities.
A preliminary research identified five different groups of
paying customers for Smart Track, ranging from public
establishment toship-builders,miningandconstruction
companies as well as healthcare operators and
transportation hubs.
“Our USP – says Saverio - derives from the high accuracy
of the system and the possibility to use it in dynamic
environments such as crowded buildings and cruise
ships. Safety levels are increased and costs are lower!”
“Smart Track is a very innovative startup”
says Pietro de Martino, the EU|BIC manager,
“andweareproudofthelevelofcooperation
established with the team and with the
university where the research has spun out.
The staff of the EU|BIC has worked hard to
help the team prepare its value proposition
and to define a business model which
will soon be tested and made operative.”
The team applied to Smart Cup Liguria, a
competition organised in September 2014
by EU|BIC Liguria. The team was supported
through the modelling and planning of
the business idea, focussing on market
segmentation and access to funding, with
the introduction of the team to a pitching
event. At present Marco, Simone and
Saverio, are working hard on the product
development side and on the establishment
of their commercial network with leading
Italian and international partners.

27
PRE-INCUBATION
Pre-incubation is the part of the EU|BIC service value chain
that provides support to potential entrepreneurs, before
they become startups, with a replicable, scalable and
operational business model. Finding a way to turn the idea
into a solid business is, in the end, the aim of any sound
pre-incubation process.
The deal-flow for startup creation graph (Fig. 19), shows
how a severe selection process takes place within EU|BICs
at the beginning of the incubation journey. Indeed, the
curve is very steep at the beginning and slopes down
more gently towards the end of the process. Over 30 years
of experience in startup support services, have shown
how important it is to strictly screen at the beginning of
the processes. An 87% level of sustainability is directly
related to this segment of the incubation value chain. A
sound entrepreneurial project can be identified when a set
of services aimed at providing proof of concept, proof of
business and proof of the right entrepreneurial mind-set is
inplace.Tothisend,EU|BICsdeploynumerousactionswith
various methodologies, which ensure that the optimal mix
of services is tailored to each entrepreneur. The selection
services must be:
• thorough  the innovation should be assessed under
all lights to actually understand where and how it is
innovative and what added value it will bring. The
technology/product must be technically feasible
(proof of concept)
• market oriented  entrepreneurs should at least
have assumptions (albeit this could prove to be
wrong) of who is in demand of the innovation and
what business model should be put in place (proof of
business)
• team oriented  although an innovative idea is
sound and might realistically have a market, does the
proposer have an entrepreneurial mind-set? Is the
composition of the team appropriate?
30%10% 20% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 22: Percentage of EU|BICs providing pre-incubation services
Business planning
Access to early stage funding
Training
Business modelling
Innovation/Technology assessment
Financial simulation/forecasting
Feasibility studies
Risk analysis
Skills assessment
Business idea acceleration programme
Business intelligence 34%
48%
59%
61%
67%
70%
76%
77%
78%
84%
71%
0%
PRE-INCUBATION SERVICES
Business planning is still one of the major core activities
of the EU|BICs, although a shift to the importance of deliv-
ering business modelling services has occurred. However,
access to funding is always present and further analysis
demonstrates that it is present throughout the life span of
any startup or SME.

28
DNA Cascais provided Natércia and Fernando Barbeiro,
a married couple, invaluable support during the initial
phase of their venture creation in 2011. After having both
worked for a few years as commercial managers for big
companies, they came up with Softvoice, which provides
automatic identification and capture of data (AIDC)
solutions for any kind of point of sales (supermarkets,
bookshops, hairdressers, etc.) Softvoice also increases
employees’ productivity and accelerates the time it
takes to achieve results in terms of ROI.
To date they have over 3,000 customers among which big
Portuguese companies working at international level.
Their aim is to make life easier for traders and retailers by
offering the most innovative solutions and working with
technological partners who are leaders in the industry
such as HP, Honeywell, Zebra technologies, just to name
a few. Before reaching these excellent results, as in any
starting business, they were meeting several difficulties
and sought the help of DNA Cascais by first presenting
their project idea on paper. Their main concern was to
ensure customer commitment even before opening the
company in order to ensure profitability from the first
working months. Not only did DNA Cascais open their
doors offering them incubation space for three years
and the time to test their products towards customers
but they also supported them in the design of a business
plan and a market risk mitigation process before the
creation of the company.
“We started with a low budget, a mix of own capitals, a
small bank loan and an office of 20m2
. Making mistakes
is the most valuable thing you can do, identifying your
strengths and weaknesses and transforming them
into unique and winning competitive advantages,
challenging us to always be better than the last time”,
declares Natércia Barbeiro.
“Softvoice is one of our startups at DNA
Cascais that quickly achieved dimension
and scalability. I believe that this work
resulted mainly from three characteristics
of its entrepreneurs: talented people who
are technologically oriented and with
trustful results towards their customers, for
a more international DNA Cascais”, says Luís
Matos Martins, CEO at DNA Cascais.” After
three years of physical incubation, Natércia
and Fernando have left DNA Cascais to fly on
their own and opened their own facilities in
June 2015. They now have a greater storage
capacity,over350 m2
inAlcabideche.Though
the founding partners remain the same they
have an increased team of 15 people and 20
more in outsourcing for a turnover of over
€1m. They currently provide 7 of the top 25
companies operating in Portugal and aim to
reach 15 in the shortest possible period of
time. They are also planning to expand their
activities to neighbouring Spanish areas
and hope to create six additional jobs in the
next months.
INCUBATION
The incubation phase entails supporting the entrepreneur
during the startup phase, with the aim of helping it
establish strong roots and get ready for the scale-up
(growth) phase. A common misunderstanding involves
ascociating only incubation to the housing service. Indeed,
housing is just one of the many services that a startup
might need. Indicators for the housing services have been
published above (see the section on ‘Facilities’).
Figure 23 provides an idea of some of the incubation
services that have been delivered by EU|BICs in 2014.
Access to funding (already present in the pre-incubation
area) is also an essential component of the incubation
phase (more insights in the Access to Finance). However,
the graph clearly shows that access to finance alone is
not enough. It needs to be accompanied with coaching,
networking and support to partnering at all levels.

29
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 23: EU|BICs' incubation services
Access to funding
Support at creation
Coaching/Mentoring
Housing
Marketing
Strategic partnering
Legal support
External selection committee
Startup acceleration programme
Accounting
Business intelligence
Training 32%
39%
46%
55%
71%
75%
79%
76%
88%
91%
72%
53%
45%
INCUBATION SERVICES
Figure 24: EU|BICs, growth services
Access to funding
Training
Project development
Innovation diagnostics
B2B support
Clustering
Product/Service assessment
Technology searches
Technology search
B2C support
Open innovation 29%
42%
53%
57%
61%
71%
73%
84%
67%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%0
47%
39%
30%
GROWTH SERVICES
GROWTH SERVICES

30
Novacité actively supported Reputation VIP, a
technology startup specialised in e-reputation, in its
initial implementation and its current growth challenges
during the incubation phase. Reputation VIP was helped
in raising public money (> €250k through local financing
tools) to finance the first 15 employments, introduced to
local actors (institutional, VC’s, banks, public collectivity,
universities) and linked up with partners to build the first
contracts (lawyers, financial audit companies, …). They
also supported the startup with an internationalisation
strategy and more recently, financed an external
mission to help the managing staff face the strategic
organisational issues and build a first level of middle
management given that the company is predicted to
have more than 60 employees in 2016.
Reputation VIP has developed a solution, “Digital
Fortress™ Technology”, that enables users to control,
protect and monitor their online reputation. By doing
so, they have become one of the first internet players
to provide a simple service (”Forget.me™”) to enforce
the right to oblivion, helping individuals to create
their request to Google and Bing. The company targets
individuals (famous entrepreneurs and politicians) as
well as brands owned by major companies through an
annual (and recurrent) subscription.
When he was working for the Air Liquide Group,
Bertrand Grin had to raise several millions dollars for
one of his Chinese clients. Unfortunately, the bad online
reputation of the CEO prevented the potential investors
from closing the deal. A few years later Bertrand met
Nicolas N’Guyen who was known as an expert in SEO and
Google algorithms. Still remembering his unfortunate
Chinese client, Bertrand encouraged Nicolas to create a
company together dedicated to e-reputation issues. In
2012, Reputation VIP, a technology startup specialised
in e-reputation was created. Three other shareholders
joined the two partners to create a cohesive team and
contributed their skills and experience in the strategic
development of the company.
Since then, the startup has grown significantly and very
rapidly, exceeding €1m of revenues in 2014. Initially
founded by 5 shareholders they now employ 40 people,
half of which are IT engineers. Reputation VIP aims to
become one of the worldwide leaders of e-reputation
solutions. They have recently raised €2m and enriched
their strategic committee in order to increase their
international development from 25% to 75%. They
aspire to reach a turnover of €55m with 220 employees
by 2019.
Growth services are directed to already-trading companies
with the aim of supporting them to gain and/or retain
a competitive advantage in global markets. Services in
this field will mainly stimulate companies to introduce
innovation in their products or processes and will allow the
businesses to boost their marketing capabilities. Not all
EU|BICs engage in such activities as they do not consider
this as a core service to be delivered to achieve their
mission, which may be more in the startup creation phase.
However, many EU|BICs have a more global mission,
one related to increasing the innovation dimension in
the regions they serve, therefore rendering the support
to existing SMEs an important area of activity as it is
embedded in the overall mission.
A non-exhaustive list with the percentage of EU|BICs
providing each of the services is provided in figure 24.
Not surprisingly, access to funding is still the lead
service, although support to internationalisation, project
development, training and innovation diagnostics follow.
Interestingly, this graph shows us how the connections
with the larger corporations and SMEs is carried out
through the development of open innovation processes,
which are delivered by 29% of the EU|BICs.

31
EU|BICs serve the instrumental role of preparing many
entrepreneurs and SMEs for investment. More specifically,
more than 12,400 clients have been supported in this area.
Potential entrepreneurs venturing in the pre-incubation
phase represented 38% of the total, while 28 were startups
during the incubation phase. On the other side, 37% of
clients were trading and established SMEs.
ACCESS TO FINANCE
Of the approximately 12,400 clients supported, more
than 7,600 were funded through various channels, with a
success rate of 61.5% (Fig. 26). The total amount raised by
the surveyed EU|BICs is €469.5m
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 25: Financial services supplied by EU|BICs
Public sector funding schemes
(Including grants)
Business Angels
Seed Capital Funds/investors
Bank loans
Venture Capital funds/investors
EU Structural Funds
Crowd funding
Own funds (equity positions)
Others
60
66%
66%
56%
19%
14%
43%
0
84%
90%
82%
FINANCIAL SERVICES OFFERED/FACILITATED
Figure 26: Clients supported with access to finance services
5.000
4.500
4.000
3.500
3.000
2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
500
0
ACCESS TO FINANCE - TOTAL CLIENTS SUPPORTED
Potential
entrepreneurs
Startups SMEs
3.130
4.593
4.730

32
Figure 27: Clients supported/clients funded through EU|BICs
Figure 29: Breakdown of funding per client type
n Seed capital
n Business angels
n Venture capital
n Bank loans
n Public funding schemes
n Crowd-funding
n Own funds
n Other
BREAKDOWN
FUNDING / CLIENT
40%
31%
2%
1%
2%
6%
5%
2%
10%
n Seed capital
n Business angels
n Venture capital
n Bank loans
n Public funding schemes
n Crowd-funding
n Own funds
n Other
5,97%
5,06%
7,61%
13,54%
6,92%
12,89%
47,40%
0,44%
0,17%
Figure 28: Breakdown of amount funded per investor type
BREAKDOWN
OF FUNDING / AMOUNT
Whenanalysingthebreakdownofthefundingamounts,the
picture appears to be different. EU structural funding is still
the major source of funding for EU|BICs' clients. However
public funding schemes represent a mere 12%, where, on
the contrary, private investors’ money, (business angel
and capital investment) represent over 21% of the amount
raised. This provides full indications that the real scale-
up potentialities for a company lies within early and later
stage private equity funding. Again, to work and establish
connections with private investors, is not only a desire,
but a real need if a strong impact needs to be pursued.
Nevertheless, new alternative funding opportunities, such
as crowd-funding, have not yet had a substantial impact in
the EU|BIC community.
Figure 27 shows, of the 7,633 clients who were funded, 71%
were directed towards public funding schemes (including
government grants and loans) and towards EU structural
funding (which is still managed publicly). 29% of the clients
instead, were introduced to private funding, although still a
greaterpartoftheprivatefundingcomesfromconventional
bankloans.Just7%weredirectedtowardseitherabusiness
angel or a venture capital investor. Very few EU|BICs take
equity in the startups they support and this is confirmed by
the 1% who were directed towards the EU|BICs' own funds.
Indeed, the connections with the investor communities is
an area where EU|BICs have significant work to do.
14.000
12.000
10.000
8.000
6.000
4.000
2.000
0
Clients supported
12,453
CLIENTS SUPPORTED - CLIENTS FUNDED
Clients funded
7,663

33
Anabio is a great example of a leading innovation
with strong IP and world-leading technology
providing encapsulation expertise and commercial
contract manufacture for the stabilisation of food,
pharmaceutical and animal health products. Indeed,
AnaBio Technologies addresses the needs of many
food, feed and pharmaceutical enterprises for
improved “healthier” versions of their products. Its core
encapsulation technologies are patented for targeted
and controlled release of vaccines, antibiotics, peptides,
probiotics, nutrients, minerals, enzymes, bacteria,
cheese cultures and a wide range of sensitive food and
sports ingredients. In reality, AnaBio’s Unique Selling
Pointinvolvesenhancingexistingproductsordeveloping
new products with proven claims for improved health
and wellbeing for their target market. After a MSc in
Protein chemistry from Michigan State University and
PhD in Microencapsulation from Teagasc Moorepark
and Universty College Cork, Ireland, Dr. Sinéad Bleiel
transitioned into the dairy industry to start research
development with a leading multinational company in
the area of functional food. She very quickly understood
that there was a gap in the market and founded AnaBio
TechnologiesLtd.in2011.Today,thecompanyisworking
with multi-nationals in three target markets: human
health and functional food; animal health and nutrition;
and therapeutic drugs and medicinal substances.
CorkBIC supported AnaBio, through the Business
Planning process as they helped to define the company's
strategy and facilitated their engagement with funding
sources by introducing them to Angel Investors. This
support accelerated their path through the HPSU (High
Potential Start Up) process with Enterprise Ireland.
AnaBio has complex, sophisticated Intellectual Property
that needs to be described in a way that shows a clear
business model and paths to revenue. Paradoxically,
this helped to widen the scope and number of investors
interested in the project.
"What AnaBio are doing is leading-edge
technology in the food and life science
area. Recently securing its 12th patent, the
companyisjustabouttoinvestina€200,000
research facility in Ireland. This is an
interesting example of a company that has
maximised on the excellent entrepreneurial
ecosystem that exists in this region to allow
it to scale - now selling to companies in the
human nutrition and animal feed markets
in Europe, the US and South America. The
Royal Irish Academy and the American
Chamber of Commerce, Ireland recently
announced AnaBio has been shortlisted for
the prestigious 2016 US-Ireland Research
Innovation Awards. We wish Sinéad and her
ever-growing team the best of luck", says
Michael O'Connor CEO of Cork BIC.

34
The innovative entrepreneurs whose stories you have
read throughout this publication were supported by their
local EU|BIC. These entrepreneurs, together with the more
than 70,000 other clients of the EU|BIC network, are risk
takers who invest their own, and other people’s money,
time and reputation, in delivering their vision. Finding and
optimising ways to support them is a complex mission
which deserves to be undertaken seriously, efficiently and,
above all, with certified level of quality. EBN’s network of
150 EU|BICs does exactly that.
EU|BICs recognise their instrumental role in shaping
the potential impact their startups will ultimately have
on the entrepreneurs themselves, their workforce and
the wider economy. With this in mind, EU|BICs take on the
responsibility for continuous improvement, adapting to
the fast-evolving needs of the entrepreneurial ecosystem
while always maintaining high standards in the delivery of
their services.
This approach is corroborated by the European Court of
Auditors (ECA) recent study of 60 European incubators
funded by the European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF). The study confirms that EU|BICs achieve better
results and have a higher impact than these incubators
thanks to the use of sound quality, benchmarking and
monitoring mechanisms. The main finding of the study
is that, despite the significant contribution of structural
funds in creating new infrastructure, the impact of the
audited incubators was modest and disappointing. The
report states “… too little attention had been paid to the
effectiveness of incubators’ business support functions
…”. The ‘soft dimension’ is often the weak element of
infrastructure investments. The report clearly recognises
that “The effectiveness of the benchmarked EU|BIC certified
incubators … was much higher… and that support offered
to businesses beyond the scope of physical incubation …
had contributed to this high startup creation rate.”.
EU|BICs, which embed the EBN quality system, provide
a higher range of professional services to innovative
entrepreneurs, not only startups and resident companies
but also existing innovative firms. They also reach higher
KPIs and have higher return on investment for the public
sector, compared to non-certified incubators.
It is EBN’s role to guarantee that EU|BICs act as visionaries
to create and implement innovative services and behave
as the game changers and challengers, to shape, stimulate
and grow tomorrow’s enterprises.
EBN remains committed to supporting economic
developmentthatencouragesapragmaticimplementation
and deployment of smart tools – such as EU|BICs – at the
local and regional level. The impact demonstrated in this
report confirms EBN is a key stakeholder in the realisation
of the scale-up potential of Europe’s startups and SMEs.
CONCLUSION

35
BIC LIGURIA - FI.LS.E.
Piazza De Ferrari 1
16121, Genova
Italy
www.filse.it
TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTRE
Smart-Village, Building (B5)
Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road
12577, Giza
Egypt
www.tiec.gov.eg
CONTACTING THE STARTUPS
VITIS TECH
Inkubator d.o.o Sežana
Kraska ulica, 2
6210, Sežana
Slovenia
www.inkubator.si
BIC PLZEŇ
Riegrova 1
30625, Plzeň
Czech Republic
www.bic.cz
To know more about the stories and entrepreneurs
mentioned in this publication please get in touch with
their respective EU|BIC.
CCI DE LYON – NOVACITE
Place de la Bourse
69289, Lyon CEDEX 02
France
www.novacite.com

36
DNA CASCAIS
Ninho de Empresas DNA Cascais,
Cruz de Popa
2645-449, Alcabideche
Portugal
www.dnacascais.pt
NORTH EAST BUSINESS
AND INNOVATION CENTRE
Sunderland Enterprise Park
Wearfield, Sunderland
SR5 2TA
United Kingdom
www.ne-bic.co.uk
CORK BIC
National Software Centre
Mahon
Cork
Ireland
www.corkbic.com
CYPRUS RESEARCH
& INNOVATION CENTRE LTD
72, 27th Octovriou Street
Office 301, ENgomu
2414, Nicosia
Cyprus
www.cyric.eu

37
EU|BIC Country Website
Bureau Economique de la Province de Namur Belgium www.bep.be
CEEI CAP Innove Belgium www.capinnove.be
CEEI Héraclès Belgium www.heracles.be
CIDE - SOCRAN asbl Belgium www.cide-socran.be
IDELUX Belgium www.idelux.be
iMinds Belgium www.iminds.be
Innotek Belgium www.innotek.be
La Maison de l'Entreprise S.A. Belgium www.lme.be
Raiar Incubator in PUCRS Science and Technology Park - TECNO-
PUC
Brazil www.pucrs.br/tecnopuc
Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bulgaria www.rcci.bg
Cyprus Research & Innovation Center Ltd Cyprus www.cyric.eu
BIC Ostrava spol.s r.o. Czech Republic www.bicova.cz
BIC Plzen Czech Republic www.bic.cz
Innovation Support Centre, VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava Czech Republic cpi.vsb.cz
Inovacentrum CVUT Czech Republic www.inovacentrum.cvut.cz
JIC - South Moravian Innvation Centre Czech Republic www.jic.cz
Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Egypt www.tiec.gov.eg
Hermia Business Development Ltd. Finland www.hermiayrityskehitys.fi/english/
Lahti Region Development LADEC Ltd Finland www.ladec.fi
Wirma Lappeenranta Ltd Finland www.wirma.fi
Aditec pas de Calais CEEI France www.aditec.org
Agence Régionale de l'Innovation Poitou-Charentes France les-aides.laregion-alpc.fr/fiche/incubinnov
Alsace Innovation France www.alsaceinnovation.eu
Angers Technopole France www.angerstechnopole.com
ARITT Centre France www.arittcentre.fr
BIC Montpellier Agglomeration Cap Alpha Cap Omega France www.invest-in-montpellier.com
BIC Plein Sud Entreprises France www.pleinsudentreprises.com
Bordeaux Technowest France www.technowest.com
CASA, Sophia Antipolis France www.casa-infos.fr
Castres-Mazamet Technopole France www.castres-mazamet-technopole.com
CCI de Lyon - NOVACITE France www.lyon.cci.fr
CCI de Paris - CEEI France www.cci92-idf.fr
CEEI 47 France www.agropole.com
CEEI Cap Delta - Ariège Expansion - Parc Technologique Delta Sud France www.ariege-expansion.com
CEEI CREATIV France www.ceei-creativ.asso.fr
CEEI de Nîmes France www.innovup.com
CEEI Limousin Expansion France www.limousin-expansion.fr
CEEI Nice Côte d'Azur France www.ceeinca.org
CEEI Quimper-Cornouaille France www.tech-quimper.fr
CEEI Synergia - La Technopole Caen-Normandie France www.synergia.fr
CEEI Théogone (Parc Technologique du Canal) France www.theogone.com
Chambre de Commerce et d 'Industrie d'Eure et Loir France www.ceei-chartres.fr
CRESCENDO France www.crescendo-tarbes.com
ESTIA-ENTREPRENDRE – Technopole Izarbel France www.estia.fr
EU|BIC MEMBERS

38
GUYANE DEVELOPPEMENT INNOVATION France www.cr-guyane.fr/developpement-economique/
gdi-guyane-developpement-innovation
INNOVACT BIC France www.innovact.com
Laval Mayenne Technopole France www.laval-technopole.fr
Marseille Innovation France www.marseille-innov.org
Martinique Technopole France www.technopolemartinique.org
Nantes Atlanpole France www.atlanpole.com
NOVALIA 82 France www.novalia82.com
PREMICE France www.premice-bourgogne.com
Promotech Nancy France www.promotech.fr
Réseau Seine CREAtion France www.la-crea.fr
Ruches d'entreprises Nord de France France www.ruches-entreprises.fr
SAVOIE TECHNOLAC France www.savoie-technolac.com
Synergie Lorraine SA France www.moselle.cci.fr
Technopole de l'Aube en Champagne France www.technopole-aube.fr
THESAME France www.thesame-innovation.com
Toulon Var Technologies France www.tvt.fr
Val d'Oise Technopole France www.accet.asso.fr
BIC Zwickau GmbH Germany www.bic-zwickau.de
gate - Garchinger Technologie- und Gründerzentrum GmbH Germany www.gategarching.com
Corallia | a2-innohub Greece www.corallia.org
EC BIC of Attika Greece www.bicofattika.gr
Cork BIC Ireland www.corkbic.com
Dublin Business Innovation Centre Ireland dublinbic.ie
South East Business and Innovation Centre Ireland www.sebic.ie
WestBIC Ireland www.westbic.ie
BIC Incubatori FVG (Friuli Venezia Giulia) S.p.a. Italy www.incubatori.fvg.it
BIC Lazio SpA Italy www.biclazio.it
BIC Liguria - FI.LS.E. Italy www.filse.it
BIC Sardegna S.p.A. Italy www.bicsardegna.it
Città della Scienza Italy www.cittadellascienza.it
CODEX s.c. Italy www.codex.it
Eurobic Toscana Sud S.p.A. Italy www.bictoscanasud.it
Innova BIC Srl Italy www.innovabic.it
Puglia Sviluppo SpA Italy www.pugliasviluppo.eu/en
Sviluppo Basilicata Italy www.sviluppobasilicata.it
Tecnopolis Parco Scientifico e Tecnologico Italy www.tecnopolispst.it
Trentino Sviluppo S.p.A Italy www.trentinosviluppo.it
Jordan Innovation Centre and IT-incubator (Irbid ) Jordan www.bic.jo
Berytech Lebanon www.berytech.org
Technoport SA Luxembourg www.technoport.lu
Brainport Development Netherlands www.brainportdevelopment.nl/en
Business Development Friesland Netherlands www.bdfriesland.nl
Stichting StartLife Netherlands www.start-life.nl
Palestine Information and Communications Technology Incuba-
tor - PICTI
Palestine www.picti.ps
Krakow Technology Park Poland www.sse.krakow.pl
BIC Alentejo - Sines Tecnopolo Portugal www.sinestecnopolo.org
BICMINHO Portugal www.bicminho.eu
Centro de Empresas e Inovação da Madeira - B.I.C. Madeira (CEIM) Portugal www.ceim.pt
DNA Cascais Portugal www.dnacascais.pt
Instituto Pedro Nunes Portugal www.ipn.pt
NET Novas Empresas e Tecnologias S.A. - BIC do Porto Portugal www.net-sa.pt

39
TagusValley Portugal www.tagusvalley.pt
High Technology Park of Yugra Russian Federation www.tp86.ru
Innovative Technopark IDEA Russian Federation www.tpidea.ru
KRITBI Russian Federation en.kritbi.ru
Technopark of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok Russian Federation www.academpark.com
Novitech a.s. Slovakia www.izones.eu/BIC
Inkubator d.o.o Sezana Slovenia www.inkubator.si
Ayuntamiento de Madrid Spain www.madridemprende.es
Barcelona Activa S.A. Spain www.barcelonactiva.es
Beaz S.A. Spain beaz.bizkaia.net
BIC Araba Spain www.bicaraba.eus
BIC Gipuzkoa Spain www.bicberrilan.com
BIC BIZKAIA EZKERRALDEA Spain www.bicezkerraldea.eus
BIC Canarias - Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias Spain www.itccanarias.org
Bic Euronova S.A. Spain www.bic.es
BIC Granada Spain www.bicgranada.org
CEEI ALBACETE Spain www.ceeialbacete.com
CEEI Alcoy Spain www.ceei-alcoy.com
CEEI ARAGON S.A. Spain www.ceeiaragon.es
CEEI Bahía de Cádiz Spain www.ceeicadiz.com
CEEI BURGOS Spain www.ceeiburgos.es
CEEI Castellon Spain www.ceei-castellon.com
CEEI CIUDAD REAL Spain www.ceeicr.es
CEEI de Asturias Spain www.ceei.es
CEEI de Cartagena Spain www.ceeic.com
CEEI Elche Spain www.ceei-elche.com
CEEI Guadalajara Spain www.ceeiguadalajara.es
CEEI Talavera de la Reina Spain www.ceeitvr.com
CEEIM - Centro Europeo de Empresas e Innovación de Murcia Spain www.ceeim.es
Centro Europeo de Empresas e Innovación de Valencia Spain www.ceei-valencia.com
Fundació Balear de Innovació i Tecnologia Fundacióbit Spain www.parcbit.es
Fundacio CEEILLEIDA Spain www.ceeilleida.com
Fundación madri+d Spain www.madrimasd.org/emprendedores
IGAPE - CEEI de Galicia Spain www.igape.es/es
Ideon Open, a part of Ideon Science Park Sweden www.ideoninnovation.se
CimArk Switzerland www.cimark.ch
Chaoyang University of Technology Innovation Incubation Center Taiwan www.cyut.edu.tw/~incubatr/ushtml/
Innovation and Incubation Centre of National Kaohsiung Univer-
sity of Applied Sciences
Taiwan www.incubator.kuas.edu.tw
ITRI - Industrial Technology Research Institute Taiwan www.itri.org.tw/eng/econtent/business/bu-
siness05.aspx
Elgazala Technopark Tunisia www.elgazala.tn
Coventry University Enterprises Ltd United Kingdom www.coventry.ac.uk/business/coventry-univer-
sity-group/coventry-university-enterprises-limited
Innovation Centre NORIBIC United Kingdom www.noribic.com
Knowledge Dock Business & Innovation Centre - University of East
London
United Kingdom www.uel.ac.uk/knowledgedock
North East Business and Innovation Centre Ltd. United Kingdom www.ne-bic.co.uk
St John's Innovation Centre United Kingdom www.stjohns.co.uk
Staffordshire BIC United Kingdom www.thebic.co.uk
University of Bedfordshire United Kingdom www.beds.ac.uk
University of Greenwich-Innovation Centre Medway United Kingdom www.innovationcentremedway.co.uk
University of Warwick Science Park United Kingdom www.uwsp.co.uk

CREDITS
This report was written by the EBN EU|BIC Services Team
led by Giordano Dichter, supported by Clarelisa Camilleri
and Nathalie Marchand.
Editing and publication was managed by the EBN
Membership Services Team led by David Tee, supported by
Cláudia Silva and Marta Gómez Andrés.
SpecialthankstoSaryTojakaDoménechfordatacollection
and statistical support.
ManythankstotheEU|BICsfortheircontinuedcommitment
to the EBN quality process.

Avenue de Tervuren 168
B-1150 Brussels
Phone: +32 2 772 89 00
Email: info@ebn.eu
Website & community platform: www.ebn.eu
@EUBIC

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