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Financing High-Tech: Lessons from the Israeli Innovation System. Vittorio Modena The University of Pavia and E.M. Venturepolicy Prepared for the World Bank seminar held in Riga on June 8-9, 2004. Presentation Outline. Part I – Evolution of the Israeli Innovation System
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Financing High-Tech: Lessons from the Israeli Innovation System Vittorio Modena The University of Pavia and E.M. Venturepolicy Prepared for the World Bank seminar held in Riga on June 8-9, 2004
Presentation Outline Part I – Evolution of the Israeli Innovation System Part II – The Yozma and Technological Incubators programmes Part III– Exportable lessons Part IV – The ESTER project V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
General Evolution Phase I (1920-1967) – Academia and scientific tradition Phase II (1968-1990) - Accumulation of intangibles by public policy (military oriented) Phase III– (1990-2000) - Private high-tech exponential growth (through start-ups) V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 1 - Academia and Scientific Traditions • Strong scientific (academic) culture since the end of the 19° century • The Technion and Hebrew University of Jerusalem are created in the 1920’s • The Weizmann institute is founded in 1949 V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 2 –(1969-1990) (1/2) • Following the 6 days war and embargo on weapons import, independent technological capability becomes a need • The Office of the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of industry and trade is created • Large budget allocation to R&D V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 2 –(1969-1990) (2/2) • The Aeronautics and Electronics industries take the lead as they are the most relevant for the military sector • Since 1984 R&D activity is enlarged and becomes more oriented to civilian R&D V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 3 – (1990-2000) Main Characteristics • ICT market growing very strongly worldwide • Progresses in the peace process • Agressive public/private partnership programmes V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 1,2,3-Comparison Source: Teubal and Avnimelech V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 3 – Public Programmes • 1990-The Technological Incubators programme • 1992-3- Yozma and Inbal (Venture Capital) • Magnet (Universities-Firms links) • Regular funding of R&D (R&D in Firms) V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Part II – The Yozma and Technological Incubators Programmes V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 3 – The Yozma Programme (or How to create a Venture Capital Industry from Scratch) 1990 Market Failure Gov’t Intervention 1993 $100M Investment Establishement of Yozma 1997 Creation of 10 funds Gov’t exit V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Phase 3 – The Yozma Programme (1/3) Yozma= a public Fund of Funds’ 40% 60% Private investors Start-up fund (private) Company Company Company V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
The Yozma Programme- 10 Drop-Down Funds Attracting Foreign Investors (2/3) Fund Foreign Partners Eurofund Daimler Benz, DEG (DE) Gemini Advent Inventech Van Leer Group (NL) JPV Oxton Medica MVP (USA) Nitzanim-Concord AVX, Kyocera (Korea) Polaris CMS (USA) Star TVM (DE) & Singapore tech Vertex Vertex int’l funds Walden Walden V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
The Yozma Baby Funds Growing…(3/3) Fund Original Size (M$) Present Size (M$) Eurofund 20 90 Gemini 25 350 Inventech 20 40 JPV 20 580 Medica 20 70 Nitzanim-Con 20 280 Polaris 20 645 Star 20 400 Vertex 20 250 Walden 25 175 TOTAL 210 2880 V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
The Technological Incubators Programme • Finances 85% of the budget up to $ 350,000 • A protective environment for the inexperienced entrepreneur including premises and consulting • Accept projects at the very early stage of their conception V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
An Early Stage Business-plan Source:Pridor V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
The Technological Incubators Programme • Started 1991 • 23 incubators • 8 start-ups each • 30 M$ budget every year • Geographically distributed • Non-profit entities now being privatised • Number of graduates: 735 (end 2001) • Success rate: around 52% V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Evolution of the Public/Private Investment in Incubated Projects V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Contribution to Sectorial Variety Source:IFISE final report V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Part III – Exportable Lessons(mainly from the IFISE Project) V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Seed (and Pre-seed) vs. Start-up Capital • Both need strong initial public support • Start-up sources just need triggering, seed sources need continuous support • However, support for seed funds may be reduced gradually after successful launch V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Research-Intensive vs. “Generally Innovative” Firms • Different schemes are needed for different kinds of firms: Research-intensive firms are more risky and need more help and infrastructure • Venture Capital and private equity also deal with traditional sectors V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Sectorial Neutrality Neutral seed funds (or incubators) appear to succeed as much as sectoral, so: If you don’t have a very good reason to impose sectorality or neutrality, don’t ! Biotech is different as it requires different infrastructures, size of funds, development time. V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Passive Role of Government • No intervention in the management companies: Government shall only monitor (a delicate matter), not make business decisions • Gov’t role and exit should be planned from the start. V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Expert Foreign Partner Involvement • For expertise, networking and reputation. • Encouraging/requiring such partnerships is a way to help the industry work. V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Deal Flow: a “Critical Mass” Problem • Making a programme attractive is not only about incentives • Deal flow may be a problem for new technology based deals and/or for small regions (or countries) • Low deal flow=>more flexible schemes not limited to small regions or specific sectors V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Example: Italian high-tech potential vs. Structural funds V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Part IV – The ESTER Project V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
The ESTER Project (1/2) Objectives • Planning for effective sources of seed and venture capital in Estonia, Latvia and the Slovak Republic • Submission of formal proposals for the launch of new programmes to the relevant authorities in the three countries and the EC V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
The ESTER Project (2/2) Basic Methodology • Inspiration from the Yozma and Technological Incubators programmes in Israel • Thorough study of the Innovation system in Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia • Thorough study of EC regulations • Planning with world experts • Submission of proposals to the relevant authorities V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Latvia Venture Capital Strategy V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004
Contacts/references Email: vmodena@libero.it IFISE Project http://ifise.unipv.it ESTER Project http://www.unipv.it/ester/index.html Company http://www.venturepolicy.com V. Modena (vmodena@libero.it) - World Bank Conference - Riga, June 8-9th, 2004