Business Incubators in Cyprus

1
Business Incubatorsin Cyprus

• Dr Alexandros Michaelides
• General Director
• ERMIS Research Incubator Center

2
Agenda

• Cyprus New Industrial Policy Business Incubator
  Programme
• Business Incubators
• Funding
• Shareholding
• Services
• Procedure
• Incubatees obligations
• Results (2003-2006)
• Problems
• The future

3
Cyprus New Industrial Policy

• 2002
• 12 Chapters
• Strategic goals
• To attract and support the development of new
  high tech companies
• To restructure and support of the existing
  manufacturing companies
• To attract foreign investments (mainly on capital
  intensive activities)
• Business Incubators Programme (Ch. 1 - NIP)
• International Call for Proposals (Nov. 2002)
• 10 applications
• 4 consortia evaluated successfully
• Feb. 2003 Contracts signed

4
4 Approved Business Incubators

• ERMIS Research Incubator Center
• www.ermis.org
• Promitheas Business Innovation Center
• www.promitheas.com.cy
• HELIX Business Incubator
• www.helixincubator.com
• Diogenes Business Incubator
• www.diogenes.com.cy

5
Funding

• Business Incubators
• 19,000 annually (33,000) de minimis
• Buildings and Equipment
• 7,5 Medium Enterprises
• 15 Small Enterprises
• Incubatees
• 120,000 207,600 National Funds
• 10,000 17,300 Own Funds
• Maximum number of incubatees per incubator 15

6
Shareholding

• Entrepreneur(s) gt50
• ONLY individuals
• Other partners
• Individuals and or Legal Entities
• No limitation for non Cypriots participation
• Corporate tax in Cyprus 10 (lowest in EU)
• The business incubator negotiates its
  participation
• usually 20

7
Services

• Management support
• Fund raising support
• Support for the participation in EU funded
  projects
• Support for the implementation of the research
  plan (access to research facilities)
• Secretarial, accounting and legal support
• Organisation of seminars on common business
  practice and according to special incubatees
  needs
• Networking, Partnering
• Company registration
• Reception - Call center
• Office furniture.
• Telephone, telefax, internet connection
• Printing, scanning and photocopying facilities
• Meeting and presentation rooms
• Library
• Audio-visual equipment
• Security services
• Central heating and air conditioning
• Messengers' services
• Parking

8
Procedure

• Presentation of the business idea
• Submission of Business Plan / Application
• Presentation of the business plan in front of the
  Incubators Evaluation committee
• Business plan modifications according to
  evaluators comments
• Submission of the final version of the business
  plan to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry
  Tourism
• External evaluator
• Presentation of the business plan in front of the
  technical committee of the Incubators Scheme
• Approval (with or without comments) / Rejection
• Modifications/Improvements of the Business Plan
  according to the evaluators comments

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Procedure (cont.)

• Preparation of 3-party contract
  (Ministry-Incubatee-Incubator)
• Establishment of a Cypriot limited company
• 300-400
• Signing of the contract by the company legal
  representative
• 1st Installment (according to the budget)
• Signing of the incubators protocol
• Start of company operations
• 4-9 months

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Incubatees Obligations

• Duration of the contract up to 24 months
• Successful implementation of he business plan
• 12month progress and financial report
• 18month progress and financial report
• Final progress and financial report
• No penalties if the project is not successful

11
Results (2003-2006)

• Applications 32
• Approvals 21 (66)
• Rejections 7
• Pending 4
• Graduations 2

12
Problems

• The government approaches the business ideas as a
  research project rather than new company
• The external evaluator is always a member of the
  academic community
• Delays
• Duplication of evaluation process
• Incubators evaluation Ministrys evaluation
• Incubatees are not allowed to participate in
  national funded research projects
• Limited research infrastructure in Cypus

13
The future

• New Business Incubator programme (2006)
• Business Incubator Accreditation ()
• Utilization of Structural Funds

14
ERMIS

• RTD Talos
• www.talos-rtd.com
• Cyprus College
• www.cycollege.ac.cy
• Science Technology park of Crete
• www.stepc.gr
• Spidernet Services Public
• www.spidernet.net

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Business Incubator
26 Offices 32 m2, Management Offices, Reception,
Library, Meeting and Presentation Rooms, Bank,
Canteen, Gym
16
Incubatees

• D.T. Diabetes Research Technologies
• Novel nutraceutical compounds that alleviate and
  prevent diabetic complications
• Pythagoras Engineering
• New type of vertical multistage pump for
  difficult applications of low discharge and high
  manometric head
• Atlantis Information Systems Technologies
• Integral building control and energy management,
  telematic services routed via the Power Line
  Network
• MEDSONIC
• High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system,
  which is guided with magnetic resonance imaging
  (MRI) in order to treat brain tumors
• AGENCOR Information Systems
• Generic alert system

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Incubatees (cont.)

• F.P. Fire Protect Car
• High Tech total solution Car fire protection
• Toy Robot Systems
• Structural educational toys
• EMBIO Diagnostics
• Biosencors for medical diagnostic systems
• DACTOLIVE
• Opto-electronical Identification Systems using
  novel dactyloscopy technology

18
Thank You !

• Dr Alexandros Michaelides
• General Director
• ERMIS Research Incubator Center
• www.ermis.org
• ? 22559559 ? ermis_at_ermis.org