
Entrepreneurship. Incubation, research commercialisation
Working with universities, research institutions and regional
stakeholders such as regional development agencies and chambers of
commerce for the last decades, inno Germany has implemented major
initiatives in the field of entrepreneurship and commercialisation. The
spectrum covers the initiation and management of start-up initiatives,
entrepreneurship coaching and various types of network building related
to entrepreneurship initiatives, founders or incubators.
Being at the forefront of innovation policy development in Germany, inno was part of the network KEIM – Karlsruhe start-up impulse, one of five winning model initiatives in the then newly founded EXIST
Programme aiming at improving the entrepreneurial environment at
universities and research institutions as well as at increasing the
number of technology and knowledge based business start-ups. inno was a
significant driver in the set-up of the KEIM initiative in 1997
and provided management support throughout the life time of the model
initiative, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
from 1998 to 2005 and afterwards for further three years by the Ministry
of Economy of the Land Baden-Württemberg.
KEIM has not only succeeded in becoming a successful and
well-known initiative in the field of stimulation and support of
start-ups in Germany, but has in the meantime become known all over
Europe due to several successfully executed European projects. An
important project in this field is the KREO network which is jointly run by KEIM
and inno Germany. This network includes the partner regions
Karlsruhe/Pforzheim, Oxford, Rhône-Alpes and Emilia-Romagna which
exchange and further develop exemplary modules in the field of start-up
support. The KREO partners have all been selected as “Regions of Excellence“ by the European Commission in the framework of the PAXIS Initiative for the third time already.
Another prominent example in this context was the Gate2Growth Incubator Forum
(2002 – 2007), setting up a Europe-wide network of business start-up
initiatives and incubators cooperating closely with higher education and
research institutions and involving more than 130 members from 28
European countries.
Until today, our project activities are closely connected with topics of entrepreneurship and new business creation.