INVENTORY OF GOOD PRACTICES ON OPEN INNOVATION Mobile Heights. Øresund, Sweden/ /Denmark

Transcription

1 INVENTORY OF GOOD PRACTICES ON OPEN INNOVATION Mobile Heights Øresund, Sweden/ /Denmark

2 Table of contents 1. Good Practice Profile Good Practice General Description Good Practice Analysis Lessons Learnt Page 2

3 1. Good Practice Profile 1.1. Name of good practice. Mobile Heights Business Centre 1.2. Localisation of the good practice. Øresund, Sweden, Denmark Promoter of good practice. Brainport Development NV 1.4. Sources of informationn (website): Contact details. Jasmijn Rompa Brainport Development NV, 1.6. Policy area addressed. Networking and Collaboration. Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Culture. IP management and Technology Markets. Access to Finance. Knowledge and Science and Technology base 1.7. Role/s played by regional public authorities. Enabler. Director. Facilitator. Financier. Page 3

4 1.8. Open Innovation Framework Conditions addressed. Capability: ability to exploit full potential. Network: interaction among actors in innovation systems. Institutional: Innovation system actors (universities, patent offices, ). Framework: regulatory frameworks, IPR regime, consumer demand. Policy: governance capacity Specific aspects dealt with in relation to the regional conditions conducive to better Open Innovation practices. Innovative coaching - Critical mass of high quality research. - Integrated approach on research valorisation: multidisciplinary team & high value services. - Clear incentives and policies to encourage research groups and departments to actively seek knowledge transfer opportunities. - Creation of appropriate entrepreneurial climate in a university context. - Legal context with respect to exploitation of academic research. - Innovation systems available in the region. Research and technical development - Performing technological due diligence (assessing how unique the methodology/action is in the world / on the market). - Creating an appropriate IP strategy. - Developing a balanced innovation strategy (including R&D roadmap, balanced portfolio of short, mediumm and long term R&D objectives). - Identifying and providing access to specialised R&D equipment and facilities. - Identifying and relating to (global) networks of world-class scientists, experts, technical and/or industrial partners. Operalisation - Creating infrastructure for the valorisation or transfer process. Page 4

5 - Manage tacit knowledge in relation to hard knowledge, in order to implement the full picture. - Developing adequate contractual arrangements related to IP/liabilities, partners and stakeholders. Management and organisationn - Developing management presentation skills, etc.). capabilities (decision making skills, deal making skills, - Formation of a Board of Directors with management experience. - Formation and development of a senior management team with business experience. - Developing adequate HR administrative procedures and arrangements (incl tax/legal aspects). Page 5

6 2. Good Practice Description 2.1. Brief description (one page max.) Mobile Heights Business Center (MHBC) is a cooperation between great ideas, entrepreneurs, private and public actors to accelerate the growth of mobile communication start-ups. The actors contribute with their specific resources at different stages of the business development process e.g. short way to financing, finding the right skills for the team and offering access to first customers as well as the knowhow and experience that industry researchers possess. Telia Sonera, Ericsson and TAT provide MHBC with unexplored patents and ideas with entrepreneurs screened by MHBC, to create viable spin-outs. In the Öresund region sharing experiences increases in importance. In MHBC the focus is on mobile communications and it is complemented in the ICT sector by Øresund IT working with active innovation. The overall vision is to create growth in the Öresund region by enhancing and encouraging entrepreneurship and great ideas. To qualify for MHBC a person will be interviewed and tested to prove his or her entrepreneurial drive. Once approved, he or she is presented with the list of unexplored patents from the industry. In a crash lab led by professional businesss advisors, there will be an open discussion what business ideas may come from those patents. The whole process is based on open innovation. Once a week representatives from the industry meet to listen and advise you on those ideas, offering their knowhow and insights in the real telecom industry, whichh minimise the risk of developing an idea without market. When you have chosen an idea you develop your business plans, with support from legal, HR, PR, marketing and business advisors. If you seem to be ready for it, you get invited to present your business plan at the Investment Day, to which active investors exclusively are invited. If those investorss - business angels as well as venture capitalists - take an interest in your case, MHBC encourages them to look at a longer perspective, investing together up to two years with milestones. This of course to give you time to focus on developing the business during those years, instead of hunting for new capital. The overall ambition is to translate knowledge into sellable services and products. The valorisation of knowledge has become increasingly important. The target groups are varied: Businesses, ranging from SMEs to large international corporations; Knowledge institutes such as universities, researchers (even collaborate with industry driven research when relevant); Public sector, liaising with national employment agencies and council for employment security as well as receiving public funding for our coordinating structure; MHBC uses market screening to insure that there is a continuous flow of new input and potential target groups. Also, evaluations and joint workshops are organized to explore Page 6

7 new and coming opportunities. Furthermore, MHB benchmarks with peer countries to find inspiration on how to improve the current way of working. In the Öresund region Mobile Heights Business Center bring innovators, businesses, and public initiatives together in order to create star companies; good examples of a successful valorization process where the start-up company achieves: Potential exceeding 100 MSEK Positive cash-flow within 2 years After 3 years, 10 MSEK in turnover p/a 2.2. Key features of the good practice Mobile Heights Business Center brings together all pieces needed to secure the first important steps for start-ups in the mobile communication industry - entrepreneurs, ideas, industry, investors, business coaching and speed. It is based on a platform called TAS 2.0 which stands for Growth Arena South, and incorporates Region Skåne, Region Blekinge, Trygghetsrådet, Vinnova, Connect, Innovationsbron och Arbetsförmedlingen. The initiative is adminstered by Teknopol AB. Screened entrepreneurs bring their own ideas or choose from the list of unexploited patents offered by the telecom industries. The ambition is to create growth, employment and competence in the south of Sweden. It s all about potential Base financing for the good practice. MHBC works with mixed financing depending on where you are in the process. The initiative was started as a project and has received public financing as well as interregional development funding from the EU. Once cases are successfully enrolled in the process, the funding alters and primarily stems from business angels and venture capital Owner of the good practice. The triple helix parties: industry, academia and the public sector have decided to make a long-term, concentrated investment in the growth sector of mobile communications by a so-called triple helix-baseowned by all of these parties: industry, academia and the public initiative: Mobile Heights. Therefore, the good practice is sector Background and prior references: is the good practice a spin-out? No. The initiative was undertaken by the industry, academia and the public sector in order to reinforce the region s competitiveness. However, the patents are provided by Telia Sonera, Ericsson and TAT in order to create viable spin-outs. Page 7

8 2.7. Maturity of the good practice. This relatively new approach asks for new process and tools. The traditional way of thinking will not give us the desired outcome. We need to shift focus to new markets, new ideas for traditional inventions. We will have to move with the times and promote new qualities in order to discover and see the opportunities of tomorrow Sustainability of the good practice. The two year financing by Business Angels and Venture Capitalists gives the new entrepreneur time to develop a sustainable business, instead of hunting for new capital. Thereby, the sustainability of the new business is ensured. This is also supported by the good business results of MHBCs spinouts. The sustainability of the good practice itself is determined by the triple helix cooperation. In order to keep MHBC alive, both the industry, academia and the public sector should continue their cooperation. Page 8

9 3. Good Practice Analysis 3.1. Criteria used to evaluate the Good Practice and main success factors. In the Øresund region, valuable ideas risk being left on the shelf. The purpose of MHBC is to change this and bring innovation to sellable products. With a dynamic process, entrepreneurs are encouraged and ideas, patents, see the light of day in order to explore what their potential could be. This is complemented by active innovation in the region, where the IT market is screened and researchers are approached and asked to elaborate on development on their ideas in order to increase chances for promotion of good ideas. MHBC differ from other incubator facilities in that they are liaised with public authorities, large companies and knowledge institutes. MHBC promotes financing, from business angels and venture capitalists with longer time horizon and mile stones, to enable the entrepreneur and the team to focus on the innovation rather than new financing. This is something that we ve seen makes a big difference in terms of possibilities for the entrepreneurs to focus on marketability rather than developing more technologies. Specific objectives are: To strengthen the competitiveness of member organizations. To attract to the region new talent and human resources, facilitating the growth of member organizations. To attract new companies to the region and grow the number of members of Mobile Heights. To increase relevant research at universities and colleges in the region. To increase the number of students enrolled in relevant university programs in the region Good Practice Results and impact indicators. Lars Tilly, former Head of Research at Ericsson in Lund and also Chairman of Mobile Heights: One of the success factors for Mobile Heights is to initialize new knowledgelowering the bar based companies in wireless communications through different ways of for innovation and realization of research results. The set goals are 10 new viable companies with positive cashflow within two years, a budgeted income of at least SEK 3 million the third year and the potential of at least SEK 100 million employing 100 people in the Skåne/Blekinge region. The project has already (March 2010) contributed to 15 new employments and 8 internships, that will hopefully lead to employment in the start-ups. Page 9

10 So far the telecom industry (Ericsson, Telia Sonera, TAT) has contributed with over 400 patents and ideas and three spinouts have been created due to the MHBC process; EyeYou, Qubulus and LocatU. ResqU/Hepkie has also had use of the access to Ericsson Level of importance for Good Practice s success of (1-5 scale, 1 = low....5 = Very high) Please rate the level of importance of the following elements in their contribution to the success of the good practice. Element Building a partnership Ensuring contribution from the private sector Placing the project into wider policy context Ensuring political support Planning and formulating a proposal Administrative management Externalising management of activities Private financial resources Public financial resources Addressing a clear need/demand Filling a gap in the innovation infrastructure 3.4. Stakeholders involvement Description of Stakeholders involved: The triple helix parties: industry, academia and the public sector have decided to make a long-term, concentrated investment in the growth sector of mobile communications by a so-called triple helix-based initiative: Mobile Heights. Page 10

11 - Stakeholders who participated in the design of the good practice and level of involvement during planning stage (1-5 scale, 1 = low...5 = Very high) Stakeholder Regional public authority Regional agency Knowledge Institutes Companies Business networks National public authority National agency Other: Actors who participated in the implementation of the good practice and level of involvement during implementation stage (1-5 scale, 1 = low....5 = Very high): 4 5 Regional public authority Regional agency Knowledge Institutes Companies Business networks National public authority National agency Other: Page 11

12 4. Lessons Learnt 4.1. Lessons Learnt: Things you would do differently if you were to start again. Thinking of the knowledge paradox and aiming to achieve a new way of thinking in terms of value creating and idea promoting, it is crucial to focus on getting an entrepreneur and a team in place. Too much focus on technology in a start-up phase will not boost the sales figures. An idea is only as good as the ambition and ability to make it come to life. Previously, we have noted that there quite often is a too small focus on finding an entrepreneurr and his/her team in relation to defining the right innovation. We believe that we need entrepreneurs to realize the full potential of an innovation. Note: all information that has been collected in the current document, has been taken from publicly available sources. Page 12