Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol1-1 > Innovation with vision, incubation in action, networking by passion

Born 25 years ago as a European Commission pilot initiative, EBN is the leading pan-European Community of Business & Innovation Centres (BICs) and Innovationbased incubators. The EBN network ensures the provision of high-standard services through the 200+BICs spread across Europe and beyond.

Operating as an open and innovative platform, the EBN network is focused on encouraging the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, always improving its core-business performance and contributing to the acceleration of the Lisbon strategy through pragmatic partnerships with other recognised private and public players and networks, including European Commission initiatives, programmes and projects.

BICs provide direct hands-on support such as advice, guidance, incubation and mentoring which has proven to be of great value to young, promising and high-growth businesses. They create innovative businesses and promote synergies between centres of knowledge (industries, SMEs, universities, research centres, etc.) and public and private investors.

Innovation and incubation

BICs are organisations serving both the public interest and private sector, which employ a dynamic system of detection/selection/monitoring/ management of entrepreneurs and projects.

They aim at creating and developing innovative businesses, by offering a wide range of business support and integrated incubation services.

BICs contribute to the stimulation of local economies by valorising regional/local endogenous human, physical and financial resources.

BICs are professional organisations that promote, stimulate and develop innovation in SMEs at all stages of their development, through a comprehensive incubation process. Depending on the characteristics of the territory and the existing business support organisations already present, BICs may focus on fostering the creation of new innovative enterprises and/or developing innovation in existing enterprises, with the goal of contributing ultimately to regional/local economic development, competitiveness and growth.

Quality and the BIC Annual Observatory

Since January 2002, EBN has been awarded a trademark licensing contract from the European Commission, with DG Enterprise and Industry. This contract permits EBN to manage the licence of the BIC European trademark. EBN has the mandate to grant, renew and withdraw these licences on behalf of the European Commission.

EBN implements a certification and quality system enabling the development of a network of excellence through the integration of a quality approach. The BICs that have been granted the BIC trademark commit themselves to respect their obligations within the quality process of the network.

The EBN quality process adds value to the BIC trademark and to the organisations that have received the licence (professionalism, performance, consistency, positioning). The quality process is built on three essential pillars within the network

• Total client satisfaction
• Capacity to implement, regional, national and community policies;
• benchmarking
• The BIC annual observatory report summarises the findings from the annual BIC quality survey collected at the beginning of each year. The report provides a review of process and performance indicators and presents the performance of the network in core business areas.

The BICs response to the current global crisis

“Localisation”, “customisation” and “specialisation” are the responses of BICs to the global crisis. As governments around the world are trying to enact measures to contrast the negative effects of an economic downturn that started more than 12 months ago, and that has no short-term foreseeable resolution, BICs and their stakeholders are concentrating more and more on the use of their territorial competitive advantages in terms of endogenous resources and, simultaneously, are tackling highly innovative, added-value services and technological sectors, which are bound to generate high-added-value patterns of sustainable development. Furthermore “cooperation” is the key methodology adopted.

The tendency to co-operate is genetically embedded in BICs’ chromosomes, and this can be stated when assessing the strategic alliances of the BICs, when assessing the level of co-operation, for example, with the recently created Enterprise Europe Network, and other networks, and last but not least, when considering the need for networking constantly expressed to EBN by its members, which evidence can be perceived by the level of participation to the thematic networks operated within the EBN network (Maritime BICs, Cleantech BICs, “Space and Sat” (ESA) BICs, Food-BICs, and ICT BICs).

Therefore, with its 25 years’ experience, the BIC model is increasingly adequate and flexible enough to adapt itself to the changing surroundings and is capable of remaining up-front on the spear of innovation. It is not by mere coincidence that large companies are showing more and more interest in the BIC model and are getting in touch with the network as a source of innovation detection and pool of entrepreneurial talents.

Partnerships between small business clusters and large corporates

Throughout its history, EBN and the BICs have developed partnerships with large corporates such as British Telecom, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and more recently with Cisco Systems and Auchan Hypermarkets. These partnerships have always ensured the connectivity between young innovative SMEs and R&D innovation teams from large corporates in a winwin process where the development of new innovative trade, of new approaches to the relationship with customers and prospects, of new products remain at the heart of the co-operation.

Expertise through EU and international projects

One of the primary objectives of EBN is to provide “expertise, best practice and guidance to its members”.

Through participation in EU and international projects, EBN and the BICs develop and test new ideas, tools and methodologies related to the BICs core business of stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship in the regions.

Project activity is inherently linked with all of the other core activities of EBN. Sectorial projects have facilitated the emergence and growth of sectorial networks. The tools and methodologies employed by the BICs and disseminated to the wider BIC community contribute to the quality and continuous improvement of the network. EU and international projects by their very nature foster internationalisation – between the BIC community and in many cases between clients of the BICs in different countries.

EBN has co-ordinated several successful international projects in the field of:

• Innovation finance: InveSat – www.invesat.com;
• Clustering : Cluster-Net – www.ebn-cbc.net;
• SMEs and R&D: Detect-It – www.detect-it2.org;
• Advanced services: Kis4Sat – www.europe-innova.org;
• Spatial & satellite applications: Navobs – www.navobs.com;
• EBN is also deploying projects within contractual schemes, not only with the EC, but also with the ESA, the UNDP, and the World Bank.

ESINET

Innovation is a basic condition for the growth of economies. In Europe, the potential to create new business opportunities thanks to space technologies and satellite navigation and telecommunication systems (including GMES & GALILEO) is enormous.

In 2002, the European Space Incubators Network (ESINET) was launched by the ESA (European Space Agency), as an experimental platform for the incubation of “Space & Sat” applications. Today, ESINET has become the leading network of incubators focusing – wholly or partially – on space-related technologies used in all sectors. Its members stand for high-technology business incubator facilities with a proven track record.

Since 2009, EBN has managed ESINET and is implementing the new strategy and offer to members, by increasing the deal flow of information.

For more information, contact:
EBN – European Business & Innovation Centre Network
Philippe Vanrie, CEO Avenue de Tervuren, 168 box 25,
BELGIUM, 1150 Brussels
Tel: +32 2772 8900
E-mail: pva@ebn.eu
Website: www.ebn.eu