Finland Case Study 2002

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Helsinki Science Park - Biotechnology Incubator - Helsinki 1.

Background and Regional Context

The Biotechnology Incubator at Helsinki Science Park is a renowned Centre of Excellence in biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical technology, molecular biology, food technology, plant breeding, environmental technologies, agriculture and forestry. Helsinki Science Park – Helsingin Tiedepuisto is located in the Viikki district of Northern Helsinki on the site of the Helsinki University Science campus, which houses the University of Helsinki Biocentre, the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The incubator is located 9 kilometres from central Helsinki, 10 minutes from the Municipal Airport and 20 minutes from Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. In terms of key stakeholders, Helsinki Science Park Ltd. is co-owned by the Finnish Government, the University itself, the City of Helsinki, SITRA, a major public venture capital group and a number of industrial federations. More than 1,000 researchers and technicians work at the research institutes, the two university faculties and individual companies located in the Science Park. The main services provided by incubator management are: · · · · ·

Expert advice and assistance on the administrative and legal requirements for setting up a new company Business incubator services (office and laboratory space, production facilities) The option of using an equipment pool for R&D and production Reduced fees for externally-sourced services such as IPR, legal and technical advisory services Training programmes in entrepreneurship and general business administration, marketing and other business skills. The incubator also brings in specialist outsourced training providers who deliver courses on regulatory issues pertaining to the biotech industry, marketing, business ethics, quality assistance and patenting.

Incubator management also outsource specialist services tailored to the particular needs of the biotech industry such as instrument care and waste care. The key mission of the biotechnology incubator is to commercialise University research and to facilitate technology transfer. The incubator has successfully bridged the gap between the mentality of the University and research and that of the private sector,

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Section

largely through the strength of incubator management and the supportiveness of the University Vice Chancellor who has actively encouraged academics to make the shift to entrepreneurialism. 2.

Incubator Operations

The Helsinki Science Park Biotechnology Incubator is located on the site of the University of Helsinki’s Science Park: Site

Area (m²)

Units

Helsinki Science Park (Biotechnology Incubator 1)

4,000

23

Helsinki Science Park (Biotechnology Incubator 2 – under construction)

15,000

TBA

Note: The second incubator is currently under construction and is due for completion by end 2002. The Biotechnology incubator currently houses 23 companies and is operating at maximum capacity with all research and business units occupied. A second incubator is currently being built adjacent to the existing one, which will provide further space of 15,000 m². The company has one or two additional small research facilities in Helsinki, where a further 17 biotech companies are located. The total of 40 biotech companies collectively employ 300 employees. The first phase of the incubator was opened in 1999. The second phase is due for completion in October 2002 – the space is already fully booked with a waiting list, a measure of its success. There are 8 staff of whom 6 are professional or managerial (including offering advice outside the incubator) and 2 are secretarial. In terms of rental rates, there are no subsidies and companies therefore pay the full commercial rental. In terms of other services provided by the incubator, no services are free or subsidised other than general Incubation Management advice and support. Additional specialist services, such as legal and marketing services, are paid for in full by incubator tenants. In terms of the incubator’s revenue model, two-thirds of income comes from rental and one-third comes from the provision of services, both physical services such as laboratory services, cleaning, waste disposal and office-based services such as clerical and legal services and general training. There are a number of admission criteria. The three key criteria are listed below:

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

·

A prospective tenant’s business concept must involve the commercialisation of a biotechnology innovation

·

There must be provision for the registering of Industrial Property Rights (IPR) at the earliest opportunity

·

The innovation must have commercial viability and its application must be focused on international markets because in the biotechnology industry, domestic markets alone are too small to justify the outlay

One key difference between Finland and many other countries in the EU which encourages technology transfer and the commercialisation of ideas generated in the academic/ public research/ University sector is that public sector researchers in Finland retain the Intellectual Property Rights to their research, allowing them to exploit the commercial application of their work. This is also the case in Sweden, although the rules will shortly be changed.

Tenants are under no fixed timescale or other obligation to leave the Centre. The basic concept is that many of the more established companies who outgrow their premises seek space elsewhere but retain a research facility at the Helsinki Science Park. This is perceived to have catalytic and synergistic benefits in that more recent entrants can benefit from the depth of experience of other longstanding tenants.

3.

Best practices

Its unique location at the heart of Finland’s academic scientific community (with a strong focus on biotechnology) means that the incubator is able to tap into on-site research expertise and encourage University-private sector technology transfer and the commercialisation of academic research. The presence of a high concentration of both academic and private sector biotechnology-focused researchers on one site, has enabled incubator management to develop synergistic University-private sector linkages and has facilitated the development of an internationally renowned biotechnology cluster.

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Links with External Specialist Service Providers Given the highly specialised nature of the biotechnology sector and the paramount importance of registering complex patent protection at an early stage in the development of an enterprise venture, many of the services required by tenants cannot be provided inhouse by incubator management. Incubator management has therefore put in place a formal network of specialist external service providers such as those dealing with industrial property rights, patenting and licensing, business management, international marketing and finance, in order to meet the needs of its tenants. It has also used its purchasing power to negotiate special deals with legal service providers, buying in a block number of hours at a discount rate, then selling on time to tenants at a reduced rate – enabling SMEs to benefit from economy of scale despite their small size. The provision of research laboratory space and business units on a flexible lease Biotechnology companies, by their very nature, need both business space and research space. Helsinki Science Park provides both business and research units to tenants. It is extremely difficult to find laboratory space in Helsinki. Other than build a research laboratory from scratch, there is no other viable alternative, particularly not on flexible terms. The availability of specially designed research facilities, combined with the proximity to the University, encourages state sector researchers and academics from the University to make the leap to entrepreneurship, which they would otherwise be reluctant to do, given the lack of suitable space in the wider business environment and the inherent risks involved in a new business start-up. The Pharmaceutical Cluster The biotechnology incubator has initiated a sectoral clustering of pharmaceutical-related companies made up of 2 major pharmaceutical companies and a large number of small companies. The Pharmaceutical network, which has approximately 100 individual members, has facilitated networking and other synergistic clustering benefits. Similarly, another sectoral cluster has been set up focusing on individual diagnostics. The clusters are relatively informal with a strong emphasis on encouraging spin-offs and biotech research commercialisation. The Spinno Seed Capital Fund Also available to tenant companies of other incubators in the Helsinki region, the Spinno seed capital fund aims to bridge the gap in VC funding for early-stage start-ups. Private sector VC money is also another important source of finance. A recent survey of tenants found that on average, in the first two years of operation, the amount collectively raised by tenant companies was approximately 30 million Finnish Marks. 4. List of Interviews Name Mr Kai Falck Ms Paivi H. Ryoppy

Position Helsinki Science Park (biotechnology incubator) Helsinki Science Park (biotechnology incubator)

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Otaniemi Science Park

1.

Background and Regional Context

Otaniemi Science Park is one of Europe's largest commercial science parks. It is situated in the Espoo district on the outskirts of Helsinki in an area with a large concentration of high-tech firms. Espoo is a government-designated Centre of Excellence for high-tech industry. Otaniemi Science Park benefits from its proximity to Helsinki and to several of Finland’s most renowned University and Research institutions including Helsinki’s University of Technology (which has 14,000 students and 3,000 researchers) and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). VTT develops applied technologies in cooperation with Finnish and international partners. The Centre employs about 3000 people.

The Science Park also has a good transport infrastructure with convenient road links to central Helsinki and to Helsinki’s main airport, (Vantaa) situated 20 minutes away. The Helsinki region has 1.3 million inhabitants and accounts for 24% of Finnish GDP.

Otaniemi is part of the Helsinki region, an area that includes the metropolitan area of Helsinki. Following a long period of economic recession in the early 1990s, regional GDP has grown substantially over the past 5 years. Growth has been spearheaded by the ICT sector, led by the mobile telecommunications industry stalwart Nokia.

In order to combat the severe recession of the early 1990s and improve SME competitiveness, several government departments (the Ministry of Trade & Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Employment) joined forces to set up T&E CENTRE, the Employment and Economic Development Centre. One of the primary tasks of T&E CENTRE was to establish, set up and manage a network of Business and Technology-based Incubators with financial support from the Finnish national authorities. T&E CENTRE has set up a total of 15 business incubation centres in the Helsinki region, which provide a range of business advisory and development services to businesses and entrepreneurs.

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

The main objective of setting up new incubators was to revitalise the regional economy, which had been severely effected by the decline of traditional industry in order to catalyse the entrepreneurial process and create growth-oriented new firms. This required the provision of both the necessary physical infrastructure (incubation space and shared services facilities) and the recruitment of incubation management with extensive business experience. Policy makers endeavoured to capitalise on Finland’s competitive advantage in the mobile telecommunications market and in internet-based applications in order to develop ICT clusters. Finland has amongst the highest penetration rates in the world for Internet and mobile telephone usage. Despite the recent slowdown in the ICT sector, this policy has proved very successful. A high level of domestic and international private sector Venture Capital funds have flowed into Finland over the past 5-7 years.

The incubator at Otaniemi is a member of the Helsinki regional association of incubators (which has a membership of 17 incubators). It is also a member of a closely co-operating national association of 19 science parks, called TEKEL, most of which are based in University towns. The incubator at Otaniemi was set up 15 years ago (1986) as part of a public-private partnership. There are about 60 different stakeholders represented including the City of Espoo, local Universities and Research Institutions and banking and insurance institutions. Several years ago, when T&E Centre, an economic development agency, was set up, Otaniemi Science Park became a proactive member of a wider regional network of business incubators in the Helsinki region. As one of the oldest incubators in Finland, Otaniemi plays a major role in catalysing knowledge transfer within the incubation community through networking.

2.

Incubator Operations

The main building in the Science Park, Innopoli, was completed in 1991. Innopoli is spread over five floors and provides a total of 20,000 m² of office space, predominantly for technology-oriented companies. A predating site, the Otaniemi Technology Park, provides high-tech companies with an additional 5,000 m² of space. The Otaniemi Technology Centre site incorporates an incubator facility that houses 80 start-up technology companies.

The second unit, located 2 kilometres west of Otaniemi, will provide additional space of 3,600m2 targeted mainly at manufacturing-oriented companies.

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Section

The incubator unit at Otaniemi Science Park offers its tenants a broad range of services, ranging from pre-incubation services to advice on strategy, marketing and business planning. Below are some of the main types of services available to tenant companies; ·

Entrepreneurial Training

·

Business advisory services including marketing, business development

·

Access to finance fairs

·

Mentoring Scheme

·

Shared support services, including secretarial services, telephone, canteen, highspeed internet facilities etc

The incubator is located within a large science park in Otaniemi, which is divided into a number of institutions operating under the umbrella of Otaniemi Science Park. The following provide incubation space: Site

Area (m²)

Number of units

Typical unit (m²)

Otaniemi Technology Park

5,000

90-100

10-100

OLARTEK

3,600

35

10-400

Innopoli 2

4,000

80

10-100

There are 7 staff of whom 5 are professional or managerial (including offering advice outside the incubator) and 2 are secretarial. When firms are ready to graduate from the incubation facilities, most tenants move in to adjacent premises at Innopoli Science Park, which is part of the Otaniemi Science Park complex and managed by the same umbrella company. This has the advantage that tenants remain within the local business community on graduation and therefore two-way networking opportunities remain once the firm has graduated. The Innopoli building, which is targeted at more established high-tech companies, is spread over five floors and has a total of 20,000 m² of office rental space, predominantly for technology-oriented companies. Phase 2 of the project, Innopoli 2, will add an additional 20,000 m² of space for established companies.

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Section

Innopoli Site

Area (m²)

Number of units

Typical unit (m²)

Innopoli 1

20,000

100

11 to 800

Innopoli 2

20,000

100

10-1000

Incubator admissions go through a number of stages. Potential entrepreneurs may also approach T&E CENTRE, the Employment and Economic Development Centre, a publicly funded business support organisation with branches across the Helsinki region. T&E CENTRE effectively acts as a first stage in the screening process and also provides pre-incubation services such as evaluating the business plan and providing preliminary guidance and business advice to would-be entrepreneurs. This in turn frees up incubator management’s resources to concentrate on accelerating the development of start-up tenants. Once the business plan has been sufficiently well developed, depending on the sectoral area of focus, T&E CENTRE then refers prospective incubator tenants to the most appropriate incubator in the local area for further assessment. The incubator management at Otaniemi then undertakes a rigorous assessment and evaluation of the business idea based on: ·

Sectoral orientation (in case of Otaniemi Science Park and Spinno Business Development Centre, businesses must be high-tech focused)

·

The individual competency of the entrepreneur

·

The viability of the business concept.

In terms of exit criteria, tenants are generally encouraged to leave the incubator relatively quickly, given the limited internal space. Whilst typically most tenants remain for 3-4 years, strict time limitations are not imposed on tenant companies. Incubator management felt that strict rules on exit criteria would be unfair and counter-productive since the leadtime from product development to market varies considerably from industry to industry. However, rental rates are structured to discourage firms from remaining at the incubator much beyond 3-4 years: Year of Entry to Incubator

Rental Rate Applicable

Year 1

Equivalent to market rate less 20%

Year 2

Equivalent to market rate less 10%

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Year 3

Equivalent to market rate

Year 4

Equivalent to market rate plus 10%

Year 5

Equivalent to market rate plus 20%

In terms of monitoring outputs, Otaniemi undertakes an annual survey of its tenants. It found that on average, in year 1 a firm commences operations with 2 employees. On average, both the number of employees and the annual turnover doubles.

At Otaniemi, over the past 10 years, 900 companies have been created of whom 370 have graduated. The total no. of jobs created over ten year period was 5,000 direct jobs. The collective level of salaries was an estimated 150m euros of which 50m euros would be paid annually in tax. This compares with an annual public subsidy of 0.5 – 0.7m euros

In terms of the revenue model, 80-85% of revenue is derived from rental income. The incubator receives some additional funding from govt, the EU and the City of Espoo. Business support services are included as part of the rental package

.

3.

Best practices

The Venture Cup – Competition to Encourage Entrepreneurship: The incubator has built up a solid high technology-focused network in conjunction with a number of key local actors: the Technical University of Helsinki, a number of local research institutions and the private sector. This means that most of the tenants/ start-ups get direct contact with incubation staff. The incubator runs a competition for new start-ups in conjunction with McKinseys. The winner of the competition is the company which writes the best business plan. The ‘Venture Cup’ represents a growing part of the deal flow of Otaniemi Science Park. The Spinno Business Development Centre – Entrepreneurship Training: The Spinno Business Development Centre (BDC) 1 is the incubation part of the Innopoli High Tech Centre located at Otaniemi Science Park. It organises a wide range of entrepreneurshiprelated activities. Spinno BDC's chief objective is to promote the commercialisation of

1

http://www.spinno.fi/eng/spinno_company.htm

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

knowledge-intensive business ideas in order to foster the creation, growth and internationalisation of new high tech companies in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The Spinno BDC has developed specially tailored entrepreneurship training courses targeted at new start-ups operating in the information and communication technology and biotechnology industries. Spinno Internationalisation Programme: Spinno BDC has also developed courses that focus on achieving business growth and developing new export markets, known as the ‘Internationalisation Programme’. Training support is orientated towards assisting tenant companies to carefully plan an internationalisation strategy. This is not available to all tenant companies but is targeted at those businesses identified by incubator management as having clear growth potential. The focus area for the years 2000 and 2001 is on wireless applications. Spinno Entrepreneurship Club: Spinno organises an entrepreneurship club that seeks to encourage networking between tenant companies through seminars, fairs and other networking events such as conferences which address particular themes such as marketing, access to finance, exporting etc. Spinno BDC Mentoring Scheme: The Spinno Mentoring scheme is a business support and advisory programme. The mentor scheme is targeted at a select group of companies within the incubator expected to achieve rapid growth. Regional networking (incubators) - Incubators in the Helsinki region of Finland (17 Business Incubators in the region, many with sectoral specialisation) co-operate on a regular basis. Regular interaction facilitates information sharing, the development of best practice models and their dissemination and encourages networking. The regional incubation association has set up four working groups each looking at interrelated aspects of the incubation process. The four working groups are currently examining the following issues: ·

Education, skills and training

·

Marketing

·

Strategy

·

Quality

The Finnish national authorities, in conjunction with T&E CENTRE, have developed a policy of developing sectorally-focused clusters by dedicating particular geographic areas as Centres of Excellence in particular industries.

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Regional Networking (clustering of firms) -A regional network of firms operating in related industries (e.g high-tech firms, travel-oriented firms, healthcare firms, biotech firms) has been set up to facilitate networking between tenant companies spread across incubators in the Helsinki region. Currently there are 250 firms participating. The next stage of the networking project will see 350-400 firms involved. The aim is to develop critical mass in key sectors and assist companies to find new customers, source suppliers and forge partnerships and alliances.

Early-stage / pre-incubation (Innolinko in Finnish) – The incubator at Otaniemi has recently set up a pre-early-stage incubation unit in conjunction with the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). The ‘pre-incubator’ is located at the existing business incubator – space has been set aside on a pro bono (i.e. no payment) basis to encourage potential young entrepreneurs and researchers at HUT to take an entrepreneurial leap of faith, commercialise their research and develop new innovations. The concept of the Youth Entrepreneurship Centre is to crystallise entrepreneurship at an early stage by providing young entrepreneurs with office space to elaborate a business plan and incubator management advisory support and expertise. The scheme is targeted at young individuals with technical knowledge who lack formal commercial expertise to turn their ideas into successful businesses. Clearly, setting aside space represents a cost to the incubator, however it is anticipated that this will be recouped over the longer term via students who subsequently opt to become incubator tenants. The scheme is a good example of incubator management taking the lead in harnessing University technology transfer. Helsinki University of Technology has 14,000 students and 3,000 researchers.

Business Planning Guidance – T&E CENTRE, a business support organisation which helps potential entrepreneurs to realise their ambitions, has produced a business planning software programme (adopted from an Irish model) which runs on MS Excel. The programme guides potential entrepreneurs through the basic steps of setting up a new business: preparation of a business plan and the development of a basic financial planning model. The software takes companies through a question and answers session and produces basic financial forecasts using MS Excel. The purpose of the pre-incubation training programme is to teach entrepreneurs the rudiments of business and financial planning and other core basic business skills. The training programme also helps manage the expectations of new entrepreneurs by giving them a more realistic picture of the level of financing they will require.

Entrepreneurship Training – T&E CENTRE also runs a series of training programmes for would-be entrepreneurs, which are financed by the European Social Fund. These courses are part of a range of pre-incubation services offered. Examples of programmes include

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

generic courses on entrepreneurship, ‘Enjoying Entrepreneurship’, ‘Turning your Ideas into Reality’ and ‘Growing your SME’. The courses offered by T&E CENTRE support and complement the work of business incubators. The training programme also fulfils a pre-screening function. T&E CENTRE acts as a first port of call for potential entrepreneurs and enables them to learn the basic skills needed to turn an idea into business reality. The pre-incubation process makes future entrepreneurs more aware of the realities of setting up a new business, equips them with new skills and enables them to develop and elaborate their initial ideas to the point where they are ready to present to incubation management and / or a bank manager.

Virtual Incubator -The services the incubator can provide tenants are not confined to the physical entity in which tenant firms are located. Otaniemi Science Park has pioneered the concept of the ‘virtual incubator’, which involves an intranet with access to a shared database and other quality business support services delivered on a virtual basis.

Provision of space for graduate firms -When firms are ready to graduate from the incubation facilities, most tenants move in to adjacent premises at Innopoli Science Park, which is part of the Otaniemi Science Park complex and managed by the same umbrella company. This has the advantage that tenants remain within the local business community on graduation and therefore two-way networking opportunities remain once the firm has graduated. A large number of ICT-related conferences are organised annually on the Innopoli site, which incubator tenants can attend and participate in. Tenants clearly benefit from the presence of a critical mass of high-tech firms in close proximity to the incubator. The guaranteed availability of space for tenant companies on graduation saves companies searching for new premises and the close proximity of the buildings enables recent graduates to participate in mentoring activities to support incubator tenants and feed back into the incubator community.

Pre-incubation fund: A pre-incubation fund, funded by TEKES, the National Technology Agency, is available to carry out an evaluation and feasibility study of a new business idea. The maximum funding available is 50,000 FIM. TEKES provides 70% of the funding with the entrepreneur paying the remaining 30%. From the beginning of 2002, TEKES can provide 100% of the funding for feasibility studies.

Technology Cluster: The incubator at Otaniemi Science Park also plays an active part in a technology cluster of 15 technology-oriented business incubators nationwide that underpins regional economic policy and the development of knowledge-based clusters. The network consists of an extranet network linking over 100 different organisations

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

including Incubators, Research Institutions and the private sector. The 15 incubators comprising the network are all located close to major University towns in order to maximise opportunities to exploit the commercialisation of research and to facilitate technology transfer. The network has developed a benchmarking performance measurement tool which has been adapted and used as a performance measurement tool by the Finnish government.

4. Views on Key Issues Exit Criteria: Incubator management believed that a graduated rental structure was preferable to imposing strict exit criteria on tenant companies, in that it allowed greater scope for flexibility and did not discriminate against firms which were developing new products / services in areas of the ICT industry with long R&D lead times. Equity stakes in tenant companies - Whilst the incubator currently does not usually take equity stakes in its tenants but distributes seed capital loans through the Spinno Seed Capital fund, incubation management are contemplating a move towards more innovative forms of financing including taking direct equity stakes in tenants. Relevant performance indicators for evaluation and monitoring - Following regarded as critical for a high-tech incubator: · · ·

Annual turnover Number of employees Number of patents applied for

Important to try and follow progress of graduate companies but limited resources a constraint. Move towards charging for business support services: Currently business support services and advice and guidance is included as part of the overall rental package – there is a move towards charging for some services. 5. List of Interviewees Name Lauri Ylostalo Pertti Vuorela Tuomas Maisala Mr Seppo Aho Mr Esa Sahlman

Position Managing Director, Otaniemi Science Park Project Director, Otaniemi Science Park Director of the Student / Youth Incubator, Innosampo (Incubator at Olartek Espoo) T&E CENTRE (Employment and Economic Development

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

Mr Lauri Ilomaki Mr Kai Falck Ms Paivi H. Ryoppy Mr Heikki Rautajoki

Mr Kai Koskinen, MD, Tenant Company Mr Niklas Slotte, MD, Tenant Company Reijo Varila, MD Tenant Company

Centre) – public sector stakeholder organisation MD, IME (international Management Education) – private sector stakeholder organisation Helsinki Science Park (biotechnology incubator) Helsinki Science Park (biotechnology incubator) Managing Director, Twin Technology Business & Innovation Centre Rex Partners Oy Flyer One Oy Labgas Oy

Website Links: For more information on Otaniemi Science Park, please see www.technoincubator.net http://www.otech.fi/ and http://www.otech.fi/olari/olari.html 5.

Company Interviews

Companies were asked to assess the extent to which the incubator at Otaniemi Science Park added value to their business activities and to identify the main advantages of being based in an incubator environment. The following is a synopsis of responses provided: · ·

·

·

The presence of a high speed internet connection was regarded as critical The shared services office environment and general business support infrastructure (telephone, fax, photocopier, secretarial support etc.) was perceived as adding value, saving companies a huge amount of time, particularly during early stage development The ‘Spinno’ entrepreneurship programme, which consists of entrepreneurship training programmes for new entrepreneurs and related advisory services, had helped companies interviewed to accelerate their early-stage development. Two companies had actively taken part in bi-monthly training seminars organised through the Spinno programme which had provided good networking opportunities Incubator management have provided important practical guidance with funding applications, business planning, marketing and general advice. It was felt that the advisory role played by incubator management filled an important gap in market provision since many of the larger consultancies/ business support services organisations do not deal with new start-ups and early stage companies

Section

Benchmarking of Business Incubators

· · ·

·

·

·

Specialist external advice was readily available to assist tenant companies in registering patents and other legal issues Companies had received practical help to assist in raising finance. Incubator management had been pro-active in organising ‘finance fairs’, where VCs and other financial institutions could meet entrepreneurs directly The extent to which tenant companies benefited from networking opportunities was largely dependent on the degree to which individual companies adopted a pro-active approach to their incubator environment. Incubator management provided networking opportunities – it was up to companies to pursue them. One out of two companies interviewed at Otaniemi Science Park had taken on other tenant companies as new clients The Incubator has a good reputation amongst the wider business community as a business centre and breeding ground for successful high-tech companies. The outside perception and image of the incubator was felt to be a major factor in winning new business and in determining the location of new high-tech start-ups Companies located at Otaniemi Science Park (both in the incubator and at Innopoli) have a hugely successful track record in raising Venture Capital. An estimated 50% of all Finnish VC capital invested annually comes to Innopoli and the Otaniemi Science Park. Likewise, a major part of all Finnish pre-seed and seed capital is invested in companies based at Otaniemi. Likewise, more than one-third of all public R&D money is invested at Otaniemi. The University of Technology, located nearby, has provided practical help to new start-ups in terms of recruitment

Section