EU 'good practice' conference to promote academic entrepreneurship

An international conference will examine European 'good practice' for the promotion of academic entrepreneurship in Bonn, Germany, from 24 to 26 April 2002.

The USE-it! conference will examine new concepts for successful university spin-offs, entrepreneurial skills training and access to international markets, among others. The event will present innovative concepts for the promotion of spin-offs from universities which have been tested and validated as 'good practice' schemes by three EU projects - USINE, SPINNOVA and EMBRYO. The three projects are funded by the European Commission under the action line PAXIS (the pilot action of excellence on start-ups), which aims to learn from regions of excellence and validate successful methodologies for innovative start-ups through a series of 24 validation projects.

Subjects addressed will include:

- a new concept of incubation - 'pre-incubation' - which is tailor-made for academics with a business idea;

- how to set up, manage and insure a university-associated 'pre-incubator';

- new web-based tools for customised guidance and advice to academic researchers;

- how to help academic researchers set up their own commercialisation plans and IPR-strategies;

- how to create a favourable framework for the development and growth of innovative firms;

- how to set up support infrastructures for technology-based ventures;

- how to support early-stage entrepreneurs to access international markets.

The conference, which hopes to attract technology transfer agents, industrial liaison officers and spin-off managers, is being organised by the coordinators of the PAXIS projects USINE, SPINNOVA and EMBRYO, Euroconsult/University of Bonn, (Germany), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), the University Miguel Hernández Elche (Spain) and the University of Twente (the Netherlands).For further information, please contact:

Birgit Wirsing
Euroconsult/University of Bonn
Poppelsdorfer Allee 53-55
D-53115 Bonn
Germany
Tel: +49-228-733 073
Fax: +49-228-731 982
E-mail: wirsing@uni-bonn.de

or consult the following web addresses:

http://www.usine.uni-bonn.de/use-it(opens in new window)

http://cordis.europa.eu/paxis(opens in new window)

For detailed information on the USINE, SPINNOVA and EMBRYO projects, please consul the following web addresses:

http://www.usine.uni-bonn.de(opens in new window)

http://www.spinnova.org(opens in new window)

http://www.umh.es/observatorio/embryo(opens in new window)