Espana Case Study 2002

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

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. Incubator: CEEI Valencia 1.

Background and Regional Context

CEEI Valencia is situated in a science park on the outskirts of Valencia. It is a purposebuilt incubator and was founded in 1991. Valencia is now a fast developing region, one of the three largest cities in Spain. Historically, it has had an important agricultural base (growth of citrus fruits in the Huerta) and is a regional capital and port. The incubator is a member of ANCES, the association of Spanish BICs (there are 21 Spanish BICs), and of a closely co-operating group of BICs in the Valencia region. The incubator is substantially funded by the region (over 40% of funding) and also receives European funding (11%). It concentrates on raising the level of entrepreneurship around the region and not just on internal operations for tenant companies. Indeed, it sees one of its main objectives as being a centre for entrepreneurship for Valencia and we return to this point in some of the best practice examples The incubator offers comprehensive services, with an emphasis on courses and on business planning in the wider community. We have commented on these in the best practice section, and show below some of the major services; ·

Business planning (including courses and a business planning tool on CD-ROM)

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Assistance in financing

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Identification of market potential

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Business services, including secretarial services, telephone, canteen, internet etc within the context of the incubator

2.

Incubator Operations

The incubator is on a purpose-built site on a science park in Valencia: Site

Area (m²)

Number of units

Typical unit (m²)

CEEI Valencia

2,587

25

15 to 80 (some are bigger)

Note: In addition to the above the incubator offers hot desking facilities at its business centre.

There are 11 staff of whom 7 are professional or managerial (including offering advice outside the incubator) and 4 are secretarial.

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

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Admissions go through a number of stages as follows. Details of the stages are shown below. Because the incubator concentrates both on internal and external projects, both are shown Stage

Number in 2000

Initial contacts

778

Information requests

424

Inquiries with projects

344

Initial business plans

180

Final business plans

119

Projects to market

69

Tenants are generally encouraged to leave the incubator relatively quickly, given the limited internal space. A typical time is three years. 3.

Best practices

External assistance to businesses – The BIC sees itself as helping develop entrepreneurship more widely in the Valencia region as well as just providing services to the incubator. To this end there are a number of ongoing initiatives, including courses in setting up and developing new businesses (there are several modules run monthly), and workshops for existing entrepreneurs on various business topics. Co-operation between incubators in Valencia – The incubators in the region of Valencia (there are 4 BICs in the region) have co-operated in the preparation and maintenance of their web site and in the supply of information supporting the web site. For example, the web site provides detailed information on grants – different BICs specialise in information on regional, national and European grants. Co-operation in the web site enables an effective web site to be set up at a level, which would be beyond the resources of any individual incubator. There is also a comprehensive BIC web site at the national level Flexibility of working space – The incubator offers a variety of types of working space including space aimed both at the manufacturing sector and the service sector. Within the latter the incubator offers smaller companies a ‘hot desking’ facility under which users are able to: ·

use a desk and an office when they require it and store away their material when not required, thus freeing up the desk and the room

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have a mailing address and a telephone in the incubator

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

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use the other services of the incubator including meeting rooms, business planning services, advisory services etc.

This flexible working in a ‘business centre’ provides a cost-effective solution for small users Benchmarking meetings between BICs in Spain – The BICs in Spain carry out regular benchmarking exercises, for example either by teleconference or by physical meetings. Teleconferences are held quarterly to discuss specific topics and meetings are held, one a year or more. Meetings to discuss specific topics also provide an opportunity to influence others (e.g. ministers) that may be invited to the meetings. Business planning guidance – The 21 BICs in Spain have co-operated in the preparation of enhances business-planning software. They have produced a CD-ROM which guides a company through the preparation of a business plan, and which provides the necessary business planning software to set out a plan. The software takes companies through a question and answer session and produces a plan using MS Excel. Experience suggests that the preparation of a business plan takes some time (typically 150 days) and the software is therefore valid for 200 days and can be extended further by agreement with the BICs. 4. Views on Key Issues Companies within the incubator felt that the incubator offered reasonable value for money. Most of the companies seen had used the business planning services but had now developed their activities. It is clear that there is a concentration in high tech work. 5. List of Interviews Name

Position

Jesús Casanova

Director General. Also Presidente de la Asociación Nacional de CEEIs (ANCES) Six tenant companies

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