Preliminary Findings from Cleantech Incubation Cluster Analysis onIdentifying Best Practice Cleantech Incubation Policies

Pauline van der Vorm, TU Delft, NetherlandsGareth Jones, Opportunity Peterborough, UK

Best practice cleantech incubation policies

What policies (strategies, structures and processes) are most effective in enabling and supporting cleantech incubation at a regional level?

We interviewed, surveyed and collected data on 16 clusters in 13 countries…

• Copenhagen (DK)• Malmo & Lund (SE)• Helsinki (FI)• Munich (DE)• London & Peterborough (UK)• Oslo (NO)• Delft & Rotterdam (NL)• Zurich (CH)• Styria (AU)• Paris (FR)• Barcelona (ES)• Budapest (HU)• Torino (IT)

Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2012 (map)& Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012

Map source: DG Enterprise & Industry (2012)Index source: Global Cleantech Group & WWF (2012)

1 Denmark

2 Israel3 Sweden

4 Finland

5 USA6 Germany

7 Canada8 South Korea9 Ireland10 UK

11 Norway

12 India13 China14 Netherlands

15 Switzerland

16 Australia17 Austria

18 Belgium19 France

20 Japan21 Spain

22 Hungary

23 Czech Republic24 Portugal25 Brazil26 Argentina27 Italy

28 South Africa29 Slovenia30 Poland

Best practice cleantech incubation policies

Main Findings #1

Cleantech Incubators are a good way to connect academic research and public R&D institutes with SMEs for knowledge transfer, and the reverse flow detailing innovation needs of SMEs.

Main Findings #2

Cleantech Incubation is at the core of regional eco-innovation ecosystems and cleantech clusters.

Best practice cleantech incubation policies

Main Findings #3

Cleantech Incubators need a stakeholders network with complex interactions :

• Local and regional government• Local and regional universities• Local and regional companies, partners, etc.• Financiers…

Example: I3P's stakeholders network

Main Findings #4

Cleantech Incubation can be "observed“ as a complex system divided into four steps with many supporting actors and tools:

The Best Practice “CIE Project Model”1. Cleantech Incubation Ecosystem• Definition of a cleantech policies• Public procurement support • Organising of networking and brokering activities • Building the incubation stakeholders‘ network

2. Sources of Ideas / Idea Generation• Innovation climate• Research funding• Entrepreneurship education• PhD awareness of innovation• Scouting• Interviews with researchers• Networking events

3. Selection of “Winners”• Idea & business plan competitions• Tutor support• IP management & protection support• Support in new company setup• Definition of final exam criteria & commission

4. Funding Start-ups• Pre-seed loans• Prototype funds• Proof-of-concept funds• Seed investment funds• Venture capital funds• Access to special agreements with banks

The Best Practice “CIE Project Model”5. Facilities, business support, training & coaching• Physical infrastructure of the incubator• Tutorship support (strategic consulting)• Access to a network of professionals• Business support• Mediation instruments• Access to "Friend-Companies“• Marketing support• Internationalisation support

6. Exit Strategy• Monitoring tools for the “health" of start-ups• Growth / acceleration programmes• Support in facing the dilemma “sell / growth"

7. The Business of Incubation• Best business models for running the incubator

itself

8. Incubation Performance• Best Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for cleantech

incubation (start-ups created, investment funding collected, jobs created, etc.

These points will be summarised in a new handbook:

"Cleantech Incubation Policy and Practice: Recipes for Creating Cleantech Incubator Hotspots"

This will be ready for the final conference in Delft, 12-13 June 2014.

Thank You Visit our website at www.cleantechincubation.eu to register for our newsletter and follow us @CIE_EU