CORDIS Archive

March 2001

May 2001

July 2001

INCUBATOR FINANCING

Sheltered Upbringing

1. Good Practice in Spin-Outs

2. Attracting Venture Capital

3. Networks and Barriers

4. Benefits of Good Practice

• Case Study:
  It Looks Good, but Will it Work?
  
  
• Case Study:
  Unispin - Networking at its Best

'

esearch to Reality', a conference organised by the European Commission's Enterprise DG in Luxembourg this February, examined the role of incubators in the development of new companies set up to exploit the results of research. The event was part of the Innovation and SMEs programme's FIT policy exchange project, which aims to disseminate good practice and develop lasting links among its three components - finance, innovation and technology.

More specifically, the conference highlighted the findings of a FIT study, carried out by Bannock Consulting, which investigated the financing mechanisms available in Europe for converting innovative research from universities and other centres into business start-ups.

Each FIT project addresses a particular aspect by analysing the present position and defining good practices. It then brings together key policy-makers in workshops on the selected theme, and disseminates the resulting recommendations through training seminars, publications and publicity campaigns. The Luxembourg conference was the third part of the FIT exercise on start-up financing, and followed a survey of good practice in incubator financing which began in January 2000, and a practitioners' workshop in May 2000.