CORDIS opens up its European Business Incubators database
CORDIS, the European Commission's Research and Development Information Service, is broadening its Business Incubators service and hosting the profiles of new organisations so as to assist innovators. Business Incubators offer a supportive environment to newly created firms to establish and develop their business. They provide modular buildings, shared facilities and managerial support and backup services, thus improving the chances for successful growth. The current service provides direct access to over 650 business incubators in Europe and associated countries, with addresses, contact person details, key facts on activities as well as links to local web services. New organisations across Europe wishing to be included in the searchable database can now submit their details online on CORDIS. In addition, the service provides links to information on the European Commission's benchmarking activities as well as case studies on incubator activities. The service thus acts as a gateway to promote the role of incubators and to ease identification via a user-friendly geographic search feature.