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 MANAGEMENT SKILLS`
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Turning technology into business |
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TRAIN-IT was supported under the Information Society Technologies programme, part of the EU’s Fifth Framework Programme. The intensive training and follow-up support in business skills it gave to over 150 IST project participants built an impressive record of successful business plans, start-ups, spin-offs and other entrepreneurial activities. |
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Finding the way alone is not easy.
|  he Information Society Technologies (IST) programme aimed to foster the development and application of new Information Society technologies, adding to the quality of life and contributing to sustainable growth and high added-value employment. But the results of these projects often fail to reach the market, because the experts in technology lack knowledge of the business arena, or access to proper advice. TRAIN-IT, linked specifically to projects in the IST field, is intended to plug the gap by providing business training to people involved in new technologies, using their potential to start or expand new companies.
One-to-one and free
The idea for TRAIN-IT was developed by Ingo Hussla of the Itzehoe Innovation Centre IZET, a non-profit centre in the Hamburg region of Germany. A pilot project run between 1997-99 developed and tested a curriculum, with IZET working with partner organisations in Finland, Denmark and France. Between 2000 and 2003, the TRAIN-IT IST accompanying measure was operated by IZET alone. Fifteen six-day training courses were held, focusing on writing business plans. As project manager Helga Bechmann explains, “Participants had to do a lot of work before the course. They had to complete an application profile which showed us the areas where we could help them best.”
Tuition on the course was partly in lectures, covering business and finance strategies, market research and analysis of competition, marketing, financial planning, and intellectual property issues. But the unique aspect of TRAIN-IT was not the lecture series, but the daily one-to-one coaching sessions with a team of 41 European and American experts on all aspects of business management. “The participants had indicated in their application what particular problems they wanted to discuss”, says Bechmann, “so we were able to schedule individual coaching in these areas.”
The other key aspect of TRAIN-IT is that the course training was free to participants, who paid only for accommodation, travel, course materials and refreshments. The organisers consider that this was vital: “Start-up companies do not have the kind of money to pay the real costs of six-day courses with speakers from all over the world, plus follow-up support.” Bechmann estimates the cost of the input at €6,000 per business case.
After the courses, participants had the benefit of access to advice from the expert team, on completing their business plans and putting them into action, for at least 12 months. This included helping the development of business contacts, especially with potential investors and future business partners.
Feeling the benefit
Many course participants are now reporting back on their progress. Peik Jenssen of Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Norway, joined the TRAIN-IT course with a view to developing a DNV spin-off company. His company, DNV Maritime Partner AS, was founded in January 2003 and is developing a computer-based tool to help marine navigation into ports. It currently employs eight people, and plans to expand considerably in the coming years thanks to the promising response from the market. Francesco Bergadano of Certimeter srl (Italy) took part in the TRAIN-IT course in February 2001, looking for help in setting up a company to provide access analysis services for websites. He sought advice from TRAIN-IT experts about the financial aspects of his business plan. After completing the plan, he went on to win financial support from the University of Turin and from the Italian Business Angels Networks founder, CentroSviluppo SpA.
During the three years of TRAIN-IT, 156 participants took part, of which just over 20% were women. They represented many aspects of the information technology sector, but the sections most strongly represented were software-tool development; communication, telematics and logistics; and internet platforms and services. A survey conducted at the end of 2003 showed 113 business plans completed or under way, 69 start-up or spin-off companies generated, and 45 examples of internal expansion of an existing business through, for example introduction of a new product line. “We had three courses in 2003, so participants in those are at an early stage in their activities – we still expect more start-ups and more business plans before we have the complete results of the TRAIN-IT project,” says Bechmann.
With such a record, the TRAIN-IT coordinators have put in a proposal for a similar accompanying measure under FP6, but so far it has not been successful. However, the TRAIN-IT course is still being offered through licensing arrangements, and the first organisation to take this up is Synergy eBusiness Incubator (SeBI), of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Licensees are given training for their trainers, plus the full curriculum, coaching and monitoring for quality control.
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