The EBN Network a community sharing values, goals & brands

1. “Smart entrepreneurial environments require smart innovation delivery mechanism, and smart links with universities: lessons learned from (smart) BICs”Philippe VANRIE, CEO of EBNMURG conferenceBrussels16th September 2011

2. The EBN Networka community sharing values, goals & brands • The European Network of BICs, incubators, innovation and entrepreneurship & start-up Centres >>> « Innovation-based incubators » >>> Business & Innovation Centres (BICs) • An organised Network of 200+ Business & Innovation Support Centres covering most regions of EU 27 + neighbouring as well as partnering countries • An initiative taken 26 years ago by the EC (DG Regio), public authorities, industry leaders, and Universities >>> A pioneer in PPP, a connector between knowledge and business • A dynamic cluster of clusters with 25.000+ entrepreneurs within the active portfolio >> > with VillageTronic, Exilica, Vivalis, Lipotec, Codasystem, Semiotix, Biofly, BioAzul, Kandor Graphics, LeicaGeosystems, Jamendo, Weecast, Flexineo, etc inside • A community of qualified & committed intermediaries, with St-John Innovation Centre, Cap Alpha, Innostart, Promotech, Innotek,Technoport, Innovatum, Barcelona Activa, Beaz, Cedemi, CEIA Alava and BIC Berrilaninside !

3. Let’s talk about

4. 1. No smart strategywithout smart deliverymechanisms (Logisticsisserious)!

5. Entrepreneurship & innovation deliveryis a business ! • Samerules: focus, competence, efficiency, credibility! • Strategy, Operations, Flows, Organization & Control • (source: howe.stevens.edu)

6. 2. Networking, a seriousgame

7. o A network of course ! Standing aloneis not an option Networking is a keyskills for entrepreneurs ! • A network isa non-linearprocess, a fractal subject, withfuzzylogic, playing expert systems, semi-chaotic, semi-organized, withitsown open source language, inter-operable and plugable, coopetitive,… • A true new profession to beinserted in academic (pragmatic) education, a communitywithitsownlanguage and C(C for Community)RM software ! • A strange business objectdeveloping a series of functions & services: - collective reputationbuilder & roadmapping - internalqualityinsurance & externalbranding - total benchmarking & resources centre - intra-communitynetworking & thematicgroupings - idea-lab, toolkit, projectsfactory - hub & spokeconnectingplatform

8. Networking butwhy Networking ?relationshipwithentrepreneurship ? • Learning : knowledge, know-how, tools • FindingModels: business, role, leadership, admiration • Beinginspired by method & benchmarks • Beingproud of exposingrobustresults & impact • Sharing efforts: work, investment, risk, reward • Help takingdecisions: right or wrong • Sharing values: ethics, integrity, reputation • BV social-club: trust, affectivity, emotion, • Exploring the world: trends, idea & opportunityspotting • Teaming-up talents: teams, corecompetences, collaborative management, know-who & outsourcing • Enhancing ICT skills: connected, pervasive • Making business & money: of course !

9. 2’. Total Services, a serious culture

10. A passion for servicesNo entrepreneurs without an acute sense of services !!! • Promotion & reputation-building, towards public & privatesectors • Quality & benchmarking, QI, performances, tools, cases, data, practices,… • Networking & community-building, B2B, access2finance, access2BigBusiness, clustering • Policy navigation & opportunityspotting, programming, ideas, • EU/int’lprojects & cooperation building, Project factory, int’lcoop, … • All-round help-desk

11. 3. Incubation, a serious mission

12. BICs’ core business/competences a standards for Innovation-basedIncubators By the way, let’s focus !!! • incubator of new business ideas/models • creator of new innovativestart-ups • generator of spin-offs • developer of innovative SME projects • accelerator of growth • animator of clusters • proximityconnector local/global • multiplierof public policy • networking hub to experts, agents, players, investors… • Opportunityspotter, « hands-on » business developper • Coach & mentor, strategicadvisor

13. The portrait of a BIC (part 1) • A light and flexible structure(8 to 12 staff + outsourced experts) • Predominantly a public body, but highly representative of the private sector as well! (Legal status: 51% public, 14% mixed private-public, 35 % private) • A regional and international “networker” : • Universities, Science Parks and R&D institutions • Chambers of Commerce & Regional Development Agencies • Large Companies and Investors • Public Institutions • Highly focused on innovative entrepreneurship, increasingly in: • ICT, Telecom, Digital content and Mobile Apps • Energy, Environment and Cleantech • Life Sciences and Biotech • Mecatronics and Software Apps

14. The portrait of a BIC (part 2) • Providing added-value services to entrepreneurs: • Business planning and modeling • Scenario building and financial simulation • SME Financing, Seed capital and venture capital, growth financing • International cooperation, soft landing and partner search • Innovation projects engineering • Hands-on customized support to high-growth gazelle (post-incubation) • Legal business advice, commercial contracts, Intellectual Property Rights • Stimulating the eco-system • Experiencing new approaches (Open innovation with LE, Living labs,…) • Offering “incubation facilities” (average of 30 companies, creating 155 Jobs, living together in 3000 m2) • Animating clusters and helping collaborative projects to succeed (poles of competitiveness, local clusters, etc.)

15. What impact? Cumulative figures for the entire network 175.000 Business Plans developed 65.000 Start-up companies created 250.000 Existing SMEs supported 275.000 Jobs created

16. …in search of …the Perfect BIC/Incubator/entrepreneurs’ support centre ...powered by dream teams, guided by visionaries, endorsed by leading stakeholders, totally credible to the private sector, mandated by the public sector, sustainable and politically independent, making impact on the civil society, stimulating the entrepreneurship culture, embedding innovation by all means and with all (from academic sources or not) , serving a multi sectors entrepreneurs communities, open to external partnerships, interacting with other instruments in an open & smart mode, a connectors of small businesses to the global landscape, acting as an idea-lab and development centre for growing firms, providing knowledge and creativity centres facilities, finally an interactive cross-road for people, projects, know-how, technologies, IP, Investment, researchers and entrepreneurs.

17. “” 4. Smart Entrepreneurs, the real & the right stuff!

18. The language of Entrepreneurs do youspeakentrepreneurship ? « leadership, collaborative, open-minded, multi-disciplined, teaming, unique individuals, BD lovers, passion, work, rigor, conviction, talents, emotion, challenge-driven, customer-oriented, curiosity, courage, audace, tenacity, fighting spirit, solutions-driven, vision, risk, social engagement, adaptability, agility, mobility, ethics, integrity, simplicity, sense, communicator, focus, conscience, substance, excellence, invasive, pervasive, inclusive, visual, research, knowledge, duration, compliant but not toomuch, solidarity, exchanges, sharing, nomad, IT-addict, cash-fan, investment-ready, fastnetworker »

19. What are the priorities for an entrepreneur ? • Stabilizing and increasing business (sales, income, P&L) • Projectingthese trends in the mid-term (3-5 years) • Securingits USP, and differenciation • Scaling-up cash-cows + diversifying the range of products/services • Complyingwithprofessional standards and regulatoryconstraints • Strengtheningcore-competence(s), and paying attention to HRM and skillsdevelopment • Improvingitsfinancialrobustness (equities, cash-flow/working capital, capacity to invest and to borrow) • Optimizingmargins and stayingcompetitive

20. SME priorities, whatnext? • Watchingcompetitors, assessing new market trends, identifying new technologies, … • Creating & maintainingreputationwith clients & partners • Aquiring new customers and exploringint’lmarkets • Modernizing the factory, purchasingcleverly, controlling • Inventing new sales channels • Keeping the social peace • Protecting IP • Managing (limiting) risks of all types • Moving to advanced services • Moving to licensing, trying acquisitions, daringnetworking and collaborative projects …

21. 5. « 360 » degrees Innovation

22. Let’s talk about innovation, a pillar of entrepreneurship • Connect & develop • Sense & simplicity • Ecomagination • Thinkdifferent • Invent • Think • Connecting people • Sponsors of tomorrow • Research in motion • Efficient dynamics • Shift the wayyou move • Motion & emotion • Find more • Collaborate.Create.Succeed • A passion for progress • Materials for a better life • Sense & power

23. It’s about connectingideas, markets & people Market & customers Ideas & networking Thinking Inventing Connecting Collaborating Imagination Passion … People ! Intrapreneurs! • Develop I Succeed • Move I Motion I Dynamics • Simplicity • Sense • Tomorrow • Progress I Power • … • People ! Entrepreneurs!

24. Why innovation matters ?and whydoesitcreate the conditions for entrepreneurship ? • Changes in the environment forces companies to find new ways to serve theircustomerprofitably (ex: automotiveindustry) • Increasingcompetitive pressures threatenexisting businesses (ex: National Posts) • New customerneedsemergethatrequires new answers (ex: non letalweapons) • Disruptive technologies makeexisting businesses obsolescent (ex: the rise of digital photography) • Emerging technologies provideopportunities for value creation (ex: mini-cyclotrons) • Traditional innovation management methodsbased on perfect information and rational decisionmakingneed to beadjusted, in an age of change & uncertainty

25. Whatis innovation ?An ocean of bothtechnology & entrepreneurial vocabulary • Upstream R&D, yes of course (new IP above all) • Technology & Engineering (a passion for optimizingprocesses) • Blue ocean (inventing new market, ex: i-pad) • Redocean (intensifying frontal competition) • Radical (Re-inventingyourcompany!, ex: Keytradebank) • Disruptive (« innovation perturbatrice », ex: RyanAir) • Incremental (Optimizing the processes) • Micro-innovations (constituents of a corp. system for innovation) • Quality management & continuousimprovement • Strategic innovation (ex: Dacia) • Unintentionnal innovation • Survival innovation (La Redoute « on-line » shop) • Downstream applications (end users-oriented)

26. Benefits of innovation ?Onlyadvantages ? This is about management ! • Improvingquality & Improved production processes • Improvingprofitability and growing revenue • Defendingcore business and expression of market leadership • Extension of product/services ranges • Creation of new markets • Reduced labour costs & leanmanufacturing • Reducedenergy & materialsconsumption • Reduced R&D costs • Promoting intra-preneurship & market-oriented attitudes • Attractingstrategicindustrialpartners • Upgradingcustomers & prospects’ perception • Improving the diffusion of a positive company culture & image • Increasingshareholders value

27. How does innovation works ?withsociology, psychology & realism • First of all, integrate innovation at the core of the strategy, as a pivotal & visible corporate value • Movingfrom/balancingoptimizing business to/and creating business • Develop innovation teams (with R&D of course but not only) • Stimulate participative management, a highdegree of delegation & responsibility, collaborative & team works, and employee engagement (an innovative HRM style) • It’s an « inside-out » open processinteractingwithcustomers, prospects, suppliers, partners, competitors, staff • Balance supply-pushed (new technologies) withdemand-led (based on marketrequirements) • Design systems for ideasassesment and prioritization of detected/selectedopportunities

28. 6. Darwin & the ecosystems

29. The business support ecosystemclear focus & easyaccess ! • Efficient territorial innovation ecosystemsrequire a well-characterized road-map of support services providers • Entrepreneurshipshouldbe a pivotal value & action of any territorial economicdevelopmentstrategies • Vital for individual performances and for enablingcooperationbetweenplayers • Simply vital for the emergence of competences, efficency of support, and open innovation

30. The innovators’ & entrepreneurs’ dnaDoesitrequirespecificskills ? • Creative intelligence, not only cognitive skills • Courage to take + ability to manage risks • Courage to start + stop • Emotion + realism • Collective leadership • Customer intelligence • Opportunityspotters • KM/EI integrators • Associatingskills (connecting disciplines) • Questionningskills (why, why not, what if,…) • Observingskills (observingothers, beinganthropologist/sociologist) • Experimentingskills (prototyping + overseasexp.) • Networking skills (going out, ideas festivals,…)

31. Back2downstreamthe Appsera !The proximitywith the end-usersan acute understanding of the usages The Changing Technology landscape is not only affected by disruption, but more by the rise of applications, with/without IP @ a hunger for applications, @ the emergence of niches, @ an extreme diversity in applications, @ serial “opportunity spotting”, fast movers and integrators of market intelligence, @ by customer-lead innovation routes, @ by pervasive solutions approaches >>> output: hard, soft & data downstream applications for usable products & services

32. 7. Togetherwecan! Équipe

33. B2interactingconnectyourselfwithyourenvironment • Stimulate creativity at the periphery (on emerging or niches aspects of the business) of the core business units • Take an active part in your ecosystem’s life (ex: poles of competitiveness, clusters, corporate incubators, corporate venturing fund, technoparks, FP7 joint research projects,...) • Develop an acute sense of advanced services amongst your innovation team (Oracle selling associated services & consultancy) • Capture capabilities held by small firms (M&A or others), such as in Biotech (GSK ‘s Centres for excellence in drug discovery) • Open your non core-business IP, and deploy a licensing strategy • Let others develop your non strategic initiatives (Lucent, H-P) • Sponsor communities of young talents (engineering schools, business schools) and of application developers (Ex: Intel, Oracle) • Invest in innovation-based educational program, for valorizing the multi-cultural character of the company, and for picking talents • An innovating company is forced to consistently innovate in its communication (annual report, web-sites,...)

34. B2territoriesthe place-basedtheory, the proximity factor • Serious Gaming at Coventry (entrepreneurial) University • Birmingham (real SMEs) Photonics Clusters • Chem2biz basf spin-off incubator in Ludwigshafen • KIS Biotherapies clustering in Nantes • Knowledge Dock regeneration in the Docklands • Creative computer graphics in Darmstadt • Cleantech platform in Lahti • Software development centre for start-ups in Cork • SatNavGalilleo applications incubated in Liège & Lux • An IT community of 100+ start ups in Barcelona • An integrated TT-Incubation-VC-cluster animation system on micro/nano-electronics at Imec in Leuven • Creativity and design crash courses in Sunderland • Mechatronics in Haute-Savoie, Photovoltaics in Savoie, • Creative industries in Trolhattan as a response to automotive

35. 8. The statistical & Moore laws

36. Thankyou for your attention European BICs Network (EBN) Philippe VANRIE Avenue de Tervuren, 168, B-1150 Brussels Tel. +32 (0)2 772 89 00 Fax +32 (0)2 772 95 74 pva@ebn.be www.ebn.eu