Business Incubator
Business incubation is a unique and highly flexible combination of business development processes, infrastructure and people, designed to nurture and grow new and small businesses, products and ideas by supporting them through the early stages of development and change.
(UKBI 2006) It is not a building, it is a support process. Our clear point of view is that we have to offer our clients much more that managed workspace, as operational as it may be. It will be the adequate supporting environment we create to support start-up and growth of new companies which will enable successful businesses to develop and create wealth in our territory. Whereas there is a lot of debate throughout the incubation industry to define the different phases of the incubation process, the following is EWIC vision of the process :
Generator Stage This is the very early stage where a budding entrepreneur spots an opportunity or recognises the commercial potential of an idea. In a academic environment for instance, this process might take place alongside regular research and teaching as ‘proof of concept’ activities. It can elsewhere be any young individual coming up with a strong innovative idea with potential for niche market. EWIC offer shared office space and intensive on-site support on a limited timescale to nurture the entrepreneurial learning curve these individuals have to endorse. Incubation Stage Genuinely the 'start-up' phase, when revenue is not yet flowing through the company, endorsing critical activities such as market research or business plan refinement. Again, EWIC aims at providing this tpye of client in-house dedicated business support to help them maximaise their potential. Acceleration Stage Being a more 'established' company, having invested a significant amount of resources in the service/product and its marketability, does not necessarily imply that you have to be left on your own. We at EWIC strongly feel that we can still provide the adequate expertise to sustain your need to move forward and build stronger impact and development. This can be achieved through a wide variety of routes, depending primarily on the determination of specific needs, and will mobilize a broad spectrum of expert resources than EWIC would be more than happy to bring in, be it the need for significant further investment, multiplication of market targets or support of technical partners. Exit policy We are aiming at providing you the resources to fully reach the potential of your organisation. However, there will come a time when you will have attained significant market share or, more simply, business maturity, and where what we do at the Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre might simply not be suitable anymore for your growing needs. It is nevertheless clear that we will dedicate the accurate resources to support you in implementing the right relocation strategy, and make sure that you will still engage with us as 'graduates' in order to make newer companies in the Centre benefit from your experience and your knowledge. |
