„SCIENCE BASED INCUBATORS AS INTERNATIONAL CONNECTORS IN HIGH-TECH CLUSTERS“

On 27 Nov – 1 Dec 2011 Ivan Dvorak and Katerina Ciharova attended the 10th annual conference organised by the European company „Technopolicy Network“ entitled „SCIENCE BASED INCUBATORS AS INTERNATIONAL CONNECTORS IN HIGH-TECH CLUSTERS“. The conference was held in Auckland, New Zealand. More than 300 delegates from over 25 countries worldwide attended, including a significant representation from Asia. It paid back to the organisers to invest a sum of €60000 to have conference happening at the Pacific islands and thus to help to reduce the feeling of New Zealand´s isolation.

Numerous interesting presentations discussed the process of internationalisation of a business from the perspective of managers of business incubators and accelerators, as well as issues of international partnerships, support to industrial clusters through innovation, incubators and acceleration of the development of start-ups. A financial ecosystem was also mentioned: proof of concept financing, seed financing, start-ups and the subsequent development phases of an enterprise.

The conference was concluded by a visit to two sample New Zealand incubators. There was a general agreement risen during various formal and informal discussions that to run a business incubator specialised at technological start-up companies is almost impossible without a significant financial support from public resources.