2013
18-19 November 2013
EU - Israel Innovation Seminar
Technological Incubators - Tel Aviv
EU - Israel Innovation Seminar Technological Incubators
18-19 November 2013
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Table of Contents
Summary 3
Report 4
Programme 22
List of Participants 26
Link to photographs https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o0aoxrp5gr4auxc/d0LneHMSj7
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Summary
More than 70 European incubator managers and staff, start up companies, policy
makers and academics attended the third annual EU Israeli Innovation Seminar
which took place on 18-19 November in Tel Aviv. The European participants came
from 15 EU Member States - Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and
Slovenia. They were joined by 30 of their Israeli counterparts as well as 30
representatives from EU Embassies.
This year's seminar focused on technological incubators. The seminar's first day was
held at the Google Campus in Tel Aviv and took the form of facilitated discussions
and a roundtable of incubator managers. On the second day, participants visited
Israeli incubators and a municipal start up facility.
The keynote speech was given by Professor Ehud Gazit, Chief Scientist of the
Ministry of Science, Space and Technology who spoke about the academia,
government and industry triple helix as a key for innovative society.
The variety of countries, in terms of size and innovation development, led to
stimulating discussions. Among the conclusions reached were: the need for a critical
mass of talents, that there is no one best practice, the importance of diversity, the
need for successful entrepreneurs to serve as mentors, recognising failure as a
positive indication, and the necessity to continually adapt the innovation
ecosystem. Differing positions were advanced on whether a culture can be changed
and on how to encourage entrepreneurship in societies lacking that predisposition,
the role of the educational systems, the relative importance of funding, the positive
and negative aspects of multinational research centres, the role of a country's
"diaspora" and whether or not a country should be concerned about and address its
"brain drain".
It was agreed that it was important to maintain the seminar's momentum. Among
the ideas for a common project were the establishment of a competition that would
award a prize to the best of the best 3 incubator graduates nominated by the
participating countries. It was also agreed to set up a Google forum to maintain
communication between the participants and to provide input to the planning of
next year's seminar.
Alexandra Meir
EU Delegation, Tel Aviv
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REPORT1
Keynote Speech
Professor Ehud Gazit, Chief Scientist Ministry of Science, Technology and Space
The concept of chief scientist in Israel is unique, due to Israel’s special nature. Every
office in the government has a chief scientist. Tech transfer is knowledge transfer
from academy into society. Incubators in Israel are an important part of the Israeli
culture. It is called ‘Greenhouse’ in Hebrew, which relates to the protection of the
weak and small. Incubators create a triangle: government, industry, academy, not in
this order. The academic world is the source. An example is Teva, which developed
the Copaxon drug. The concept for this drug originated in the Weizmann Institute as
an innovative concept and was not intended to be a drug. Nevertheless it brought
more than 22 billion dollars revenue to Teva. Cherry tomatoes are another example
– originated in The Hebrew University. This type of dynamic innovative link between
academy and industry is encouraged in Israel and has its benefits.
Innovation in Israel is research initiated. It relies on the imagination, innovation and
creativity of researchers, their desire to develop new products. As a government
(Chief Scientist) we have to find ways to encourage the development of new
technologies, by supporting various activities, e.g. the MAGNET PROGRAMME, which
directs the transfer of knowledge from the academy towards product maturation,
and is involved in the formation of consortiums between industry and other
partners, and in attracting the right kind of innovations.
University: the excellent source of basic research, the prime source for innovation
and creativity. Incubators are only one option, licensing to companies is another,
local and foreign. Technological maturation is also important.
The 1980 Bayh–Dole Act by the USA government was a turning point in the transfer
of technology from the academic world to the industry: this affected decisions
regarding ownership of patents and inventions financed by the American
government, thus providing the public with access to the best products of the
research.
The government should provide the framework for deep innovations, the right
conditions. In Israel multi-nationalism is becoming more prevalent. Most of the IT
generated in Israel belongs to multinational companies. This is interesting, and raises
many issues, which are being debated in the Ministry of Economy.
In the Ministry of Science several forums discuss and decide on priorities and
coordination of activities, e.g. cyber security. Cyber tech is becoming more and more
complex, and will hold more importance in the private sector in the future.
Prof. Gazit is actively involved in negotiations for Horizon 2020, hopes that
difficulties will be overcome, and looks forward to collaborations with the EU.
1 This report, prepared by Moshe Papo, summarises the discussion rather than giving
a verbatim record.
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INCUBATORS IN THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
Facilitator: Pekka Roine, Foundation of Finnish Inventions
Innovation is the driving force behind much of the EU knowledge transfer. In Israel,
Ben Gurion himself supported this. Israel has succeeded in the incubator arena and
serves as a model. 15 nations have gathered here to learn about the programme and
from each other, so that the EU can do better, and in order to improve the transfer
of information.
Mr. Jürgen Wengel, Deputy Head of Unit 112, Federal Republic of Germany,
Ministry of Education and Research
New innovation support instruments and programmes of the Federal Republic of
Germany
Mr. Wengel expressed his wish to broaden the subject of the interface science /
industry. Innovation system in Germany: one of the most innovative countries in the
world. Two thirds comes from industries, locomotive, pharmaceutical, and other
more traditional industries. Germany tends to encourage the traditional, and is less
of a startup country. A third comes from public institutions. This is different to other
countries
2006: more money was directed into the innovation area in Germany. This was a
strategy over many industries. The demand orientation is another factor. In Germany
there are five areas: mobility, communications, security, health care and Cleantech.
Holistic approach: financing, taxes, interaction between science and industry. How to
bring science into innovations. Germany is investing in R&D, and less in worldly
markets.
Complex instruments have been introduced:
- Supporting entrepreneur culture
- High tech startup fund
- Validation programmes, money for further development of university and scientific
projects.
GENERIC APPROACHES: selecting several clusters of innovation projects. Money is
allocated to these. Universities, industry, government, and others, all working
together. Global competition is good for startup. The clusters do consulting training,
events, incubators, healthy interaction within the tech field, creating a good
environment. This is the German approach to innovation, it is a success story and
works well along the lines of HORIZON 2020.
What next? What happens after this intensive nursing?
Another question, how long to support? Critical mass determines this: it is difficult to
attract the investment, there is a room for cooperation within EU, and some has
already been attempted.
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Mr. Yossi Smoler, Director Technological Incubators Programme, Office of Chief
Scientist, Ministry of Economy ISRAEL
The Israeli Incubator Programme
Fifth year in the job. Background in the IT industry, founder of startup companies.
The job I am doing is not a career, more like my contribution to my country
Incubator programmes in Israel: in response to failures. The basic model was
originally non-profit incubator companies, aimed at providing work to former Soviet
Union scientists who did not find appropriate positions when they immigrated to
Israel. This changed in 2002, because of viability issues.
Today’s model: Licenses for incubator companies are issued. The incubators are
private companies for profit. All the incubators in Israel today are profitable
companies, of all types and not only from Israel. Today the failure is a different one.
The high tech industry in Israel makes up to 50% of export. We have many talented
people and many entrepreneurs, but the problems are financing. The government
intervened in order to overcome market failure. Top companies were selected and
provided with an incubator for several years, where everything was provided. After
that period they are released and the criteria for success is the ability of that
company to raise at least half a million dollars, which signals success. The
government allocates anywhere between $500,000 – $850000
The budget is a two year budget, and provides 85% of the project cost. The higher
the risk the higher the budget. The government carries 85% of the risk; the incubator
(a private company) carries the remaining 15%. This is a simplified version of a more
complex system that was abolished.
If the company succeeds, it pays back 3% of annual revenues until the full grant is
paid back. Of course there is interest on the loan, but reasonable. The objective of
the government is not to make money.
Incubator – provides mentoring. It does all logistics, and so incubator companies are
chosen by expertise, leaving the entrepreneurs to do their job. The incubator is
expected to continue investing into the new companies and thus they are selected.
Selecting projects: due diligence is performed by the incubator companies, few are
selected by the companies, the names are transferred to the approval of the
government, to gain the financial support. A committee appointed by the
government decides who will be accepted or rejected. Most are approved by the
government, because the real choosing is done by the incubator companies. Only 2-
3% of projects are accepted eventually, due to budget constraints.
Reforms over the years: In the past, the grant came up for renewal every three
years, under strict guidelines. Today the model is based on 8 years support, where in
the seventh year the tender is open to competition. Large companies are selected
also. The chief scientist monitors the process but does not interfere unless the risk
criteria are not met. The office tries to focus the incubators on a specific area and
not go too wide.
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22 incubators exist in Israel at the moment. Only startups that cannot succeed
without government support are selected.
FACILITATED DISCUSSION:
Q. by participant: do not think it is good that incubators are associated with large
companies. What is the rationale for the Israeli different approach to incubators?
How does one avoid large companies coming in at the end of the process and buying
the readymade solution?
A. Yossi Smoler: a good point. The big companies can just wait and buy the startups,
without spending a penny financing the process. We try to connect large companies
who have big pockets, to the process from the start, with the added benefit of
establishing the connection to the customer base, to strategic partners, etc. The R&D
remains here in Israel, even if the company leaves, and that is good enough for us,
because we are good at R&D.
Q. DENMARK: have you assessed how this is attracting foreign investment?
A. Yossi Smoler: the answer is yes, there is an attraction and interest. The
government is paying more of the money, and the risk is low, why not open startups
in Israel? Over the next few days, tenders will be opened in Israel, there will be high
competition, and few will be chosen.
Q. GREECE: regarding the clusters in Germany, how are they defined, what are the
criteria, etc.
A. Jürgen Wengel: We have three rounds: 1. general description of the process – 30
offers, judged by an independent jury. They chose 12 finalists. 2. Each had to develop
a strategy of 60 pages, present it before the jury, in the mean time they were
assessed by experts in the industry.
3. Finally 5 were chosen. Our criteria: the company must be an existing company,
with a management structure in place. The financing period is 5 years, and then they
go their own way, but with public support.
The strategy depends on the field, e.g. life sciences, aviation, software, micro-tech,
neurolinguistics, etc. Each area demands a different strategy.
A. Yossi Smoler: We don’t do this; we do not define the area we want the incubator
to focus on. We don’t want to define the need of the market. In Israel at present the
split of the 200 companies running in incubators is: 40% medical devices, 10%
biotechnology and pharma, 30% ICT; 15% Cleantech, 5% others. This was decided by
the market.
Q. LATVIA: Why would a new investor be willing to invest in a company where the
share owner himself does not want to continue investing into the next stages?
A. Yossi Smoler: true, that could become a problem. In Israel there is an additional
programme that focuses on companies that have graduated from incubators. Here
the government carries 50% of the cost and demands matching from the investor.
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Q. from IRELAND to Yossi Smoler: what should be the government involvement in
TTO’s?
A. Yossi Smoler: TTO’s are a must for any research institute, just to make sure that
there are knowledgeable people involved in identifying IP that can be
commercialized, and have the knowledge to do this. In Israel they work well.
Q: should the government be involved in standardizing TTO’s?
A. Yossi Smoler: we do not interfere in the TTO’s function and objectives. We set up
some regulations regarding how to work with TTO’s. The model we are using today
offers three options: equity, licensing, or both. The IP that is allocated is a licensing,
equity, or both. The IP is given on a non-exclusive, unlimited basis, so long as the
company exists. If the company closes the original IP given before the incubation
time returns to the university, but the IP generated within the incubator time
belongs to the company
A. Jürgen Wengel: Germans don’t put too many expectations on the TTO’s. We are
not ready to take shares with universities and companies in an easy way. The salaries
paid in universities must be able to attract professionals and that is not the situation
in Germany.
Comment GERMANY: the people involved in tech transfer in universities are usually
people who have not made it in the academy, are inexperienced in industry, never
started a company, never negotiated a deal, and they actually use us. One needs
professional tech transfer organizations, like the Weizmann Institute.
Comment HUNGARY: We have started an incubator programme, similar to the
Israeli one. There is no second expert evaluation after the incubators have selected
the companies. We have included a follow up fund. All is done by the designated
incubators. We were surprised by the demand. There were 20 applicants for a fund
that was sufficient for 4, and we selected 4. Those that were not accepted continued
anyway, which is interesting. These were supported by the private sector, investors.
Q. FINLAND: Israel has been a model for Finland too. Greetings from ‘SLASH’, a large
investor, entrepreneur, startup event which happens in Finland in November, with
6000 participants, amongst them several hundred investors from all over the world.
Our programme ‘Vigo Venture Acceleration Programme’ has been running for 4 year.
A two year acceleration period. There are 70 startups in Finland, 10 accelerators;
private equity has been attracted into startups. 170 million euros have been raised,
two thirds from private, half of the private from foreign super-angles. There is a
positive mood in Finland.
Q. for Yossi Smoler: what are the incentives for new and emerging accelerators; it is
time and money consuming to become an accelerator.
A. Yossi Smoler: accelerators are for projects that are less risky, internet
applications for example. It is important to define an accelerator. Some incubators
have opened their own accelerators to serve as gatekeepers to the incubator,
eventually selecting the top players.
Q. ISRAEL: When one has many incubators and startups, what is the long term
purpose? What is the mix between the sale of the company to the MNC’s and
building long lasting companies in the country, for the future, and to enhance
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production? In Israel this is an issue which is debated and I would like to hear the
other countries policy approach
Q. GREECE: how do you keep the startups from leaving the country, after all the
investment? Is it only universities that take part in TTO’s, or are there private
individuals who can also participate?
A. Yossi Smoler: we all want companies to stay. The bad news is the global market;
we cannot force companies to stay. We can give incentives for companies to stay,
but that’s all we can do. The role of the incubators is to provide the framework for
the development of startups. Staying or going will depend on the will of the
shareholders and government.
There is an R&D law in Israel, and it deals with IP developed in Israel with
government funding. We have developed a formula that takes into account the
money invested by government. A startup that wants to sell will be liable for fees
based on criteria of government ownership, and the staying or leaving of the R&D in
Israel will affect the fee.
Comment GERMANY: would recommend governments focus less on policies that
attach strings to IP’s and instead focus on making the country an attractive place for
investors. Money goes where talent and information is.
Comment FINLAND: The Israeli model encourages high competition and allocates
money only to the top successful companies, whilst other countries tend to dilute
the money amongst many companies, not necessarily achieving success. The Israeli
model enables recycling of talent.
Q: How is the selection performed?
A. Yossi Smoler: the candidates have to perform their own market research, their
own patent infringement survey, etc. The chief scientist office has several
programmes that offer various levels of government involvement.
Comment GERMANY: offers various programmes, not only for startups. Cluster
alliances exist, strategic alliances with other countries. Israel has joint R&D
development projects with other countries.
A. Yossi Smoler: Israel has bi-national and multinational agreements with many
countries all over the world, especially Europe, for joint R&D projects, that are very
successful.
Q. to Yossi Smoler: what is a good return?
A. Yossi Smoler: the amount of money invested from 1991 to this year into
companies within incubators was 690 million USD. During the same period, private
investors invested about 3.5 billion USD into the same companies. The ratio is 1:5
It’s a good investment for the government, for every dollar the government invests a
private investor will give 5. The government collects the tax on the 3.5 billion, and
receives additional royalties from the companies in the future, so a lot of money
comes back.
Q. CYPRUS: angel investments; are there incentive programmes to attract them?
A. Yossi ISRAEL: There are incentive programmes, some tax relief. They can also be
shareholder in the incubators.
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ROUNDTABLE OF INCUBATOR MANAGERS Moderator: Dariusz Zuk CEO of Entrepreneurial Poland
Panelists: Seppo Ruotsalainen - Finland, Christian Tidona - Germany, Simone Botti
-Germany/Israel, Gerasimos Mentzelopolous - Greece, Sabie Valner - Hungary,
Haim Kopans - Israel, Duby Lachovitch - Israel, Roy Wiesner - Israel, Marcello
Merlo, Agris Kipurs - Latvia, Andrius Bagdonas - Lithuania, Robert Barski - Poland,
Celso Carvalho – Portugal.
Dariusz Zuk:
Polish entrepreneurship:
The first factor of success is dreaming: 9 years ago we decided to create a better
ecosystem on the global market. We wanted our startups to be the finest in the
global market.
The second factor in success is stepping into the dream: over the past 9 years we
have created 14 incubators in Poland. We have 1300 companies inside the
incubators, and 6000 post incubator companies.
We invested in startups. The process was simple. Initially we watched video
presentations sent in by applicants. We chose the best of them and then called some
in to present their idea. Each company chosen received 25,000 Euro to start off.
We have accelerators intended for companies that are post incubators. We start
with incubators, where we incubate the idea. Later there is money, and later
accelerators, the latter accelerating business for the startup. Even those without
means can come to accelerators. It’s not always about money, its about dreaming
and doing something big. An accelerator is intended for realizing dreams.
The third factor of success: try and be foolish, do differently to others.
Q. to panel members:
In what ways are you different and unique and what makes you successful?
- Incubators based in university environment
- Greece: flexible, friendly atmosphere, don’t hesitate to take risks.
- Italy: opening incubators, creating platforms of different kinds, digital, web design.
Successful because we try to make life easier for the users.
- Hungary: incubator for global startups. Very global, unique, partnerships of business
owners, mentors on high professional level.
- Germany: innovation from all over the world. We focus on attracting outstanding
talent from all over the world. Talent attracts capital. Achieving critical mass.
- Israel: Internet, mobile. Unique because we focus on people, invest in new talented
people.
- Israel: venture capital. Incubator is successful through talent, through good people,
good investors, knowledge, experienced people, ex company owners. For every
dollar invested you need another 3-4 dollars for follow-up. Partnering is another key
to success, identify who are the major players and teaming up.
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- Finland: Mental capital is the key to success. Public money is also helpful. Networks
and financing networks, partnerships. Perseverance, never give up, but don’t be
stupid.
- Latvia: wanting to learn new systems
- Israel: corporate incubator. We want to improve the model developed by the chief
scientist. Using the ‘partner inside’, the corporate partner, who can open the doors.
It is important for survival. This partner tells you what’s what.
- Israel: the corporate partner, during the R & D stage, tech support, strategic advice.
Money is not the only subject being discussed these days, today the question of
people is also being explored along with talent, ecosystem, and the rest of the
innovation package.
Q. to panel members:
How do we attract the best talent?
- Germany: ask the talents what they want. They are looking for an outstanding
innovative environment. Use government support to create outstanding incubators
that will attract talent. For this to succeed there must be critical mass so it may not
work for all countries. In addition, until one becomes big enough, one needs some
sort of sustainable collaboration environment to enable growth of new talent. In
Germany this was achieved through clustering but there are other ways.
- Lithuania: Try and attract nationals to return to their countries, and bring with them
their friends, to join global leader programmes, they can implement different
projects.
- Israel: money is very important. If you want to attract talent you must provide more
than a work place. You need to create an environment where these talented people
will be able to fulfil dreams, will be able to build the companies they want to build,
and you need to be able to fund these companies until they become ‘stand alone’
companies, or are able to fund the next stage of their growth. But the next question
is what connections can you bring in, what experience can you bring in, how many
doors can you open.
- Finland: for three months of the year it must be dark rainy and slushy, that helps.
Talent seeks talent; Finland has an incubator with 28 nationalities working in it.
- Italy: doesn’t agree about the rain. We need sun, and a nice place to live, not only
dark and work. We need other things, friends, girlfriend, etc. Building startups is not
everything. Lowering the cost of establishing companies in cities is important, so the
startup players can function in this environment.
- Hungary: raise the bar very high, and those chosen will attract and develop the next
generation of startups. Hungary is losing programmers to London. An ambassador
programme is needed. You are competing with multinationals. Offering similar
conditions financially could help.
- Ireland: money, support. Incubation centres must be attractive in order to attract
people back.
- Germany: Why focus on the local population? Why restrict the talent pool just
because of a government incentive? I want to choose from the full global population.
This must be understood on the policy level.
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- Germany: important to convince people to become entrepreneurs. Can incubators
play a role in this game? Maybe it’s a question of how to communicate to students
what an incubator is.
Q. to panel members:
How do we fill the gap between demand and availability of talent?
- Greece: connecting universities to incubators
- Finland: after university, entrepreneurship can be suggested as a career path,
through startup events, workshops. Attracting young people, sometimes out of
fashion, to the path of entrepreneurship. Trends are reversing, i.e. people are
returning to their original countries with talent and experience.
- Israel: one must be taught how to start a company, with all its complexity. Why does
Israel have so many startups? Because of the will to take risks, and how someone
who fails is treated. Failure is not a bad thing; it’s a learning experience and makes
that person a viable choice for investment because of his experience. If you can
create a culture of this type, you will create the right environment for talent to
appear.
- Hungary: let your biggest companies go bankrupt, show positive examples to others.
In Israel the rise in startups coincided with the huge influx of Russian talent into the
marketplace. There are trends in countries e.g. the going away from Nokia in Finland.
The rise of gaming. Warning: Incubators on their own cannot change cultures; there
is also a role for government. You can’t change cultures, Germans will remain
Germans, suit and tie and driving porches, and yet the kind of startuper’s I like run
around in their jeans and wear Nike shoes. They are fundamentally counter-culture
and are by definition forced out of corporations and into the startup life.
Q. to panel members:
Looking at your country, what do you think today is the right way to develop
incubators that are financially viable/profitable? I would like to hear from others
approaches and conclusions.
Poland: practice makes experienced, like a doctor will not gain experience without
practicing on patients.
- Germany: In Germany we start from the problem, e.g. a need of a drug company,
and we invite ideas from all over the world, this is a good example because the
market is already there. In the less successful model an idea is pursued for years and
developed into a product, and only then does the company start talking with the
customer, the drug company, which many times is not interested.
- Israel: venture capital is measured on two parameters and two parameters only: ROI
(Return on Investment) and IOR (Interest on Reserves). A venture capital that cannot
deliver on these two parameters doesn’t really exist anymore. Profitability is the
secret. An incubator must allocate 3-4 dollars for every 1 dollar of initial seed money,
for follow up. If this money exists the incubator will succeed.
- Corporate incubator: first understand the most important asset, which is the piece of
IP, and examine its viability and application. In addition we invest in top tier
scientists.
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Q. to panel members:
Show us the process of successful investment
- Israel: you need a top notch CEO; we are in the business of creating business.
- Israel: Life sciences or biotech: first invest in the data, in the science. Usually when
you go from academia to industry
- Israel: A typical investment in is almost a million dollars, this happens several times a
year. We believe that a company needs these kinds of monies to eventually cross the
river to success; otherwise you are creating mediocre companies. Large American
companies will assist initially and later may become buyers. We support the
company for about 1.5 years. We push the startup into the market as soon as
possible, with a minimal product, to test market forces, and then we are back to
working on the product with the market in view. We are a venture capital first and
are using this advantage. Small exits are not interesting, we wait for large exits. We
held a company for 15 years and sold it a while ago.
- Q. from Finland, Ministry of Economy: a small number of startup companies
succeed. Finland has learned from the Israeli approach: incentives to managers in
incubators. The managers in Finland have to invest their own money into their
programmes, and that is part of the incentive.
Q. to panel members:
What is a single recommendation for a government wanting to advance
incubators?
- Israel: policy of OCS (Office of the Chief Scientist), to ensure that the value of the
investment remains strongly in Israel.
- Latvia: learn from other countries about venture capital.
- Finland: know when and how to intervene. Governments should understand the
game, and how to walk this thin line.
- Israel: the private sector should be encouraged to invest; ensure that the education
is good enough, to create future scientists.
- Israel: Reduce red tape
- Germany: make entrepreneur education an option for students in universities;
cooperate; ask the government to get out of our way
- Hungary: less government intervention
- Italy: a smarter bureaucracy; the latter tends to repel those interested in startups.
- Poland: less rules and regulations, leave the operation to the companies, allow
companies to open and close fast.
- Israel: increase the budget that goes towards R&D
- Entrepreneurship is the mindset of a startup; therefore invest in a national
programme of entrepreneurship.
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EXPERIENCES FROM THE FIELD Facilitator: Dr. Dafna Kariv, Manager Centre for Entrepreneurship, Business
School, College of Management Mr. Celso Carvalho Director General Business Incubator at University of Aveiro,
Portugal
The main areas are communication systems, information technology, and metal
industry. University of Aveiro Incubator IEUA: 100 square meters, 20 offices. Great
campus, great buildings. Budget: 100 million Euros. Research is orientated around
economic needs. Within the campus are 3 large companies.
Entrepreneurial: from pre-starts to business ideas, through to startups, all the way to
large companies. Startups pay 50% of the cost. The space is available all the time; it
contains all the usual incubator items. There is access to all university facilities that
aren’t available within the incubator.
There are private investors involved, CEO’s from great companies come and share
experience, marketing, management, sales, communications expertise, failures and
successes in the field. We have 19 startups, turnover of around 5 million Euros, and
have created around 100 jobs in the past 2 years. We have 35 entrepreneurs of
many profiles, ages and activities. We believe that we must have the capacity to use
failure as a possible starting point.
If you don’t have a problem to solve, don’t build a startup, and don’t build a startup
around a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Entrepreneurship for us is a
mindset, not a startup.
Q: How is your financing, how does it work?
A: 50% of our cost is covered by outside financing.
Mr. Uri Arnin, ApiFix, ISRAEL
A company in the field of medical devices. Our company completed the incubator
programme and managed to secure funds by the end of the incubator period. This
means success.
APIFIX – a company that deals with correction of scoliosis – deformity of the spine.
Unlike the expensive, very invasive conventional approach, which can guarantee no
more than 50% correction, Apifix’s approach uses only two sets of rods, and
between them an expendable implant. After the operation, while at home, the
patient is encouraged to perform certain movements in the direction of the
deformity. The APIFIX system reads the movements, analyses the corrections needed
and slowly brings the spine into a correct position.
The market for this product is a niche market. What will decide your attractiveness in
the market are your margins. The biggest market is the USA. A novel medical device
has a small chance. Apifix chose to build the company from the EU market, put the
USA on hold, and approach the USA market again when there is clinical data.
The timeline here is very important. If you cannot move fast enough, you will not
survive the incubator period. Apifix had the first clinical trial one year after starting.
At the end of the second year when there was a need for more money, Apifix already
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had a successful clinical study and other necessary certification, and was ready to
enter commercial sales, and that enabled us to approach investors. Apifix partnered
with a spinal expert, a scientist, President of the Israeli Spinal Society. But even
having all this in place doesn’t guarantee additional money. Without the significant
support of the incubator infrastructure, and the connections they had built over the
past 20 years, our chances of securing more funding would have been zero. You
must have the support of someone that the investor personally trusts.
Caroline Arends DENMARK
CEO of Seed of Knowledge in Urban Development, established a year ago.
Currently constructing two research facilities on the Swedish side (see page 25). This
is called the Copenhagen- Malmo Region, a science hub that will become the home
for the new European Spallation Source (ESS). It will deal with hard, soft, and
biological materials. Our concern at present is to establish incubators connected to
our universities and research facilities. We want to encourage influx of researchers,
and private companies into our region.
There is an EU budget, 3.5 million Euros. Private companies have been approached
also. At the moment the company is preparing for facilities to become available. We
welcome any advice and experience pertaining to what works or doesn’t in this kind
of setup. Zeev Efrat ISRAEL - Aquarius Spectrum
A company which managed to successfully pass the first 3 years, and today, in its
fourth year, is searching for further funding. Deals with the identification of water
leaks in water systems. There is business behind such technology. The technology
comes from a medical device. The information is already available; the analysis
needs to be programmed. The customer for this service is not the end user, it is the
government. The government has a programme that finances new technology to
support utilities. 50% of the financing comes from the OCS. Luckily, Aquarius
Spectrum signed up with another big project, and then the investors, who are
actually the parent company of the incubator, decided to continue the funding.
Working a lot with subcontractors, each one to fulfill a different need, e.g. building
sensors and other devices. The pilot project will be in Jerusalem. After 4 years one
could say that we have become a company.
Loukas Pilitsis GREECE - Piraeus Bank Group, INCUBATOR
Created their own incubator because wanted to work with people who can execute.
Set up an incubator with finance, in partnership with the largest IT company in
Greece. The question was how do you turn R&D workshops into commercial
projects? When is the right time to get outside help? We developed mentorship
programmes where an advisor is married to a company and is obliged to stay for at
least two years. Depending on the type of project, we decide what additional
expertise is needed and bring it in. It’s a start up within a start up.
We have been successful in bringing the right people. The chemistry between the
investor and the advisor is critical.
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Challenge: encouraging groups to talk to each other. These are national ecosystem
issues. Groups discussing problems amongst themselves, finding solutions whilst
working in the same environment.
Ziv Kohav ISRAEL - ICL Innovation Incubator
A private incubator. Started two years ago following a tender issued by the Chief
Scientist to start an incubator within ICL, Israel’s largest chemical company, who
wasn’t so interested in innovation. The realization that innovation is needed became
apparent over time, and the need to build an incubator arose.
The model for the incubator was devoid of an exit strategy. Ziv and his team started
a company to execute this. They offered a strategic partner from day one, the
research and development branch TAMI of ICL.
The incubator was opened last year. The first challenge: technology scouting. How
do you reach new technologies that haven’t been publicized yet, still in development
stages? And if you find them, how do you convince them that this is the right place?
Most of them are eventually found through some kind of publication or the
registering of an ID.
Pawel Horbaczewski POLAND - Arta Tech
The company is working on 8 technologies in the digital field and people sales.
Worked on a digital book concept with new screen technology. The market gave him
no encouragement. Met an incubator company, found out that this is where people
understand that true innovation is usually rejected by the marketplace due to
misunderstanding. The incubator owner decided to give ArtaTech a chance, enabling
him to develop a product for very low cost. The incubator was located in a larger
technological park in Poland, and its other participants contributed a great deal to
the development of the ideas of ArtaTech. The incubator also provided access to
legal advice on a high level, to help the startup company negotiate successful
agreements. QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS:
Q: What is the government’s role in evolving ecosystems?
Q: How can we learn from lost opportunities?
- Loukas Pilitsis Greece: both sides have to be careful where their advice originates. It
is very important for the funds and bankers that one uses experts in the specific field
that have no commercial interest. We have married investment expertise with
operational experience in technology. This has solved some of the issues just
mentioned by some of the participants, and also has helped, through the network of
people worldwide, to identify emerging trends.
- Finland: in Finland we have a good education system, but not many startups. The
objectives of the Finnish government were wrong; another issue is cooperation
between academy and industry, and also this has not brought startups. The word
startup does not appear regularly in agendas of government or other. It is important
to analyze this and understand what is affecting innovation.
- Israel: innovation feeds on the hunger for good ideas, the vibrancy of innovation.
The question is how do you create this atmosphere? We are on the receiving end,
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looking for new ideas, connecting ourselves to various networks with the hope of
capturing ideas. This is a unique gathering, involving investors, governments, and
commercial parties. This is a huge network, and if we worked together as one
community of innovation, and found a way to cooperate and share information, it
could add value to everyone.
- Greece: agrees, partnerships on all levels, building networks of incubators with all
that accompanies them.
- Germany: networking has to be a bit more selective, not all people can be
networked. In relation to the Polish startup story, it is hard to believe that a
government would go for a product developed by a small company, because of the
cost.
- Poland: true. At present the government’s position is not to buy any digital equity,
because that should be chosen by market forces. What the government is supporting
is the creation of the content, i.e. providing students with the content but not with
the devices.
- Germany: It is absolutely crucial once you have the entrepreneurs, to also have
experienced mentors onsite. What I usually see when visiting incubators is a bunch
of consultants who have never started a company and were never successful. How
do we make sure we get the right mentors?
- Greece: this has been implemented in the Greek model. The criterion for mentorship
is successful experience in the relevant field.
- Israel: those heading the incubators should be successful innovators who did it from
start to finish and succeeded.
- Denmark: we have had success in attracting ex-pats, who originally left for a better
tax system. We have also had experience with CEO’s of large companies wanting to
contribute their wisdom and experience to young people in university.
- Ziv Kochav Israel: we may have a winning solution. We work hand in hand with the
evolving company towards commercialization, at every stage finding the right
strategic partner, and at every stage assessing the company’s position, needs and
forecast. Milestones are decided in advance with the company, including
expectations, timescale, cost, etc. During this whole process we use experts in the
relevant field, experienced in industry, who can properly evaluate the offer coming
in. We don’t use criteria based on the size of the company, i.e. we are even willing to
take on a non-registered patent.
Q. from Finland: the implications for the incubators regarding knowledge transfer, so
that the tools are relevant to the product:
- Greece: knowledge comes from the academy. It is important to pinpoint the
professors, who are business minded, and there is the right environment and
government encouragement, the transfer of knowledge is important.
- Israel: it is an issue of culture. The universities are somewhat behind the times by a
few years. The Israeli culture is about ‘let's try it’, and young talented people are
willing to do this; join a small unknown idea and risk success, fearlessly. That is the
root of knowledge transfer. We search for young people with innovative ideas, even
though they may be inexperienced.
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Concluding Discussion Facilitator Gilead Fortuna, Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion ISRAEL
At the beginning of the session Gilead presented the agenda for the summary
session and elaborated on the each of the following questions stressing our goal to
share everyone’s observation and understanding.
Gilead stressed Israel’s dynamic approach which causes incubators to go through
constant changes and modifications. In Israel most start ups were built without
government sectorial guidance or priorities (no top down but mainly bottom up) and
we heard that in many other countries and even in Germany there is a different
approach, so there is a room for continued communication.
1. What did we learn today?
Italy: it’s a question of horses for courses, there is no best practice. The best
practice is not to have a best practice. Cross pollination is the secret, sharing ideas
and diversity. We look for startups that are looking to disrupt something, and in
order to recognize those one has to disrupt oneself, feed oneself with the diversity
that is happening in the world, notice future trends evolving before they are
publicized, and try to predict their direction.
Denmark: there is no culture in Denmark, so the first thing to do is pick the
successful system and learn it.
Hungary: it is not so much about culture. It’s more like a crystallization point, from
which other things materializes. It is important, whatever the culture, to make a
start. In Hungary recently, the chance to get support for the development of a new
idea has woken young people to innovation.
Slovakia: a great learning, even of hardcore principles, e.g. investing proportions in
startup versus follow up.
2. Israel system of support
Incubators are going through constant changes and modifications. In Israel the
support system is complex and yet it is effective. Israel is constantly learning from
other’s experience and modifying its incubator model, e.g. the 2011 shift in policy.
- Israel: There is an ongoing debate about multinationals, attempting to establish a
new incubator approach. Multinational companies today have what is called ‘open
innovation’. The example of the chemical industry (TAMI) in Israel is indicative of this
trend: open innovation, i.e. an incubator company approaches the industry and
offers in-house incubators, outsourcing of talent and expertise, etc.
In Israel most incubators were built without government support (no ‘top down’).
Greece: lack of trust between competitors. Gilead Fortuna Israel: sometimes the
acquisition of companies in Israel has been aimed at taking them out of the market
Finland: other sources of successfully acquiring expertise: private people.
Gilead shares his experience with a company formed in an incubator 17 years ago
that eventually went into IPO to NASDAQ two months ago and today is worth 450
million dollars.
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3. What did we miss in the discussion?
Israel: Regarding emerging technologies like nano-technologies and others: many of
the forces operating here are market ‘push’ and not ‘pull’. Is there a real need? What
can we do with these technologies? Some of the incubators are dealing with ‘push’
technologies, breakthrough areas; others are addressing ‘pull’ technologies, real
needs, and offering solutions.
a. Trends in MNC to apply “open innovations”
b. The huge difference in developing life sciences and Cleantech vs. ICT
c. Applying new emerging technologies (nanotechnology)
d. Solving market needs vs. breakthrough new technology or tool
e. Differences between ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ in choosing incubators
focus.
Israel: we don’t do ‘top down’, only ‘bottom up’
Italy: What was missing was crowd sourcing. Should avoid the ‘lose
lose’ situation; ‘if I can’t win, I will make sure that you won’t win
either’. This attitude is changing owing to the internet. We are more
open to sharing because everyone can gain from it. Crowd sourcing is
a new tool for market forces.
f. The role of versatility vs. clusters / focus subjects
4. Common agreement in the discussion: WE NEED TALENT
Finland: excited by the realization of the danger of consultants making a living within
ecosystems, like pests. The only way we can weed them out is a joint and public
effort. We need the guys who have done it and are good at it.
5. The difference between accelerators and incubators
Latvia: Accelerator can be established only in very developed ecosystems. They
provide the environment for beginning innovators, to start testing out their idea.
They mostly host ICT projects. The timescale is usually 2-3 months, which is too
short. Many times it ends in failure on the demo day, where none of the innovators
get invested.
Italy: in Rome we have been running an acceleration programme for the past 3
years. At the time Rome did not have an accelerator or ecosystem, but had a huge
talent base amongst 300,000 university students. We have accelerated 20 startups, 2
of which have failed. There are no certainties, but today this is how it is viewed in
Rome. It is important to modify the process by its results. The length of the
programme is 5-6 months, we allocate cash, and smart money. We network with
industry and academia.
Ireland: doesn’t have to be an ICT company for an accelerator. Other areas of
industry are also relevant; we use the principle of acceleration to forward
innovation; we use China as an accelerator for products, from a developing market
point of view.
Germany: different use of vocabulary. There is a big demand for accelerator
programmes; we provide money to different programmes, e.g. biotechnology, and
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are prepared to spend up to a million Euros over three years if necessary. There is
enough money available.
6. Does the new generation learn enough science to keep up the momentum?
Israel: In Israel we think it is a problem; not enough girls learning sciences, and not
enough young people in general studying the sciences.
Germany: in Germany there is a lack of entrepreneur education. There are a lot of
good scientists, but they are not trained on the business side.
Hungary: in most countries there are more good students than are needed. The ratio
has shifted in an unfavorable way. How many of the qualified students are willing to
go down the entrepreneurial path?
Greece: there are more scientists than needed. Do we need science education in
order to start a business, or start an entrepreneurial venture?
Germany: we are trying to lower the number of dropouts.
7. How can we expand the innovation on two levels?
a. Build new product and join a giant multinational.
b. Search for new talent in the world.
c. Establish more sustainable companies, as opposed to an exit company.
d. Expand employment opportunities to the wider economy.
Israel: in Israel, the high-tech and life sciences make up only 15% of the
industry. We want to inject new technology into other more traditional
industries so they may also enjoy state of the art innovation, thus increasing
our ability to compete with China and the East.
e. Apply innovation
f. Expand on the use of new innovation into the services and government.
8. Horizon 2020 as an engine for growth
Is it effectively being leveraged into the ecosystem of the incubator’s new
businesses, or is it still being held by the big corporations who have the means to
leverage it? We don’t have many success stories yet, and frequently a project ends
up on the R&D level.
Germany: it used to be; one can now apply for 100% funding of new projects;
money is becoming available to private hands, the smaller players. There are
additional incentives to promote prosperous startups.
9. Can we hear new innovative ideas regarding innovation and incubators, so that
by the next seminar we will be discussing completely different issues on the subject.
See recommendations for follow up
10. Gilead Fortuna’s - idea for the system approach, which needs to cover:
1. Manufacturing industry.
2. Services to the manufacturing industry and the economy
3. Government policy – what do we really want?
4. Global world guidance and involvement.
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Recommendations for Follow Up
• An idea from Germany: this is the third seminar of this kind. A good idea to
connect us and share insights over the coming year could be a competition.
Every incubator sends in data of its best three startups and we compete, and
there are prizes. The results will be published for venture capitalists to see.
Israel: This kind of competition exists in Israel.
• Creating a dynamic online forum:
• Each of the participants will send the others the experiences they
want to share regarding incubators.
• Alexandra Meir (Israel) will get everyone on a Google+ forum or
other platform, where we will start an exchange of ideas.
END
Rapporteur:
Mr Moshe Papo, Israel
+972-508-592629
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PROGRAMME
Monday 18 NOVEMBER 2013
Registration 8:30-9:00
Opening session
9:00 – 9:15
Ambassador Designate Lars Faaborg-Andersen - EU
Delegation
Greetings
Professor Ehud Gazit, Chair Nano Biology Tel Aviv
University, Chief Scientist Ministry of Science,
Technology and Sport
Keynote Speech - The academia, government and industry
triple helix as a key for innovative society
INCUBATORS IN THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
Facilitator: Pekka Roine, Foundation of Finnish Inventions
9:15-11:15
Mr. Jürgen Wengel, Deputy Head of Unit 112,
Federal Republic of Germany, Ministry of Education
and Research
New innovation support instruments and programmes of
the Federal Republic of Germany
Mr. Yossi Smoler, Director Technological Incubators
Programme, Office of Chief Scientist, Ministry of
Economy
The Israeli Incubator Programme
Facilitated Discussion
Issues to be discussed:
• The role of the incubator
• Connection to other players in the ecosystem – formal and informal
• Government vs private incubators
• Strategic partnerships – universities, business, local government
• Regional models
• Role of angels, venture capitalists
Coffee break
11:15 – 11:30
ROUNDTABLE OF INCUBATOR MANAGERS 11:30 – 13:00
Moderator: Dariusz Zuk CEO of Entrepreneurial Poland
Panelists: Seppo Ruotsalainen - Finland, Christian Tidona - Germany, Simone Botti -Germany/Israel,
Gerasimos Mentzelopolous - Greece, Sabie Valner - Hungary, Haim Kopans - Israel, Duby Lachovitch -
Israel, Roy Wiesner - Israel, Marcello Merlo, Agris Kipurs - Latvia, Andrius Bagdonas - Lithuania,
Robert Barski - Poland, Celso Carvalho – Portugal
• Objectives of the different programmes
• Advantages and disadvantages of being sector specific
• Different models for different sectors
• How to evaluate effectiveness
• How have the programmes changed or made adjustments over time
• Key success factors and key reasons for failure
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Networking Lunch
13:00 – 14:00
EXPERIENCES FROM THE FIELD Facilitator Dr. Dafna Kariv, Manager Centre for Entrepreneurship, Business School, College of Management
14:00 – 15:45
Mr. Celso Carvalho Director General Business
Incubator at University of Aveiro, Portugal
The entrepreneurial ecosystem of Aveiro and the reasons
why we are recognized as an Entrepreneurial University
Mr. Uri Arnin, ApiFix ApiFix
Facilitated Discussion
Panelists: Caroline Arends - Denmark, Zeev Efrat - Israel, Loukas Pilitsis – Greece, Ziv Kohav – Israel, Pawel
Horbaczewski POLAND - Arta Tech
Issues to be discussed:
• Reasons for start-ups success or failure in the programmes
• The right time to enter an incubator
• The added value for large companies that manage incubators
• Synergies between companies
• Follow up for graduates
Coffee break
15:45 – 16:00
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION
Facilitator Gilead Fortuna, Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion
16:00- 17:30
Facilitated Discussion
Issues to be discussed:
• Best practices on which all agree
• Advantages of disadvantages of the various types of incubator programmes
• Follow up
Joint Reception with the Lithuanian Presidency and the EU Israel Chamber of Commerce Dan Hotel
99 HaYarkon Street Tel Aviv
Gathering 18:30
Greetings and Opening Remarks 19:00- 19:15
H.E. Ambassador Darius Degutis, Ambassador of Lithuania
Mr. Gad Propper, EU-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry
H.E Ambassador Designate Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Delegation
Keynote Speeches 19:15 – 20:00
Mr. Evaldas Gustas, Minister of Economy, Lithuania
Ms. Bina Bar On, Director General, Ministry of Science, Technology
and Space, Israel Mr. Nir Zohar, COO and President of the Israeli internet startup WIX
Networking Cocktail 20:00
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Tuesday 19 NOVEMBER 2013
10:00 a.m.
Visit to TheTime Incubator 6 HaNehoshet Street, Ramat Hahayal Tel Aviv
Or
Visit to Entrepreneurial Incubator of the School of Business Administration at the College of Management,
Rishon Le Zion and Rishon Start Up
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The Copenhagen Malmo Region Hub
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Participants
Name Country Organisation Position Email
Waldmueller,
Emanuel Austria Austrian Embassy [email protected]
Constantinou,
Anastasia Cyprus
Cyprus
International
Institute of
Management
Director [email protected]
Kofteros, Stavriana Cyprus Democratic Rally
Special
Entrepreneurship
&RDI advisor
Konnia, George Cyprus SAFE LLC CEO
Chief
Information
Officer
Marcou, Persefoni Cyprus
Embassy of the
Republic of
Cyprus
Papaioannou,
Yiorgos Cyprus SAFE LLC CEO CEO [email protected]
Philimis, Panayiotis Cyprus
CyRIC - Cyprus
Research and
Innovation Center
Managing
Director [email protected]
Stylianou, Michalis Cyprus
CyRIC - Cyprus
Research and
Innovation Center
ICEET Manager [email protected]
Trillidou, Marcia Cyprus
Research
Promotion
Foundation
Scientific Officer [email protected]
Schultz , Pavlina Czech Republic Embassy of the
Czech Republic
Commercial
Section [email protected]
Arends, Caroline Denmark
Lyngby-Taarbæk
City of Knowledge
& Urban
Development
Bunkenborg, Helle Denmark
Technical
University of
Denmark (DTU)
Head of
Innovation Unit [email protected]
Grønning, Lasse
Holm Denmark
Royal Danish
Embassy
Commercial
Advisor [email protected]
Jespersen, Julian Denmark Royal Danish
Embassy Trainee [email protected]
Thellersen, Marianne Denmark
Technical
University of
Denmark (DTU)
Senior Vice
President for
Innovation and
Entrepreneurship
Dor, Stefane EU EU Delegation Tel
Aviv Scientific Section [email protected]
Meir, Alexandra EU EU Delegation Tel
Aviv
Scientific Section
- Policy Officer [email protected]
Jutila, Juha Finland Foundation of
Finnish Inventions
Managing
Director [email protected]
Miodowski, Jonathan Finland Embassy of
Finland
Commercial
Attaché [email protected]
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Rautiainen, Ismo Finland Foundation of
Finnish Inventions
External
Consultant [email protected]
Roine, Pekka Finland Foundation of
Finnish Inventions Chairman [email protected]
Ruotsalainen, Seppo Finland
Vigo Venture
Acceleration
Program
Programme
Executive [email protected]
Valtonen, Pertti Finland
Ministry of
Employment and
the Economy
Counsellor [email protected]
Eijsberg, Hendrik France French Embassy Researcher [email protected]
Hermani, Gabriele Germany German Embassy Science
Counsellor [email protected]
Tidona, Christian Germany
BioMed X
Innovation Centre
and BioRN Cluster
Management
Managing
Director [email protected]
Wengel, Juergen Germany
Unit 112 New
Innovation
Support
Instruments and
Programmes,
Federal Ministry
of Education and
Research
Deputy Head [email protected]
Botti, Simone Germany/Israel Merck Start Up
Incubator CEO [email protected]
Alexiadis, Alexandros Greece Embassy of
Greece
First Counsellor
Economic &
Commercial
Affairs
Daoutakou, Despina Greece Embassy of
Greece
Second
Counsellor
Economic &
Commercial
Affairs
Fountas,
Chrysostomos Greece
Ministry of
Education
Advisor to the
Special Secretary
of European
Funds
Karniouras,
Panagiotis Greece
FORTH / DIKTYO
PRAXI Coordinator [email protected]
Mentzelopoulos,
Gerasimos Greece
Patras Science
Park, S.A. General Manager [email protected]
Pilitsis, Loukas Greece Piraeus Bank
Group
Executive Officer
of Piraeus Equity
Advisors
Siropoulou, Niki Greece
TEDxAcademy +
Rising Stars
Program
President of the
Board [email protected]
Stratakis, Emmanuel Greece
FORTH/IESL &
University of
Crete
Dept. of
Materials Science
and Technology
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Vaitsas, Constantine Greece FORTH/ DIKTYO
PRAXI
Innovation
support services [email protected]
Azbej, Tristan Hungary Hungarian
Embassy
Technical and
Science attaché [email protected]
Ban, Denes Hungary Digital Factory
incubator
Member of
Board
H.E. Nagy, Andor Hungary Hungarian
Embassy
Ambassador
Designate [email protected]
Korányi, László Hungary National
Innovation Office
Vice President
for International
Relations
Nikodemusz, Antal Hungary
Ministry of
Economy,
Department for
Innovation and
R&D
Director General [email protected]
Valner, Sabie Hungary Digital Factory
incubator
Managing
Director [email protected]
Clare, Julian Ireland Irish Embassy Deputy Head of
Mission [email protected]
Hutchinson, Clyde Ireland NASC Connect General Manager
Arnin, Uri Israel ApiFix CEO [email protected]
Bublil , Lory Israel
ISRAEL-ITALY
CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE &
INDUSTRY
International
Trade Analysi [email protected]
Calvares, Lina Israel The HiVE Programme
Consultant [email protected]
de Haan, Uzi Israel Technion
Entrepreneurship
and Innovation
Faculty of
Industrial
Engineering and
Management
Efrat, Zeev Israel Aquarius
Spectrum CEO [email protected]
Eilan, Michael Israel
I-Biz - Israel
Business
Information
Services
Senior
Consultant [email protected]
Fishelson, Uri Israel EEN EEN Coordinator [email protected]
Fortuna, Gil Israel Samuel Neaman,
Technion
Head of the
Center for
Industrial
Excellence
Galetti, Riccardo Israel
ISRAEL-ITALY
CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE &
INDUSTRY
Gazit, Ehud Israel
Ministry of
Science,
Technology and
Space
Chief Scientist [email protected]
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Getz, Daphne Israel Samuel Neaman,
Technion
Head of the
Center for
Science,
Technology &
Innovation Policy
Kariv, Daphna Israel
Centre for
Entrepreneurship,
Business School,
College of
Management
Manager [email protected]
Katz, Idan Israel Incubit VP Business [email protected]
Kelen, Tal Israel The HIVE Ashdod Director [email protected]
Kohav, Ziv Israel ICL Innovation Business
Manager [email protected]
Kopans, Haim Israel JVP Media Director [email protected]
Lachovitch, Duby Israel Explore Tech Director [email protected]
Lahy-Engel, Patricia Israel TheHive by
Gvahim
Director [email protected]
Matan, Adee Israel ICL Innovation Consultant [email protected]
Moser, Naftali Israel
NM Business &
Economic
Development
Manager [email protected]
Oren, Gil Israel
EU Israel
Chamber of
Commerce
General Manager [email protected]
Papo, Moshe Israel Rapporteur [email protected]
Reichman, David Israel VPSign CEO [email protected]
Rotem, Gev Israel RotaryView CEO [email protected]
Smoler, Yossi Israel Office of the Chief
Scientist
Director,
Technological
Incubators
Programme
Wiesner, Roy Israel Hutchison-Kinrot CEO [email protected]
Wiggins, Blayne Israel Attorney at Law [email protected]
Halfon, Oshrat Italy Italian Embassy
Office of
Scientific
Attache'
Magnifico, Roberto Italy
Innovation Lac
and partner of
LuissEnlabs
Mallogi, Stefano Italy Enel Spa Research Area [email protected]
Merlo, Marcello Italy Talent Garden Co-founder [email protected]
Ortona, Lorenzo Italy Italian Embassy [email protected]
Russo, Chiara Italy Codemotion [email protected]
EU - Israel Innovation Seminar Technological Incubators
18-19 November 2013
30
Sblandi, Fausto Italy Enel Spa
Head of
Innovation
Market &
Strategy
Schaumann, Dani Italy Intesa Sanpaolo Global Country
Advisor [email protected]
Kipurs, Agris Latvia JIC business
incubator Founder and CEO [email protected]
Silovs, Gatis Latvia
Ministry of
Economics, EU
Funds
Implementation
Department, EU
Structural Funds
Private Sector
Division
Head of Unit [email protected]
Bagdonas, Andrius Lithuania Sunrise Valley Director [email protected]
Kucevicius, Dimitrijus Lithuania
Innovation and
Knowledge
Society
Department of
the Ministry of
Economy
Director [email protected]
Milius, Pranas
Bernardas Lithuania
KTU Regional
Science Park Director [email protected]
Pauliukevičius,
Gediminas Lithuania
Northtown
Technology Park Director [email protected]
Saulias, Zaura Lithuania
Panevezys
science and
technological
park
Director [email protected]
Foden, James Malta
Malta Council for
Science and
Technology
Deputy Director
of the Research
and Investment
Funding Unit
Balder, Raffi Netherlands Yes! Delft Launch Lab
Manager [email protected]
Dexel, Jan Netherlands Ministry of
Economy [email protected]
Eveleens, Jan-Peter Netherlands
Royal
Netherlands
Embassy
Gram, Fabienne Netherlands Yes! Delft
Incubator
Community &
Event manager
Jansen, Paul Netherlands
Royal
Netherlands
Embassy
Innovation
Advisor [email protected]
Karelse, Frank Netherlands Technology
Foundation STW
Programme
Director [email protected]
Segeth, Wouter Netherlands STW Programme
Officer [email protected]
EU - Israel Innovation Seminar Technological Incubators
18-19 November 2013
31
Barski, Robert Poland
Academic
Entrepreneurship
Incubator at the
University of
Zielona Gora
Director [email protected]
Dziegielewski, Lukasz Poland E-prototypy Vice President [email protected]
Horbaczewski, Paweł Poland Arta Tech Owner [email protected]
Nowak, Dominika Poland
Embassy of the
Republic of
Poland
Second Secretary [email protected]
Nowakowski,
Wojciech Poland Optiguard
Managing
Director [email protected]
Ozimek, Łukasz Poland Torun Technology
Park Coordinator
Przemyslaw, Bobak Poland
Embassy of the
Republic of
Poland
Counsellor [email protected]
Ulman, Marek Poland
Polish Agency for
Enterprise
Development
Zielinski, Marek Poland
Embassy of the
Republic of
Poland
Counsellor [email protected]
Zuk, Darius Poland Entrepreneurial
Poland CEO [email protected]
Carvalho, Celso Portugal
Business
Incubator,
University of
Aveiro
General Manager [email protected]
Cristina, David Portugal
Office of the
Secretary of State
for Science
Assistant [email protected]
Da Silva, Fernando Portugal Embassy of
Portugal
Cultural
Counsellor, Press
Attache
Mocanu, Andreea Romania Embassy of
Romania Second Secretary [email protected]
H.E. Javorcik,
Radovan Slovakia Slovak Embassy Ambassador [email protected]
Janovčík, Michal Slovakia
University of
Zilina, University
Science Park
Head of TTO [email protected]
Majchrák, Marián Slovakia
University of
Zilina, University
Science Park
TTO and
Incubator [email protected]
Mešťanová, Barbara Slovakia Slovak Embassy Commercial
Section [email protected]
Rybovič, Andrej Slovakia
Research centre
University of
Zilina
Incubator staff [email protected]
EU - Israel Innovation Seminar Technological Incubators
18-19 November 2013
32
Tomašovič, Peter Slovakia
Research centre
University of
Zilina
Incubator staff [email protected]
Ferlez, Jure Slovenia Livenetlife [email protected]
Cabrero, Emma Spain Embassy of Spain International
Programmes [email protected]
Ramírez , Ignacio Spain Embassy of Spain Technological
Officer [email protected]
Fielding, Julia Sweden Embassy of
Sweden Second Secretary [email protected]
H. E. Nesser, Carl-
Magnus Sweden
Embassy of
Sweden Ambassador [email protected]
Spångberg, Peder Sweden
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
(department for
international
trade)
Coordinator for
the Ambassador,
Director-General
for trade
Kärre, Jossa Sweden Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Trade promotion
coordinator at
the MENA
department
Walder, Eva Sweden Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Ambassador,
Director-General
for Trade
Burris, Blake US Cleanweb
initiative CEO