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UPDATE No. 120 For members first April 2016 In this Update: page Acceleration Chocolate & Cannabis 5, 6

EU launched initiative to improve the Startup Ecosystem 3 Conference Reports: InBIA, Orlando and BVIZ, Berlin 7 - 9 European High-Tech Startups meet in Dresden 24 Oracle announced to start nine Accelerators in India – open for applications 22 MEST expands from Ghana to Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa 18 Seven high-quality Startups at first Demo Day of Relevant Health Accelerator 4 “Added Value” - Innovation Tour and 7th Annual Saudi National Incubation Conference 15

New on SPICA World Map: Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and USA (see page 16) Reports from Armenia, Bahrain, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia, and USA Dear Member and Reader, Specialization of incubators and accelerators finds more and more topics. In this edition of SPICE Update, for example, we inform about “Sweet incubation” and incubator focused on cannabis. We also inform about development of business incubation association conferences, for example with reports by John Mercer about the recent National Business Incubation conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and by Barbara Harley about the InBIA conference in Orland, Florida. Also, we continue reporting on developments of entrepreneurship ecosystems: Berlin and Hamburg as well as – first time –, Düsseldorf. If you are interested to see your ecosystem in this series, just let us know. Business Innovation Associations on the Move The business incubation industry has been on the move since its beginning. Technologies and markets change –

common sense that incubators, accelerators and the like are not stand-alone activities, but need to be well linked

and so do the needs of startup compa-nies. Accordingly features and services of organizations supporting entrepre-neurship develop. Increasingly thinking in

and networked within their local environment. However, thinking beyond the walls and di-rect contacts of an incubator not everywhere is executed consequently. This is mirrored by the

in entrepreneurship ecosystems is gaining attention – rather than just focusing on individual organizations. It is common

by the fact that predominantly incubators, accelerators or co-working spaces have … continued on page 7 - 9…

National Initiative to market the Swiss Entrepreneurship Ecosystem The “Swiss Startup Summit” has been started as a five-month campaign and roadshow involving all national

The campaign culminates as highlight on June 24, 2016 in the Swiss Startup Summit, a multi-event-day-happening

key players in the Swiss startup ecosys-tem. Digital media and events are the main components of this campaign. The concept involves startup incubators,

where the entire Swiss startup ecosystem meets for net-working, the approach of business and relationships, as well as promoting the economic location of Switzerland – nationally and beyond. technology centers, investors, corporates, service provid-

ers, public support organizations, and startups.

The Swiss Startup Summit is an integrated and political neutral platform, ….continued on page 6…

Entrepreneurship Support reinvented Innovation Centers 5.0

The XXVII Annual Conference SOOIPP in Warsaw, May 17 – 19, 2016 is titled “Realizing the poten-

The annual conference of BIZ, the German Innovation center association ”Innovation Centers 5.0” will be held in Mannheim,

tial of innovation and entrepreneurship in the develop- hosted by mg:mannheimer gründerzentren ment of technology companies“ and will be combined with the " StartSmart Conference ". More on page 6. Contact: Nadzieja Bąkowska, Conference website

gmbh will be held Sep 15- 17, 2016, More details about this event are available on page 4 of this newsletter. Contact: email, Conference website

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Call for Papers for the BALTIC DYNAMICS 2016 conference The 21st International conference on Innovation “In-novation and Technology Convergence – Strategy for Smart Growth“ will be held in Riga, Septem-ber15 – 16, 2016. With this event BASTIC - Baltic Association

implementation, especially regarding smart cities, green energy, and social innovation;

- Role of Universities in competence building for smart growth;

- Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innova-tion Centers, LTICA - Latvian Association of Tech-nology Parks, Centers and Business Incubators –and LTC Latvian Technological Center –invite to share experience and participate in the biggest event on innova

- Role of Science / Technolo-gy Parks and Business Incu-bators in setting-up and ac-celerating businesses;

- Centers of Competence: tool for innovation in the Baltic States this year.

The main topics of the Baltic Dynamics 2016 will be - Key factors for the successful business develop-

ment: Knowledge creation, technology transfer, experience sharing, national and international cooperation, partnerships;

- Innovation management; - Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS): creation and

research and business cooperation; - European Program Horizon 2020: best practice in

participation. The organizers have published a Call for Papers with the deadline of May 31, 2016 for abstracts of proposed presentations. For more details visit website Contact: Ints Viksna, email SDO profiles: BASTIC, LTICA and LTC

Training for Innovation Center Management in Iran The Inter-Islamic Network on Science and Technolo-

gy Parks (INSTP) is an international association link-ing innovation centers in Islamic countries. The sec-ond pilot activity of the COMSTECH-INSTP-IDB joint capacity development program for the staff of science and technology parks of the OIC Member States INSTP organized a networking workshop

tivity and Entrepreneurship, Technology Transfer Of-fice, and Entrepreneurship.

Prof. Ismail Abustan (Malaysia): Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Engineering Dr. Pooria Pasbakhsh (Malaysia): Framework for the success of a science park, Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship

titled: “Designing the Future of Innova-tion and Entrepre-neurship in OIC Member States”. It was held January 11 – 15, 2016 in Moein Hotel in the city of Fooman, Guilan, Iran

Prof. Dr. Helmut Kohlert (Germany): Coincidence meets intention: Components of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Impact on research and innovation, Man-aging a Science Park –Challenge self-sustenance, and Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the OIC network

A comprehensive evaluation of the event resulted in a very positive overall rating regarding quality, efficiency and organization of the training course. The self-assessment of

and was attended by 20 participants from Science and Technology Parks, Incubators, Universities, and Min-istries of Science and Technology and Higher Educa-tion from different IDB member states. The five invited instructors covered a wide range of topics relevant for the management of innovation centers and science parks: Dr. Samsilah Roslan (Malaysia): Negotiations

and Contracts, Intellectual Properties Manage-ment, Case Study Innovation Science Park, and Industrial Engagement and Customer Discovery.

Prof. Rahmat Awang (Malaysia): Innovation, Crea-

participants along 10 criteria showed that all have gained more knowledge and became more acquainted with each topic presented in the workshop. The participants expressed their sincere gratitude and thanks to the organizers for such an important and much needed topic of discussion. They have also declared their readiness to transfer the knowledge they have gained to their countries, participate in future events and increase the level of cooperation between the member states. Contact for more information: Mahmoud Saberi, Execu-tive Director of INSTP email SDO Profile: INSTP

HEUREKA Berlin 2016 – Early Bird Tickets available For the fifth time HEUREKA, ”the conference for key factors of success, get inspired by like-minded entre-

founders who want to bring their business to the next level” will be held in Berlin on June 7, 2016. This

preneurs and meet high level investors and media repre-sentatives”. More information about the speakers can be found on the website (see below). Early Bird tickets are available until April 30, 2015 through This event has been growing year by year and is

known for excellent possibilities to “learn about the through website Contact: HEUREKA email Website: HEUREKA

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European Enterprise Promotion Awards open for Applications The European Enterprise Promotion Awards by the European Commission recognizes outstanding achievements by public authorities and public-private partnerships. National, regional or local authorities, educational insti

and administrative procedures for businesses Supporting the internationalization of business - en-courage enterprises and particularly small and medium- sized businesses to benefit more from the opportunities offered by markets, both inside and outside the EU institutions and business organiza-

tions and public-private partner-ships from all EU Member States, including Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Turkey can participate in this

Supporting the development of green markets and resource efficiency - support SME access to green mar-kets and help to improve their resource efficiency through, for example, green skills development and matchmaking, as well as funding European competition. Since 2006, more than 2,800

projects have entered the awards and together they have supported the creation of thousands of new companies. About 350 organizations or projects apply each year for the national preliminaries - 30 of them will qualify for competition at European level. The candidates nominated by their country will be invited to the award ceremony in Bratislava on 24 November 24, 2016. The award categories are: Promoting the entrepreneurial spirit - promote an entrepreneurial mindset, especially among young people and women Investing in entrepreneurial skills – improve entre-preneurial and managerial skills Improving the business environment - support enterprise start-up and growth, simplify legislative and

Responsible and inclusive entrepreneurship - promote corporate social responsibility among small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship among disadvan-taged groups such as the unemployed, legal migrants, disabled, or people from ethnic minorities. The Jury’s Grand Prize can be from any category and will go to the entry considered to be the most creative and inspiring entrepreneurship initiative in Europe. The first step to participate is to contact the organization responsible for organizing the national preliminaries. The application deadline for Germany is April 18, 2016. For further details and the national deadlines for other coun-tries, see website For Germany, for example, the RKW Competence Centre performs the German national final of the competition. Contact: Juliane Kummer , email For more details about this Award see website

Deutsche Bahn: UX: challenge for a new interaction concept for DB Information In the wake of rapid digitization and technological change Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) wants to newly

interface, UX, Communication Designer)developers, coders, computer and data experts or all-round creative

position the information area of DB stations to adapt the DB Information to the current needs

people - whether in a team or as an individual. The three winners or winner teams will have the chance

- to make travelling easier for many people of customers and employees. The DB Information UX: challenge called for applications in cooperation of Deutsche Bahn, StartUp Germany, and the DAI-Labor of the Technical University Berlin. The aim of this competition is to identify fresh, innovative UX concepts for the presentation of information for cus-tomers and employees. The competition is open to designers (interaction, interface

- to win prize money totaling 14,000 euros - to get a unique reference for their own portfolio.

The winners will be decided by a jury at the final pitch on April 28, 2016 in mindbox, the co-working space of Deutsche Bahn For more details download the material Contact: Kai-Henning Wagner, email SDO Profile: mindbox

Improving the EU Start-up Ecosystem – Invitation to help The EU Commission end of March has launched a

public consultation to hear the views of entrepreneurs

solutions and, if needed, designing new policies for sup-porting businesses growth. The introduction to the consul-tations

and start-ups, as well as all other stakeholders, on how to improve the environment for start-ups in the EU. The consultation launches the EU Start-up Initiative which aims at creating favorable conditions for

tation states: “The goal is to create serial entrepreneurs, who will reinvest when they succeed, try again when they fail, and support a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout”. The public consultation is part of the EU Single Market Strategy and is done by an online open to (would-be) en-trepreneurs, EU Start-up Initiative which aims at creating favora-

ble conditions for entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses. The consultation is aimed to help identifying possible

trepreneurs, startups, and other startup ecosystem stake-holders until June 30,2016. More information on website and about the Single Market Strategy presented by EU on October 28, 2015

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Interactive Ecosystem Workshop in Frankfurt / Main In March 2016 RKW successfully launched a series of events about Regional Economic Development with a workshop “Strengthen your Ecosystem for Founders

the Founder Ecosystem Approach). Then participants with the help of the RKW model and experts to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their own ecosystem (Step Founders” that was targeted at economic development

promotion agencies. This series now will be contin-ued with a workshop "Strengthen your Ecosystem for Founders" on June 9, 2016. This event is organized

(Step 2: Status Quo & recogniz-ing relationships). Finally, at-tendees will get the opportunity to develop their own measures for estab in cooperation with BVIT, the German Federal Asso-

ciation Innovation centers, and aims primarily at people working in business incubation programs who are interested in their local ecosystem for founders and wish to strengthen and expand it. The workshop takes place in Frankfurt / Main on June 9, 2016 from 9:30 to 16:00 (location to be announced). The workshop will begin with a brief overview the RKW approach (Step 1: The big picture overview of th

establishing promotion based on best-practice examples. The aim of the workshop is that each participant devel-oped at least one new idea to strengthen their founder ecosystem (Step 3: Shaping the Future - exploring oppor-tunities and measures for developing the ecosystem). This workshop will be held in German language and is free of charge. Registration is required by email to Dr. Matthias Wallisch; Website RKW Kompetenzzentum

“Innovation Centers 5.0” to be held in Mannheim, September 15-17, 2016 Under the headline “Innovation Centers 5.0” the

annual conference of the German Federal Association of Innovation, Technology and Business Incubation Centers (former ADT) will discuss what is needed in

opinions, experiences and best-practices as well as inter-esting models related with the main conference topics: “Innovations Centers as engines of urban and Regional development”, “Generation Y and their requirements

future for providing attractive services to startups. This year the conference first time will be held in a new format with parallel sessions aimed to provide a wider spectrum of topics and more opportunities for exchanging experiences and ideas. All conference participants after this event will receive a certificate

regarding Technology Business Incuba-tors” or “Fab Labs & Co. - New For-mats for Innovation Centers”. Proposals also are invited for the parallel confer-ence track with the topics “Insurance”, Legal Matters” and “Social Media”.

for participation. “Innovation Centers 5.0” will be hosted by “mg:mannheimer gründerzentren gmbh”, owned by

The conference will conclude with a panel discussion "Innovation Centers 5.0" to summarize experiences and impressions as foundation for learning about future needs

the City of Mannheim and offering ser-

regarding tools, methods, and strategies of management of innovation, technology and business incubators manage-ment. Proposals should be sent to BVIZ by email not

vices in currently nine centers for entrepreneurs and young companies. One of these centers is the MAF-INEX Technology Center where the conference will be held. BVIZ has published a Call for Papers providing

later than March30, 2016 Contact: BVIZ, email bviz@innovationszentren.de Contact: MAFINEX, Claudia Rabe, email SDO profile BVIZ SDO Profile host: MAFINEX

Seven high-quality Startups at first Demo Day of Relevant Health Accelerator More than 150 investors, industry leaders and top

technology company representatives joined the first Demo Day of the health technology startup accelera-tor Relevant Health held March 23, 2016 in Washing-ton, DC, to experience the progress of the accelera-tor’s seven health tech startups. Coming from Be-thesda, Rockville, Washington, DC, Baltimore, New York

that have dedicated the last five months to the Relevant Health pro-gram. We are very proud of their accomplishments. Additionally, we are very pleased with the caliber of investors that have taken a significant interest in Relevant Health.”

York City and Latvia, the startups are developing a wide range of health tech products and devices to meet diverse healthcare needs. “Our first graduating cohort from the first health tech accelerator in Montgomery County is a great suc-cess,” stated Rich Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “The BHI-developed nationally competitive accelera-tion program has attracted seven high-quality startups that

The new accelerator is supported by BioHealth Innovation (BHI), ProductSavvy and Montgomery County Economic Development and recently announced its new line-up of investors, including: Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Maryland Department of Commerce, as well as other pri-vate angel investors. Source: BioHealth Innovation News Contact: Richard Bendis; SDO Profile: Relevant Health

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Transformamus - What big business and startups can learn from each other The two-days summit "Transformamus“ to be held in

Zurich, May 19 – 20, 2016, will bring together rele-vant players and multipliers of the old and new econ-omy

scientists, management researchers and many other digital visionaries as well as startups. The Transformation Sum-mit consists of two different blocks. omy. Large enterprises are seeking ways to co-

operate with and learn from startups to benefit from their flexibility and new business models. An indica-tion for this wish is the rapidly growing number of corporate

The Insight Conference dur-ing the first day offers partici-pants to attend lectures and break-out sessions. Experi-enced corporate accelerators. At the same time startups face

difficulties with managing their growth and could benefit from experience large companies have. The dynamics of digitization for big business as well as new small companies are eroding industry bounda-ries. The accompanying radicalism of innovation increases competition allowing only the best business models to be viable. Under the scientific management of the University of St. Gallen and its partners the summit “Transformamus” provides opportunity to talk with top managers, CEOs of global corporations,

enced entrepreneurs and decision-makers will report on the transformation of their business, while startup founders show how they redefine the competition rules. The Impact Seminar during the second day of the summit participants have the opportunity to work out how they can benefit from the opportunities of an economy in transition. The content of the seminars will focus on the learnings from the Insight conference. The seminars are conducted by professors from the University of St. Gallen. Information and registration through website Contact: Josef Frischeisen email

The START Summit 2016 St. Gallen with 1,500 attendees Completely sold out three days before the opening:

The two-day St. Gallen START Summit in mid-March brought together ca. 1,500 participants from 50 countries. 40 students of the University St. Gallen

10,000 Swiss francs prize money for its revolutionary solution for industrial agriculture was considered a beacon of hope for the Third World. In the START Arena high-profile speakers presented their

(HSG) working for a year to prepare the summit made it one of the largest student-organized conferences on entrepreneur-ship

views on the impact of current technological changes. Among them Andreas Wiele, Board Member of the pub-lisher Axel Springer, and Siim Sikkut, Digital Policy Ad-visor of the Government of Estonia. rship and technology. Founders, investors, students

and representatives of the private sector made the 6,000 square meter OLMA fairgrounds a buzzling hotspot of entrepreneurship. Here a few highlights: After the opening by Jonas Muff, President of Start Global the Venezuelan futurist José Luis Cordeiro, reported on the main stage on his work at the Singu-larity University. The START Summiteer Pitching Contest presented 16 pre-selected young companies with a four- minutes pitch each. The winner, Gamaya received

The START Summit offered insights into actual topics like the potential of the block chain technology or the future of money and presented information about devel-opments in other startup ecosystems, for example Israel. Of course, between lectures, competitions and workshops, participants also found time and opportunity for network-ing and fun in an international atmosphere. For more impressions, pictures, and not to miss the 2017 Summit the START Summit blog provides information. Contact: START Summit Team email START Summit website

Sweet Acceleration world-side The number of corporate accelerators is growing every day. With “Shopper Futures” the age of sweet acceleration has begun. In August 2015 “Mondelēz international”, the company behind brands like Milka,

Plug & Play in Berlin, launched the expansion of “Shop-pers Future” to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Startups with a value proposition in tech categories like shopper loyalty & reward schemes, omni-channel com-merce

Cadbury, Toblerone, and others announced the winners of a call

merce, in-store analytics, proximity marketing, or retailer SaaS solutions are invited to apply. To develop and final-ized their product selected winners will not only receive € 30,000, but also become partner a leading “Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG/CPG)” brands.

of a call for applications of startups in the US and Canada. More information is available of the US / Canada Shoppers Future website (see below) - un-fortunately without information about the develop-ment after winning the acceleration program Beginning of March 2016 Mondelēz, in cooperation with High-Tech Gründerfonds and Axel Springer Plug &

In the actual accelerator, for example, the brands Milka, Mikado, Oreo, and belVita participate together with retail-ers like Penny and Valora. For more information and application in Germany, Aus-tria, and Switzerland see website Contact: Shopper Futures Germany Websites Shopper Futures USA & Canada, and Australia

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Entrepreneurship Support reinvented The XXVII Annual Conference SOOIPP is to be held

in Warsaw, Poland, May 17 – 19, 2016 under the title “Realizing the potential of innovation and entrepre-neurship in

The conference also will offer special events - Pitching Session “Potential and achievements of inno-vation centers”;

eneurship in the development of technology compa-nies“ and will be combined

- Award ceremony of the sixth edition of the competition “Innovation Park Eagles” 2016 - Presentation of Performance Certificates for innovation centers;

combined with the " StartSmart Conference ". The main areas of discussion will be - Opportunities of innovation centers in the implemen-tation of smart growth strategy - Models for organizing commercialization of universi-ty research results with participation of companies and technology transfer centers; - Standards activities of innovation centers accredita-tion system of the Ministry of Development

- Announcement of the results of the first phase of accel-eration MIT Forum Poland. This year's conference is organized by the Polish Associ-ation for Innovation Centers (SOOIPP) in cooperation with the Foundation for Enterprise Technology For more information visit conference website For registration use electronic application form Contact: Nadzieja Bąkowska email SDO Profile SOOIPP

Only Marijuana A few months ago the incubator “Gateway" opened in

Oakland, CA It resides in the Leviathan building and is as special as the architecture. Built in 1991 by ACE Arch

gram in California and most likely world-wide. Gateway twice a year selects up to ten startups to work with the accelerator and learn how to develop a cannabis busi-ness. Architects Lucia Howard and David Weingarten, the

Leviathan building is an eye catcher – and the new incubator could be a mind catcher - the first incubator

nes. For five months the selected en-trepreneurs get office space, mentor-ing, and an initial investment of US$ 30

in the San Francisco Bay area specialized on cannabis. Although in California consumption of Cannabis for recreational purposes is not legal yet (other than, for example, in Alaska or Oregon) the legal possibility to use this drug for medical purposes opens a new field for business. Gateway is a funding program focused on supporting for Marijuana startups - the first such pro-gram

30,000 for a six percent stake in their businesses. The investments are funded by MJIC, an institution formed to serve as a professionally managed vehicle for people seeking to capitalize on the emerging legal cannabis industry”. Contact: Ben Larson, email ben@gtwy.co SDO Profile Gateway; MIJC National Initiative to market the Swiss Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

….continued from page 1… which provides a stage for all participants in the Swiss startup ecosystem to pre-sent their topics to a broad public.

commerce, High-tech, Life Science, Gaming, Women Entrepreneurs, Cleantech, and Fintech. During recent years the canton of Fribourg has devel-oped An additional highlight at the end

of this year will be the Swiss Startup Summit Awards on No-vember 4, 2016 hosted by the can-ton of Fribourg. This event will be

oped innovation structures, interesting for all startups also across cantonal borders and is an example for the innovation and business location Switzerland. The Swiss Startup Summit will help to popularize the economic and innovation location of Switzerland. broadcasted on TV and includes the review of the

campaign, integration of key stakeholders of the Swiss startup ecosystem and of course the award ceremony with the highlights in eight categories ICT/Internet, e-

Swiss Startup Summit Website: Swiss Startup Summit Contact email Swiss Startup Summit Awards Website and Signing up online

Berlin Online Newsletter „Gründerszene“ wins Diesel Medal An important component of an Entrepreneurship Eco-system is working together (...networking!...) as well as tools and initiatives supporting cooperation. The

to making information available like, for example, “Hamburg Startups” is doing in the second largest city of Germany. Now, the work of “Gründerszene” found high recogni-basis for all that is in-

formation. This is why media providing infor-mation about the players

The “Diesel Medaille” awarded for economically suc-cessful innovation performance was awarded to “Grün-derszene” in the category "Best Media Communication". The Diesel Medal is awarded by the Institute for inven-tors) within an ecosystem and their activities are highly

important. In Berlin “Gründerszene” , a daily online newsletter and a pioneer in this genre contributes much

tors “Deutsches Institut für Erfinderwesen” (German annually since 1953 - the oldest Innovation Prize in Germany awarded for … continued on next page…

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… continued from previous page… successful economic and business innovation. This year’s ceremony in the “Deutsches Museum”, Munich awarded "Best Media Communication" , the award went to daily online newsletter “Gründerszene” in Belrlin "Best innovation promotion", won by the makers of the founding conference Bits & Pretzels “Most sustainable innovation" awarded to Carus for the

the first fully automated and resource efficient produc-tion line for LED lamps "Most successful innovation performance" won by Her-renknecht AG, a global technology and market leader in mechanized tunneling. Contact: Gründerszene email SDO Profiles Gründerszene / Hamburg Startups Deutsches Institut für Erfinderwesen website

18 Startups selected for GA Silicon Valley and New York Each year four cohorts of startups are selected by the

Germany Accelerator (GA) to be sent across the Atlantic for entering the US market. Recently, GA selected 18 startups for the program in Silicon Valley or New York. These companies now will receive

The startups going to GA New York are: Stilnest (3D-printed silver jewelry), Staffbase (app for internal compa-ny communication) Restube (rescue airbag for water sport), Creditshelf (market platform for SME credits), Crealytics (semantics for international E-Commerce), M-

intensive support to prepare for their market entry. GA already has helped more than 75 German startups to define winning business strategies and scale inter-nationally. Examples are Parstream (raised more than $13 million and got acquired by Cisco),

Way Solutions (software tool to monitor mobile activities of a company) The German Accelerator consists of two branches

Signavio (raised $34 million in funding) and Sereene (raised $5 million seed round) . The new startups at GA San Francisco will be Fami-lonet (communication for small groups) Appinio (market research via smart phones), Antelope, (wired sport outfits), Harrow.io (tool for develop efficient operation processes), Bird Home Automation (smart doorbell for remote reaction), Moeve Bike (optimiz-ing bikes), Webuyyourcar (evaluation and selling of cars), 3YourMind (compare 3-D-printing offers), Trinamic (circuits for controlling electrical engines), CheckMobile (optimizing online data transfers in companies), DACS Labs (application-deployment technologies e.g. for gaming industry), Replex.io (optimizing It infrastructure of companies).

- GA Technology located in San Francisco and New York is focused on Cleantech, Hardware, In-ternet of Things, Mobile, Semiconductors, Soft-ware / SaaS and

- GA Life Sciences (GALS) located in Cambridge, MA with special attention to Therapeutics, Diag-nostics, Digital health, Medical devices, and Plat-form technologies & services

GA provides individualized advice and flexible services, tailored towards the specific needs and objectives of startups and emerging companies. This program supported by the German Federal Government and aimed at bringing German tech startups to the US market. Contact : Germano Accelerator email SDO Profiles GA Tech, GA Munich

Business Innovation Associations on the Move

…continued from page 1… formed sepa-rate associations. However, following discussions and studying their publica-tions it is easy to find common grounds.

fences or example, of the US based InBIA (International Business Innovation Associa-tion) and BVIZ (German Federal Association of Innovation Centers).

It seems that understanding is developing that ulti-mately all these initiatives have common goals and overlapping target groups. Consequently industry leaders have taken initiative and move in an inclusive way. This is indicated by the appearance of acceleration and co-working relat-ed topics on the agendas of business incubation con-ferences,

InBIA also has actively opened up for different member groups, for example, accelerators and co-working spaces. Both associations also are restructuring their conference schemes to further strengthen interactive and participants centered work patterns. The article below by Barbara Har-ley provides more details and insight regarding the recent InBIA conference. More about the BVIZ event on page 9

InBIA: New Name, New Team, New Headquarters City - New Conference by Barbara Harley

The InBIA, International Business Innovation As-sociation (formerly NBIA) featured its New Team, New Name, and New Headquarters City at

miles (644 km) from the Atlantic Ocean,, and is now – as InBIA – located in the tech & tourist city of Orlando, Flor-ida, only 50 miles (80 km) from the Atlantic Ocean and one mile from Disney World. The association’s new team is headed up by President/ CEO CEO Kirstie Chadwick. She New Team at its 30th Annual Conference. The head-

quarters of the U.S. National Business Incubation Association had been, until a few months ago, locat-ed in the university town of Athens, Ohio, ca. 400 miles

She was previously a leader in various Florida entrepre-neurial enterprises including an Angel investment group, the University of Central Florida’s Venture Lab, and sev-eral tech startups. … continued next page…

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…continued from previous page… Over the last year, the team worked with the NBIA’s 15-person Board of Directors to modernize its logo, website, training and international programs, and Internet activities. Out of that effort they adopted a new name: International Business Innovation Association (InBIA) to reflect the increased scope of programs that are of concern to business incubation professionals, such as co-working and maker spaces, seed fund accelerators, and entre-preneurial ecosystems. The 30th International Conference on Business Incu-bation was held April 17-20, 2016, in InBIA’s new headquarters city of Orlando Florida, at the 53 acre

for the EU), Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Ko-rea, Poland, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia. An outstanding feature of the conference were the two Keynote Speakers who are well-known entrepreneurship leaders and thinkers, both of whom provided creative and energetic interaction with their audiences. Alex Osterwalder, the Swiss creator of the Business

Model Canvas and lead author of Business Model Generation and Value Proposition Design. He demonstrated (with the help of the audience) the uses and logic of the Business Model Canvas, one of his creations.

Impressions from the BIG Summit for International Business Incubation Leaders

(21 hectare) Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center which contains a 2-story Reception Building, 3 hotel towers, 4 “Villa Towers, and an impressive convention center with 150,000 sq.ft. (14,000m2) of meeting space. Highlights of the conference There were more than 500 attendees at the confer-ence. Most important to this attendee were the expanded opportunities to learn more about support programs for international entrepreneurs within their own coun-tries and especially when they are expanding globally (“Smart Launches and Soft Landings”). As a pre-conference all-day program, the InBIA initiated a BIG Summit (Business Incubation Global Leadership Summit) and, on the second day, a Fireside Chat “Driving Global Innovation Through High-Impact Federal Programs.“ These and other sessions included speakers from incubators, science parks, and support-ing governments from many countries in addition to the U.S. Some of these were: Australia, Belgium (for

Daniel Isenberg – a professor, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and active angel investor, and founder of the Babson College Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project who convinced the audience members that they did not always recognize an innovator or an innovation.

The entire program was broad in its scope and presenta-tions. There were between five and seven sessions offered within each of the seven topic areas entitled: Serving Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Trends and Innovations, University Entrepreneurship, Incubations Operations & Sustainability, International Entrepreneur-ship, Specialty Incubation. Prominent within many of the discussions were useful concepts of mapping the environments and ecosystems, and using metrics (data) to help guide the entrepreneur clients in addition to demonstrating the value and impact of incubators and accelerators to their stakeholders. Contact: Barbara Harley, email SDO Profile: InBIA For more information on this conference see website

Chilly Bahama Breeze - the 186th SPICE Group Dinner At the InBIA Conference: It has a long tradition: A SPICE Group Dinner at the annual conference of InBIA (formerly NBIA) in the

world and a panel discussion moderated by SPICE Girl Mary Spaeth. InBIA’s BIG Summit replaced the earlier GBIN Summits and is not exclusive to association repre-United States. This time eight

attendees (from Germany, Po-land, and the USA) exchanged the latest information from their experiences as well as first impressions from the BIG Sumit

representatives any more. Attendees gained many impulses for informative and interesting talks and new contacts. For the SPICE Dinner we selected a restaurant of the “Ba-hama Breeze” chain and enjoyed the food and the music, but weather was not fully with us. The “Orlando Breeze” that evening was cooler than expected so that hot topics and discussions had Summit with some 60 participants from around the

world and discussions had to keep us warm.

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The BVIZ Spring Conference in a New Format The spring conferences of the German Federal Associa-tion of Innovation Centers (BVIZ, former ADT) have been a meeting place for the German Business incuba-tion community for almost three decades. These events took place even before the association was formally founded. Time for a change. This year for the first time the spring conference was organized as a gathering of the BVIZ Work Groups.

privacy, as well as the reform of insolvency law Innovation Center Management and Operation moderated by Gerold Kreuter, managing director of FiDT Kassel GmbH / Science Park Kassel focused on matters like optimization of energy procurement, ten-ders for electricity water, and gas, as well as how to increase customer service and reduce costs International Issues

moderated by Peer Ambrée, Authorized Officer of WISTA MANAGEMENT GMBH participants in-formed about international activities of their innovation centers as well as possibilities for making the centers’ experiences available for cooperation and projects. Results of the work group discussions will be summa-rized by the group leaders and made available to asso-ciation The get-together dinner the night before offered oppor-

tunities for “warming-up” and making new contacts. Therefore at the conference morning a short welcome by the President of BVIZ, Bertram Dressel, and Peer Ambrée, authorized Officer of the WISTA Manage-ment, hosting the event, was sufficient as an opening and the work groups got get straight into the topics to discuss in parallel work group sessions: Legal Issues for Innovation Centers moderated by Anne Glaser from the law firm “Prof. . Holzhauser & Partner, Dresden the group discussed actual issues regarding legal regulations for commercial leases and building construction, data safety, security &

ciation members. First impressions regarding the new event scheme were positive. Participants could change the works groups during the days and thereby experi-ence the spirit, discussion topics, and work patterns of other groups. Contact: Andrea Glaser, email SDO Profile BVIZ, WISTA

The Social Workplace Conference 2016 The Social Workspace Conference already has taken place twice, in London and Paris. This year it will be held June 10, 2016 at WeWork in London and aims at

Understand the expectations of modern workers and the need to create empathy within the workforce Explore how to give workplaces a mission and identity sharing the insight and experience from some of the

best practitioners from Co-working, the fastest growing sector of the workspace world. The conference is a spin off from the Coworking Europe Conference,

Learn about the key features when designing a socially aimed workplace Hear how to create a sense of care Community Management, Hospitality, Empathy

and Flexibility are at the core of co-working’s populari-ty within the modern workforce, from freelancers to startups, and now to company employees. The confer-ence will offer delegates a unique insight into what can make enjoyable, productive, human driven workplace environments. From this conference participants will take home much:

of care and hospitality Learn how to build authenticity and create genuine relationships Understand how to sustain, curate and support the workplace community as your main asset Appreciate the need for positioning and marketing Contact: email; Conference Webiste SDO Profile WeWork London

Finals of the Global Challenge Cup in Washington DC For the Third time the Global Challenge Cup has been, inviting entrepreneurs around the world to participate. Many pitching events have taken place to select the finalists

World. The competitions and galas will provide invalu-able opportunities to connect and share. During the finals 10 industry-specific conferences will

finalists. The time to convene for the Challenge Cup Finals that will be hosted by 1776 in Washington on June 7 – 10, 2016. Four full days

be held, attendees will collectively tackle the toughest challenges facing our world. Entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders, and policymakers are invited to at-tend.

are scheduled for fining the winners of this year’s Cup at an event that will bring together thousands of entre-preneurs influencers and investors from around the World

More information is available on the event website Registration is open online Contact: 1776 email

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SPICE Update in recent issues provided information about entrepreneurship ecosystems of a number of places: This time we add Düsseldorf, Germany to this series. Düsseldorf with about 606,000 inhabitants is the Capital of the State North Rhine Westphalia, is located at the river Rhine

Business Incuba-tion has some history in Düssel-dorf and recently the startup scene is

Entrepreneurial Hotspots

DÜSSELDORF

Rheine and has a long history reaching back to the 14th century. The city is part of the “Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan area with area with about 10 million people.

is finding more public and private sector attention and support and is gaining momentum. Worth having a closer look and follow developments.

GarageBilk in Düsseldorf enters a new Era During the StartUp Week Dusseldorf the co-working space GarageBilk will entered a new era celebrated by the “Start(Up) BIG_biz Night” on April 13, 2016 that took place at the future domicile "Factory Campus". This new location will offer plenty of space for co-worke

the metropolitan area Dusseldorf and guests from crea-tive industries, business politics and administration as well as from the cultural sector. Anyone interested was welcome – actual GarageBilk co-workers enjoyed free admission. GarageBilk is known for his pioneering work workers - more than 34,000 square

meters. Each Startup aims to become a big player, but few reach this goal. What are the key factors to secure growth? What are the features of successful Satrt

work in Düsseldorf on the subjects New Work Culture, FabLab, sus-tainability, creation, innovative event formats, and by its EU-funded Sustainable Startup Pro-gram. With the expansion and move startups? These are some of the questions dealt with at

the Start(Up) BIG_biz Night. And successful entrepre-neurs provided their views and experiences, for exam-ple, Malte Siewert, Trivago (Founder / CEO) and Yvonne Firdaus, GarageBilk & Factory Campus (Founder & CEO). All speakers (in 20-minutes presen-tations) shared with the attendees the reasons for their company's success and their personal experiences. Later participants could take a glimpse of the future and gigantic co-working and startup Space "Factory Campus" and enjoy the right network sound provided by DJ Sal. This evening brought together startups from

move to the Factory Campus GarageBilk wants to contribute to the development of the city of Düsseldorf towards a “startup city” and create collaborative and networked ecosystem for new and growing businesses. The factory of the former Metso recycling Machine Company provides 34,000 square meters for using the "Coworking" model to develop a campus for the future of work which also is aimed to become the center of attraction in the entire region. The campus is devel-oped, managed and leased by GarageBilk. For more detail contact Jardena Kifle at email SDO Profile: GarageBilk

DUS Airport exhibits winning Startups As part of the Startup Week Düsseldorf first time the

DUS Highflyer Award will honor innovative startup companies. Six creative businesses have been selected by a jury from more than hundred applications. The six

Paypeanuts allows customers with points earned from various loyalty and frequent flyer programs to pay for premium online content. Zentrales Fundbüro Lost & Found Center) is the wlrd finalists will present themselves during the Düsseldorf

"Startup Week" at the terminal of the DUS airport. These startups have developed new concepts for serv-ing

ing the needs of travelers. The six semi-finalists are Wingly is a flight sharing platform bringing together private pilots and potential passengers and allowing to book through the system. Shipping Point offers international flight tourist to send their shopping from abroad directly to your home. The service includes the management of the Tax Re-funds. Dynacrowd offers an innovative app that combines location-based interaction and ad hoc communication with direct access to interest-based services. Bagshuttle is a luggage delivery service that helps passengers to follow their business or pleasure right after arrival or before departure without having to care about baggage.

world’s largest online lost property service. It simpli-fies handling of lost and found requests by providing online information. Not all services provided by these startups without competition. For example, Wingly is competing with flyt.club from Leipzig as well as other offers that are less comfortable to use like Mitfluggelegenheiten; Mitflugzentrale; and Mitflugzentrale Hamburg The DUS Highflyer Award is organized by Düssel-dorf Airport in cooperation with the Department of Economic Development of the City and the initiative Startup Village e.V. Website: DUS Highflyer Award Contact: Hanns Tappen SDO Profile: Startup Village

I. II.

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Düsseldorf is strengthening the City’s Startup Culture Startup Dorf (Startup Village), a local entrepreneurship

support network writes: While “Düsseldorfers” like to think of themselves as great collaborators, the Düssel-dorf entrepreneurship and startup community hasn’t come together yet around a shared vision or purpose.

ring this week about 35 events offered workshops, lectures, panel discussions providing opportunities for exchange, knowledge transfer, and networking And there is a foundation to build on. The City count-ed“135 startups that created around 2,100 jobs in the past

Startup entrepreneurs from Düs-seldorf are struggling to navigate a fragmented startup-ecosystem, which creates challenges for en-trepreneurs to identify and access support.” In this statement “Düs-seldorf” could be replaced by many other city names. However, in

past decade and have written notable success stories, such as trivago, auxmoney, Emma's grandson, salt & bread or Preis24.de”. During the Startup Week the first edition of the “DUS HighFlyer” Award exhibited the six selected finalists at the Düsseldorf Airport and the co-working space GarageBilk celebrated its move to a new location offering huge space capacities to be developed “to become in Düsseldorf initiatives were taken to develop the

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. The first Startup Week organized by the Düsseldorf Office of Economic De-velopment was held in the city April 11 – 17, 2016. The aim was to strengthen the “startup culture”. Dur-ing

become the center of attraction in the entire region”. For more information see website of Startup Week Contact Startup Week. Ingo Stefes, email SDO Profile Startup Dorf ; GarageBilk SDO Profile Economic Development

Access to Knowledge for Startups – Building Community Startplatz Düsseldorf, opened in 2014, is a co-working

space not only providing desks and coffee, but actively get good ideas?”, a “User Experience Workshop”, “How to build high performance teams?”. “Lean Startup supporting startup entre-

preneurs with knowledge and community building. There is an event on topics important for startups al-most every other day – in Düsseldorf or in the sister Startplatz in Cologne.

Startup”, “Legally clean websites - selling products and services”, and “Distribution setup for suc-cess in B2B sales” will be of-fered – the “Startup BBQ # 31” on May 12, 2016in Cologne that will be followed by the “Inves-tors Network Meeting 2016” one

After, for example, in April 2016, topics like “2nd Leancamp Cologne”, “Crowdfunding with startnext “, “Leadership for Startups”, “Why growth hacking?”, “copyrights right” or the “Artificial Intelligence Camp-fire” have been on the agenda. In May the list of topics includes “Mental Coaching for entrepreneurs”, “Busi-ness Model Canvas – Basics”, “Be innovative! How to

week later. End of May the Rheinland-Pitch # 32will be hosted in Cologne For more topics, details and registration the Startplatz website is available. Photos & Graphics: Startplatz Contact: Julia Schäfer email SDO Profile Startplatz Düsseldorf ; Startplatz Colog-ne State-wide network of Startup Support Centers

Düsseldorf is the Capital of the German State North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) and the center of a state-wide network of centers supporting entrepreneurship

Startercenter NRW is jointly organized by the cham-bers of crafts, chambers of commerce, and local eco-nomic

network of centers sup-porting entrepreneurship and startups: The “Startercenter NRW” provides comprehensive information and advisory services to jumpstart new businesses. “From Idea to Growth” - with 79 Starter centers in all regions of the state NRW.

economic development agencies.. Services of Starter-center NRW are externally certified based on 31 quali-ty criteria. Addresses and contacts of the 79 Startercenters in NRW are available on the Startercenter NRW website Startercenter NRW cooperates with “Starternetz” to provide an online calendar listing all events important for founders and young entrepre-neurs In these centers entrepreneurs and founders find the

necessary support in all matters relating to starting and developing a company. In the State of NRW each year about 80,000 new businesses of all kinds are started.

preneurs - from local meetups to inter-national con-ferences and exhibitions. Website Startercenter NRW Website Starternetz

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SPICE Update No 102 for the first time we reported on the different aspects of the entrepreneurship support system of a specific place: This time we have a look at Hamburg The second largest city of Germany traditionally has strong trading activities. The large harbor since centuries is a “gate

catch up. The Fed-eral German Startup Association estimates 450 digital startups in Hamburg - in Berlin

Entrepreneurial Hotspots

HAMBURG

“gate to the World” – and for the World. However, regard-ing new business in the digital economy Hamburg needs to

Berlin about 2500 such companies are active. Hamburg took action to strengthen development of the digital economy.

Founder's Day Hamburg 2016 Since 20 years an annual Founder’s Day is held in Hamburg. March 19, 2016 this event again brought together startups with other players of the city’s startup

youngest team member is 15 years old) at the event was ReLeuchted. Supported by the “Junior” program of the“Cologne Institute for Economic Research” this com-pany startup scene, organized by H.E.I, the Hamburger

Existenzgründungsinitiative (Hamburg Startup Initia-tive). About 60 exhibitors were present at the event to answer almost every question a founder possibly could

pany was founded by stu-dents of the “Gymnasium Oberalster” and produces an innovative lamp made of wood could raise. Exhibitors and presenters included differ-

ent kinds of startup centers and supporters like Star-tHub / nextMedia Hamburg, NIT, Startup Dock TU Harburg, and IFB Innovationsstarter. Numerous lectures and workshops, spread over six locations, including the Chamber of Commerce cov-ered a covered wide range of topics, for example, finance, legal, taxation, social media, and customer. At informal discussion rounds startup entrepreneurs presented their experiences also regarding the support provided by various organizations, and answered questions from the questions from the audience. Pos-sibly Possibly the youngest startup team featured (the

wood and recycled CDs that can be bought in the online shop of this startup. This is just one example of the eight startups presented at the Chamber of Commerce during the Founder’s Day. The presentations of “Founder’s Day Hamburg – after registration – can be downloaded from the website of “Gründerhaus Hamburg” (Founders House) , a social network for startups is Hamburg.

This article is based on an article (in German) by Mathias Jäger published on the on-line blog of Hamburg Startups Contact: H.E.I Team, email SDO Profile H.E.I. H.E.I , next media accelerator, , IFB Innovation Starter, Startup Dock, Hamburg Startups

Next Media Accelerator Hamburg goes international At the first round in 2015 next media accelerator selected startups from Germany. Now the selection

Intelligence to. - BAG movies (from Barcelona, Spain) develop a

for the 2016 acceleration program has been published: Three interna-tional startups were selected for the

platform allowing users to recommend movies and TV programs to their friends.

next media is inviting to arrange personal coffee meetings six-month program – two from Spain and one from

Bulgaria. The next media blog provides short infor-mation about the program participants.

- Yatrus Analytics (from Sofia, Bulgaria) wants to help newsrooms and news agencies with a platform enabling them to find crucial infor-mation in real time.

- Narrativa (located in Madrid, Spain) starts with making computer-generated news stories possible with the vision to revolutionize the News Industry through Big Data and Artificial

with these companies. Requests for such meetings can be made by email to next media. The second batch of startups is not yet closed; next media informed that up to five participants could be in each batch and is open for two more candidates. The interna-tional perspective of the accelerator will be expanded by holding next media events in in London, New York, and Tel Aviv as well as in Scandinavia. Contact: Sabela García Cuesta, email sabela@nma.vc SDO Profile: next media accelerator http://www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=3039

The Hamburg Innovation Summit (HHIS) 2016 After a successful maiden event in 2015 the Ham-burg Innovation Summit (HHIS) this year will be held for the second time. May 30, 2016 is the date for

affecting the industry and independent speakers provid-ing interactive impulse lectures. Visitors and exhibitors are invited to propose their own sessions for the

this event that serves as a platform for new technolo-gies and innovations and aims

HHIS Barcamp. The Hamburg Innovation Award for innovative com-panies to be presented at the HHIS recognizes new, via-ble aims to bring together an audience from business,

politics and science. It consists or a one-day Innova-tion Fair combined with Master Classes on topics

ble business ideas and innovative companies and comes in three categories: Idea, Start and Growth. …continued an next page…

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- "Idea" is for founding teams with an idea for an innovative product of service, is closed to founding a company or did the first few steps after foundation.

- "Home" is for young companies with inno-vative products or services that are operating not more than five years.

- “Growth” is the category for innovative companies that are at least ten years success-fully in business and can grow significantly.

Applications for the first two categories were possible until March 26, 2016. All submissions receive indi-vidual feedback of the jury. All finalists will be invit-ed to present their ideas and business with a stand at the HHIS present and the “Top 3” will be invited to pitch, to determine the winner of each category. The winners will be announced on May 30 at the HHIS

and receive a prize of € 3,000 euros and a “founder case” with high-value prizes. For the first time a “Founder Price Sustainability” under the patronage of Science Senator Katharina Fegebank will be awarded with € 15,000 prize money. Founders from universities and scientific institutions in northern Germany can participate with knowledge-based start-up concepts that contribute reduction of polluting emissions. HHIS is for all who are enthusiastic about innovations and are curious about the technologies of tomorrow. This may be entrepreneurs, founders, students or trainees, as well as managers from established businesses, scientists or politicians. HHIS appeals to people who simply want to learn about the latest applications, gadgets and tech-nologies. Tickets are available through the HHIS website Contact: Anette Eberhardt, Startup Dock, email

Founder Academy Hamburg offers Hands-on Experience The Founder Academy Hamburg (November 4 -5, 2016) offers two days of opportunities to access prac-tical knowledge and make invaluable contacts. The

founders community. Founders Academy is open for entrepreneurs and startups in Hamburg who have a concrete business idea or started

main components of the Founders Academy are Workshops and practical lectures with experienced instructors, Meet the Founder

their business very recently. The number of participants is limited to 30 to ensure an intensive and direct exchange of information. Founders interested to attend the Founders Academy are asked register for receiving further information about preparation founder where successful founders talk about their

experiences, Feedback from experts and speakers providing advice for the successful development of start-ups, and Networking to get into the Hamburg founder

preparation of the event and opening of the official regis-tration. Website; Founder Academy Contact: Wirtschaftsjunioren email .

Co-working as a Life Style – Mindspace opened in Berlin and Hamburg After Mindspace opened its first co-working German facility in Berlin on April 1, 2016 now their new location in Hamburg has welcomed clients. Two of the four floors of Mindspace is going to occupy are in

furniture as well as cleaning service, cafeteria, and even a bicycle rental. The co-working space is open around the clock, seven days a week. And, as to be expected in well run co-working spaces “community” is a key part of the concept. use by some 120 co-workers

already since the opening on April 16, 2016. Located in the historic part of Hamburg, not far from the harbor, the new co-working space is easy to reach by public transportation (U-Bahn stop Rödingsmarkt) and extensive renovation brought a new ambience into the “Altes

concept. The founder, Dan Zakai and his partner Yotam Alroy since 2013 implemented this concept already successfully in Tel Aviv where two Mindspaces are operating. They see Mindspace more as a life style rather than just an efficient work environment. Maybe in future Mindspace will

Klöpperhaus”. Once renovation is completed Mind-space Hamburg will offer about 6,000 sqm of space and 700 places to work in rooms decorated with actu-al artwork created by young artists as well as antiques you may find on a flee market. The aim is not only to provide an effective and attractive working environ-ment to people for a short time, but also to allow successful businesses to develop. In Mindspace Ham-burg such companies can grow into offices with up to 40 desks. The service includes IT infrastructure and

add a stronger human touch and make telephone access and contact more direct and personal by providing phone numbers and email addresses of their community manag-ers rather than giving a website template and a “0800”-number only? Mindspace operates co-working spaces also in Tel Aviv Rothschild and Tel Aviv Ahad Ha’am Contact Mindspace Team email SDO Profile Mindspace Hamburg SDO Profile Mindspace Berlin

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SPICE Update No 102 for the first time reported on the different aspects of the entrepreneurship support system of a specific place: Berlin. In this issue of our newsletter we take another look at this city – and still cannot show the „full” picture. There are too many

very different character and have a variety of aims. The public and the private sector, both are active – a dynamic scene.

Entrepreneurial Hotspots

BERLIN

many new initiatives aimed at supporting entrepreneurship and growth of startup companies. These initiatives are of very

We invite our readers to comment and advice on information gaps we could fill in following newsletters.

Democratizing Virtual Reality Berlin startup wins SXSW Accelerator Award The Digital Festival “South by Southwest (SXSW)” in Austin, Texas offers a “unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies and markets itself as “the premier destination for dis-

there were two more Germany startups (one from Hamburg and Berlin each) participating, but made it only to the semifinal Splash, for the time being is working on iPhone only,

covery” SXSW annually holds a number of interna-tional competitions, including the SXSW Accelerator Award with six categories: Enterprise and Smart Data, Entertainment and Content, Health and Wearable, Innovative World, Payment and FinTech, and Virtual

promises 360 degree videos, to be imagined as a mov-ing panorama photo. With special glasses, viewers can immerse themselves in a virtual world with the “first app that democratized Virtual Reality" as co-founder Michael Ronen said according German daily newspa-

Reality. While the first five categories were won by US startups with apps for parking navigation, toy de-sign, medical urgency, and clean water, as well as a crowdfunding platform, in the “Virtual Reality” sec-tion the winner is Splash, a German company from

pers. More important than the USD 5,000 prize money Splash takes home now is the attention from poten-

Berlin that launched its app only shortly before the festival. Selected from more than 500 applications

tential investors and partners the award delivers. For more details about the Award see SXSW website

Be an Entrepreneur - - Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 in Berlin Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 to be held October 8 – 9, 2016 in Berlin as in earlier years is expecting again about 1,500 participants The success of earlier events 9n

entrepreneurs) can take advantage of the opportunities to work together in small groups with expert guidance and develop their to develop their business concepts. is based on the guiding principles

“create concept-creative”, “do not equate Entrepreneurship with Business Administration”, and “start

The Entrepreneurship Summit since many years is the meeting place for (would-be) entrepreneurs, startups and all players in the entrepreneurship ecosystem Information, details of the workshops and the ever growing list start with components, rather than trying to build eve-

rything yourself” under the general motto “Everyone has the potential to founder. Be an entrepreneur!” Highly qualified and experienced speakers will provide input and participants (mainly founders and would-be-

growing list of speakers (SPICE Group member Rolf Friedrichsdorf being one of them) is available on website. Contact: Stiftung Entrepreneurship, email Website Entrepreneurship Summit

Something tangible. First StarTUp Award of Berliner Volksbank and TU CfE Not only startups in the digital sector can win prizes. The winner of the first StarTUp Award of the savings bank “Berliner Volksbank” and the Centre for Entre-preneurship of the TU Berlin was assigned to a com-pany

forms of train stations providing information and increasing security. The German rail company Deutsche Deutsche Bahn and the Berlin public trans-portation company BVG already indicated interest.

pany producing something tangible, dura-ble and stylish. The start-up team"SIUT" at the

SIUT shared the StarTUp Award prize money of Euro 6,000 with two more win-ners, two teams from in the digital arena:

the Center for Entrepreneurship of the TU Berlin in 2015 won support from the EXIST Program and in-vented an innovative building material that will open a new era for the grey building material: light fiber con-crete (patent-pending). This concrete with luminosity offers a wide range of applications – from illuminated sinks in stylish bathrooms to bottom plates on plat-forms

mealy, a recipe app for food bloggers and Shopboostr with an interactive product advisor for online online trading. For more information: see website Contact: Franka Birke; SDO Profile: TU Berlin CfE Photo: SIUT website

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mindbox: DB Accelerator open for 3rd Batch Applications With the aim is to improve the customer experience and service quality Deutsche Bahn is looking for the third batch of startups with business ideas related with retail and services. Applicants should have a finished product or prototype that can be tested at Berlin main

main station, coaching and men-toring, 3 months access to the DB mindbox co-working space as well as contacts and networking opportunities with DB and part-ners station during summer 2016. On focus for the batch are

Multichannel Concepts, Shopping Experience, Food & Beverage Innovations, Concierge Services as well as Storage & Delivery. The DB accelerator program offers not only support for developing the business model but also includes the opportunity to test products. Prize money of 25.000€ is available for realizing business idea in the train station. Participants also get a popup-/ promotion area at Berlin

ners. At the end of the program, DB will discuss pos-sibilities for further cooperation. The opportunity is to become a tenant or a DB supplier and, given strategic fit, also investments are possible. Deadline for applications is May 1, 2016. The winners will work at mindbox June 1 to Septem-ber 1, 2016 Contact: mindbox Team email SDO Profile DB mindbox

Focus on Patient-Doctor Feedback and Patient Engagement May 31, 2016 is the deadline for online applications for applications for the Bayer Grants4Apps Accelera-tor in Berlin. Competition will be fierce.

Digital health startups that are selected for the upcom-ing program will receive funding of up to 50,000€, coaching by Bayer managers and experienced entre-preneurs, 100 days of mentoring and networking events fierce. The accelerator reports that record-breaking

numbers of applications already came in. But Grants4Apps encourages startups to apply to become part of the upcoming acceleration program Bayer from August to December 2016. All five startups that were part of the Bayer Grants4Apps® Accelerator 2014 have performed and developed well and became successful:. For more details see BAYER website

events as well as office space at the HQ of Bayer Pharma AG. Special consideration will be taken for applicants involved in Patient-Doctor feedback in Women’s Health and Patient engagement in Cardiology, Oncol-ogy, Radiology, and Ophthalmology. For applications use website Contact: Grants4Apps email SDO Profile BAYER Collaborator

TU Berlin Incubator reaching for the Stars The StarTUp Monday is a regular meetup held by the incubator of the Technical University Berlin. With the coming event on May 02, 2016 at 6 PM entrepreneurs

As ususal the StarTUp Monday will offer opportunity for relaxed networks, snacks and drinks or to pitch own projects and find a fellow. The team of StarTUp

will meet under the headline “NewSpace – Network-ing & Exchange on Developments, Projects, and Start-ups” and look at the sky over Berlin. Youtube videos show amazing videos of SpaceX or Blue Origin – entrepreneurs are interested to know how to start a space business. The StarTUp Incubator brings some-body

Photo: NASA / StarTUp Incubator

will be present to provide information and answer ques-tions. Guests are welcome to the meetup – no matter body to the meetup who can talk about the topic: Sven

Przy of PT Scientists, the company that wants to land the first privately financed Rover on the Moon.

matter if student, founder or alumni. Participation is free of charge; registration is required at website Contact: Kristina Fajga, email, StarTUp Incubator

German Crowdfunding Platforms established Association Mid-April was the start. The “German Federal Crowd-funding Association” (Bundesverband Crowdfunding) began to operate. 22 Members, including for example,

The need for such activities is obvious. If crowdfund-ed ventures do not develop as expected or fail the crowdfunding platforms are criticized for lacking due

Aescuvest, Bettervest, Companisto, Exporo, Greenvesting, Immo-fund

diligence. This shows that public knowledge about the risks coming with crowdfunding investments is not sufficient. The association also wants to make sure that funding, and Lightfin decided to cooperate in the new

association to have a collective voice and help devel-oping knowledge about crowdfunding, advocate for appropriate legal and taxation frameworks, define standards for operations, and ensure the quality of the industry. Membership also is open to crowdfunding platforms from other countries.

that ventures are thoroughly screened with accepted procedures before being presented on a platform. In this respect work is to be done because startups look for crowdfunding often even before a Proof of Con-cept is available. Contact Karsten Wenzlaff email SDO Profile Bundesverband Crowdfunding

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Incubator Quality New on SPICA World Map SPICA Directory has introduced a minimum “quality stand-ard” for being listed on SPICA World Map”. This standard does not evaluate the quality of an incubator / technopark

Kenya: Naiobi Garage, working since 2014 became the largest co-working space (two loca-tions in Nairobi) in the country. It also is hosting

operations, but if information provided is actual. Organizations with actual data within recent two

the Merck Accelerator as well as 888mhh SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=3582

years are shown on SPICA World Map Profiles inserted or updated more than 24 months ago

are not accessible for directory users SPICA World Map only shows locations of “Centers” (in-

Brazil: The incubator INTEC - Technological Incubator TECPAR in Curitiba works since 1998 SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=653

cubators, technoparks, associations, consulting, support

Portugal: STARTUP X has initiates the “Startup Pirates” and finance organizations) that have provided a complete

and actual profile that has been held in 65 countries already. SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=3584

SPICA World Map www.spica-directory.net/map

USA: The accelerator GATEWAY in San Francisco is specialized on startups and offers a five.months program to entrepre-neurs starting a Marijuana related business

SPICA World Map now is the main entry point for users SDO Profile: Gateway of the directory. From that map access to the individual incubator technopark/ / association profiles in SPICA Di-rectory is possible. Finding a specific profile also is possi-ble

Switzerland: The Bio-Technopark in Zürich

works since 2003 and now has 39 client firms with 600 jobs SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=2731 ble by using the “search” function in the main menu,

Developing a new Tool: At this time we are working on an advanced version of SPICE Directory. At first effect you already can see. Now the directory also includes accelerators and co-working spaces. And more is to come. We are including finance sector organizations, education and training offers as well are research institutions. As a result SPICA Directory will offer visualization of entrepreneurship ecosystems and direct access to organizations offering the tools, finance, and support needed for successfully starting and developing new businesses: SPICee – Entrepreneurship Ecosystems However, much work still is to be done. Therefore we are looking for voluntary Curators who are interested in mak-ing their “home ecosystem” better known and at the same time help would.be-entrepreneurs and startups finding ac-cess to the needed resources. Curators also should help with racing, testing, and developing the tools needed for making the new system efficient and user-friendly. In case you are interested to join and ready to invest some time please, contact us at spicee@spica-directory.net Is your organization not yet in SPICA Directory? You do not need to wait until the new tools are ready. You can add information about your offers and activities at any time. After you have registered in SPICA Directory it is easy

Germany: Mindspace already is operating co-working spaces in Tel Aviv, Israel (Rothschild and Ahad Ha’am) now became international with the opening of two co-working spaces in Berlin and Hamburg

Morocco: located in Casablanca the Green Tech Business Incubator (by Cluster Solaire)

supports companies in the solar and green tech sector SDO Profile: MCIC Morocco Lithanania: StartUp Space opened in the techpark “Sunrise Valley”, Vilnius supported by Western Union

SDO Profile: WU Startup Space

Estonia: Digix is an accelerator offering a 6-months program specialized on digital media startups

SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=3565 Switzerland: glatec is a non-profit Bsiness incubator located in the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=2719

Jordan: The accelerator Oasis 500 in Amman offers a wid range of servcies -

from traing to seed investments. SDO Profile: www.spica-directory.net/centers/?id=3580

easy to add a new profile of your organization – just use the “Insert new Profile” tab in the main menu. We invite you to try and test the and help us to improve SPICA Directory

Germany: Crowdfunding in Ger-many got a voice with the estab- lishment of the German Crowdfunding Association SDO Profile: Bundesverband Crowdfunding

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Saudi Arabia Innovation Tour and 7th Annual Saudi National Incubation Conference The Saudi Business Incubator Network (SBIN) and the BADIR Program for Technology Incubators ran the 7th Annual Saudi National Incubator Conference,

Technology Transfer Office at the European Space Agency (ESA). He showed how his program working closely with the ESA Business Incubator Centers (BICs) has January 26 - 28 2016. It was again sponsored by

Saudi Arabia’s National Science Agency, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), and held in its conference center in Ri-yadh. On the first conference day, an Innovation Tour was organized for international speakers and delegates. The tour started with a visit to King Abdulaziz City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K-CARE) inter-active museum which included a film on the pro-gress of the development of renewable energy in the Kingdom. This was followed by a visit to KACST with the delegates having presentations from research insti-tutes who provided overviews on research projects including nanotechnology, solar energy and satellite programs. A meeting with KACST President H.H Prince Dr Turki Al Saud completed the visit to the

added value to the European innovation and entrepre-neurial ecosystem. ESA and its BICs have enabled the creation of over 300 ventures that have utilized space and satellite technologies for earth-based application. Six panel topic sessions were then held at the confer-ence. Each panel session included an international speaker, local speaker and a four member expert panel who took questions on the topic from the Session Chair and conference attendees. Session topics includ-ed “Supporting start-up entrepreneurs”, “Supporting

National Research Agency. The final visit of the day was to the BADIR Program for Technology Incubators Head

technology ventures to grow”, “Supporting tech-nology ventures go glob-al”, “Technology entre-preneurship support pro-grams”, “Universities supporting technology innovation Office, where lunch was served after which a pro-

gram presentation and tour of the ICT Incubator and Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Incubator facilities was provided. That evening international delegates were hosted at a Traditional Saudi Restau-rant. Over 500 people registered to attend conference sessions over the two day conference. Attendees included university personnel and students, govern-ment officials, incubator and accelerator manage-ment and staff plus entrepreneurs and corporate managers from a range of industry sectors. The theme of the conference was “adding value to the technology entrepreneurial and innovation eco-system” with the main objective to “promote, raise awareness, and further understanding of business incubation, acceleration, entrepreneurship and inno-vation” The opening session included welcomes from the Organizing Committee Chairman Nawaf AlSahhaf, BADIR CEO and KACST President Prince Dr Tur-ki Al Saud. The Keynote speaker for the opening session was Frank Salzgerber, the Head of

innovation and commercialization” and “Developing skills of technology entrepreneurs” The Closing Session had the international speakers provide their insights and learnings from the confer-ence as well as the opportunity of conference attendees to express their views. These are summarized as: - Challenges faced by entrepreneurs and how to over-come them whilst connecting the dots. - Each nation or region needs a CEO that is the Chief Entrepreneurship Officer promoting and raising awareness of entrepreneurship. - Universities should be the starting point for startups. - Policy changes are needed to empower education systems to make the change to Saudi’s vision of be-coming a knowledge based economy by introduc-ing entrepreneurship in early school stages and having the schools as a safe environment to create entrepre-neurs - A need to provide more resources for Entrepreneurial Competitions and Camps plus supporting incubators, accelerators, VC's... etc. - More collaboration, networking, and connections amongst entrepreneurs and … continued on next page…

Business Incubation in MENA This page provides information about incubation activities from MENA (Middle East and North Africa). MENAinc is the regional infoDev supported network of business incubators and technology parks. More information: http://www.menainc.org contact Mr. Mohammed Allam at m3allam@gmail.com

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… continued from previous page… business support program managers. - Saudi Arabia needs to develop its own version of business incubation that meets Saudi entrepreneurial needs.

- Educate society on entrepreneurship. It was generally viewed as a successful conference with feedback from attendees showing an overall satis-faction rating of 86% for the conference with 9,236

needs - Have big Saudi corporations such as SABIC, ARAMCO and others, provide more support for innovation and entre-preneu

twitter messages. Various channels of social media providing live coverage of the conference and Saudi TV and Radio covered the conference too. preneurship

.- Success in entrepreneurship means hard work. - Debate and mixed views on part time entrepre-neurship - Open R&D labs to private sector - Need to establish a network of Tech Shops

All presentations are available on website Contact: John Mercer, email This report and the photos (showing impressions of the Innovation Tour and the conference) have been provided by SPICE member John Mercer, resident consultant to the BADIR Program for the past 8 years who once again provided support for the organization of the event.

Morocco Green Incubator in Casablanca calls for first round of Applications The Solar Cluster, in partnership with MCIC (Mo-rocco Climate Innovation Center; an initiative of the World Bank) launched its first call for proposals for

will benefit from all the services offered to build the business: - Workspace (furnished offices and co-working)

)space); entrepreneurship support in the "Green Business Incubator" that is a business nursery located

- Support for the creation of their companies (indi-vidual coaching, training, group sessions, net-working, access to industrial / laboratory, etc.);

- Favorable ecosystem; - Support to attract finance. - located in Casablanca and was set up to accompany

the creation of companies in the solar sector and Green Tech. This new initiative of the Solar Cluster aims to contribute to the emergence of a national industrial base of successful start-ups. The call for projects is open to anyone with an idea to create an innovative company in the solar sector and Green Tech. Successful project managers will be integrated into Green Business Incubators to reach maturity of their project. From a pre-incubation study at the nursery accommodation through incubation, entrepreneurs

These services will be offered to the most talented entrepreneurs for 12 months, renewable once. The selection will be first on record before a commit-tee consisting of members from industry, academic, administration and economy. To take advantage of this opportunity, applicants are encouraged to download the application from the Solar Cluster website or the MASEN website and return completed form by April 30, 2015 to the following email

Source: Green Incubator Press release Contact: MCIC Team, email SDO Profile: MCIC Morocco

Morocco Casablanca – on the way to become a Smart City To make the city of Casablanca more attractive, more efficient and more competitive for businesses, citizens and visitors e-Madina was founded in part-nership

around 150 attendees, including leaders of govern-ment, telecom operators, representatives of regulatory bodies and control data, Smart City solution providers

nership of public and private sector organizations as well as citizens and through the use of technology. Started in 2013 as a “reflection group” e-Madina in April 2015 officially launched as Smart City Cluster with the aim to play unifying role and be an "ena-bler" of Smart City actors . The mission of e- Madi-na is to create and develop a smart city ecosystem

as well as national and interna-tional experts discussing the topics: 1. Strategic challenges regard-ing data collection, governance, and development 2. Approaches, methods, and pre to bring out of town transformation initiatives using

technology digital and tangible and intangible re-sources. In partnership with Maroc Numeric Cluster and other partners e-Madina Cluster on April 7, 2016 held a meeting "Smart Platforms Cities and data for the City” at the headquarters of the CGEM with around

prerequisites for implementation of technology plat-forms. 3. Smart City solutions - State of the art 4. New possibilities for using these platforms The event will be held in French – see website for more details of the program. Contact e-Madina at email SDO Profile e-Madina and Maroc Numeric Cluster

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Bahrain Comprehensive Program to support Entrepreneurs and Growth Startups Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) since many years actively supports entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Bahrain, for example through the Bah-rain Business Incubator Center (BBIC). To add to the support available, BDB has developed Rowad, a comprehensive program designed to assist entrepre-neurs in

ROWAD was created with reference to the latest mod-els in entrepreneurship and is structured according to the needs of the Bahraini market. The support schemes include: incubation, training, coaching, mentorships, equity and debt finance as well as work space accord-ing identified needs.

neurs from the initial stages of idea conceptualizing to scaling up and expanding. The program is open to all entrepreneurs – no matter

Part of the program is Rowad Majlis, a BDB quarterly reception for entrepreneurs, investors, partners and associates to connect & build networks while enjoying refreshments in a relaxed yet sophisticated ambiance to

matter if there is nothing but an idea or the interest to accelerate and scale an existing business. Taking advantage of the program could start with an initial introductory meeting to be introduced to all services available. Once an applicant has enrolled to Rowad, the business will be assessed through an evaluation committee resulting in a customized “ROWAD MAP” showing the necessary steps and support needed for becoming a successful business.

all Rowad members in an environment that gives ac-cess to industry specialists & influencers. The recep-tions also serve as a platform to introduce and launch new programs, as well as other news from the ecosys-tem and new entrepreneurship support programs To get an invitation or to apply to the program can contact Rowad by email rowad@bdb-bh.com For more information about Rowad Majlis see website SDO Profile BBIC

Morocco Great Success for Startups from CIC Morocco Three out of five startups selected to compete in 1776 Challenge Cup Global Finals come from Mo-rocco. 83 startups applied for the local competition in Casablanca, hosted by the Morocco Climate In-novat

- Moldiag produces affordable diagnostic kits that can detect diseases and viral infections.

And these startups did not only make to the African finals, they also were selected for the global competi-tion

Innovation Center and World Bank Group - 14 were invited to partici-pate and three start-ups

tion in Washington DC in June this year. The other two African startups selected for this event are - Moringa School, Kenya, which trains its students

to become mobile and web developers, were selected to attend the Africa Regional Finals in Nairobi, Kenia to compete with winners of com-petitions held in Accra, Addis Ababa, Casablanca, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, and Pretoria. Moroccan finalists represented education, health, and finance: - GoMobile helps people who cannot read connect

to Internet though mobile platform by voice. - Hakeeme is a wearable device that monitors the

health of manual laborers and provides anony-mized reports of working conditions to govern-ment agencies.

- Zeepay, Ghana developed a mobile payment app. All selected candidates will use the remaining time for working on their product and pitch to prepare for suc-cess at the completion against the 30 teams at the Dis-rupt Africa Global Cup – the three from Morocco with support from the Climate Innovation Center. More about the entrepreneurs from CIC Morocco website: Disrupt Africa More information see website 1776 Challenge Cup Contact: Omer Agodim email SDO Profile: CIC Morocco

Tunisia Startup Pirates Program for the second Time in Tunis A new generation of businesses, startups, are devel-oping in Tunisia and contribute to the new economy

tools to develop a business idea from scratch. The program is made to give a “whole life experience”, offer The success of these new companies is creating

unique working conditions, real career opportunities and meaningful employment. Startup Pirates Tunis aim to empower young people by offering a network of community leaders and contribute to developing a supportive ecosystem that plays an

offer the ultimate entrepreneurship trial, and open the entrance to a unique and ex-clusive world-wide The motto of Startup Pirates is a Steven Jobs quote:

"... Why join the navy if you can be a pirate? " Startup Pirates was initiated in 2011 by STARTUP X in Porto, Portugal to create an event scheme for many places around the world to promote entrepre-neurship and help new companies to start and de-velop. In one-week programs, the “pirates” dive in the startup world and have the opportunity and the tools

wide community of change-makers. Feb 27 to Mar 5, 2016 Startup Pirates Tunis organized by the Centre for Professional Skills Development (CDCP) in Tunis offered the accelerator program for 30 entrepreneurs in Elgazala Technopark offering training, mentoring, and supervised work sessions. Contact: Startup Pirates email SDO profile STARTUP X and Startup Pirates

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Business Incubation in Africa This page provides information about incubation activities and programs from the AFRICA region. The AIN (African Incubator Network) is not active anymore, but there is a place to contact: African Business Incubation Institute , visit the blog or contact Leon Lourens Senegal News from Dakar

CTIC Dakar, a successful business incubator focus-ing on ICT startups, started a monthly information

siderable added value for sustainability and business development.

service. The first edition has been mailed in March. From now on, each month “Upstart” sends IT news around 4 sec-

- "Sen Ngunu" an effective response to poultry farmers management problems in Senegal hav-ing thousands of poultry farms facing the chal-lenges for rural emerge. ICT plays an important

tions to “keep readers updated with information that should not be missed the previous month and the key events of the current month”. The topics in the first issue were - 4G in Senegal: the great debate continues to

shake the Senegalese blogosphere. Customers and Senegalese companies are eagerly awaiting access to high speed.

- Training in "Contract Management": The acqui-sition and execution of contracts needs the ex-pertise of the Contract Manager providing con-

role not only in agricultural value chains, but al-so regarding challenges specific to their market; management of the supply chain, HR, product flow, chick survival

- Dariss Consulting service development agencies for rural emerge. ICT plays an important role not only in agricultural value chains, but also in rural entrepreneurship.

For more details, see the newsletter Contact: Regina Mbodj, email SDO Profile: CTIC Dakar

Africa African Entrepreneurship Talent - 45,000 Applications The Toni Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program (TEEP), at this time Africa’s largest philanthropic entrepreneurship support initiative, for the second

countries participated. Now TEF published a list of the selected 1,000 applicants who will benefit from capital injection (last year TFU invested a total of

time called for applications of entrepreneurs in Afri-ca and received more than twice as many responses as at last year’s first edition of the call. The Toni

USD 5 million in the selected businesses) and during coming

Elumelu Foundation has committed USD 100 mil-lion to its 10-years entrepreneurship program with the ambitious aim to at reach 10,000 African entre-preneurs and create USD 10 billion additional reve-nues for Africa’s economy. Most of applications for the actual call came from Nigeria followed by Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Cameroon – in total entrepreneurs from 54 African

nine months will receive online training, networking as well as mentoring to provide support for success and sustainability of the participants who also will participate in the three-day Elumelu Entrepreneur-ship Forum, that is expected to become the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurial talent. Website Tony Elumelu Foundation Contact: TEF email

Ghana Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EIT) of MEST now is open for four Countries MEST was founded in 2010 to provide seed funding, guidance and support for graduates of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology training pro-

preneurial training program, including housing, monthly stipend, tuition and meals covered by MEST.

grams with ambi-tions of founding their own soft-ware companies in Ghana.

During the program, students form into teams, de-velop a product, write business plans, and craft their investor pitches. The strongest teams receive around$50,000 in seed funding via equity invest-ment, to support the launch of their new business and In recent years MEST has widened its scope and

opened the Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EIT) program also for applicants from Nigeria and Kenya. Now, for the new cohort of ETIs applications additionally are welcome from South Africa. Admitted applicants will receive a full scholarship to a one-year entre-preneurial

and a home at the MEST incubator in Accra, Lagos, or Nairobi where startups continue to receive hands-on support. To apply for the program use website website The deadline is May 20, 2016 Contact: Katie Sarro email ; SDO Profile MEST

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Ghana MEST to open New Incubation Programs in three African Countries During the actual year 2017 MEST, the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology Program,

location. Candidates should bring experience from a startup,

based in Accra, Ghana will open new incubation programs in Lagos and Nairobi, Cape Town, and Johannesburg.

accelerator or incubator and should be well connect-ed with the local entrepreneurship ecosystem. It is possible to apply online or by email with a brief description of qualifications and interest in the posi-tion With the mid-year opening in Lagos and Nairobi,

MEST is looking for a General Manager for each tion (CV attached). Contact: Katie Sarro email ; SDO Profile MEST Nigeria Women Entrepreneurship in Nigeria gets a Boost - She Leads Africa

She Leads Africa (SLA) is a community set up to help young African women achieve their profession-al dreams. SLA’s vision is to become the #1 destina-

detailed on the application page. At the concluding Demo Day participants will pitch providing online content and pan-African events.

(SLA) now has announced a three-month accelerator for women co-hosted by Guaranty Trust Bank and the Work in Progress! Alliance. The accelerator includes three one-week residencies with training from the SLA team and its network. Between the

for an equity injection of ca. USD 10,000 in local currency against a 7 per cent share in the startup. The accelerator will allow SLA to work with

residency weeks participants will continue working from their home, but still receive remote assistance and monitoring. The accelerator is open to Nigerian startups with at least one female founder (aged 18 and 35). Applications based just on an idea are not possible; applicants must be “in business” (not more than three years), and should not have more than US$50,000 in external funding. All conditions are detailed

entrepreneurs intensively then with the online pro-grams and generate experience for future activities. Applications are open online for the first cohort to female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The application deadline is May 31, 2016. Contact: Afua Osei , email SDO Profile She Leads Africa Application website

South Africa Bridging the Divide between Startup Communities “To connect startups, investors, and spotlighting players to the VC community” of the startup ecosys-tems of Johannesburg and Cape Town was the aim

the Cape by visiting several startup communities, co-working spaces, accelerators, investors, and en-trepreneurs, including “The Bandwidth Barn” and “Work of the recent

“Venture Net-work Big Bus Tour

“Workshop 17” being part of a packed program with five visits per day. Success of the tour is indicated, for example, by talks Tour”. The initiators / organizers of this tour, Abu

Cassim and Wayne Berger, analyzed differences between the startup ecosystems of these two South African cities – and believe that cooperation could help combining the best of both. The planning and programming for this tour from Joburg to Cape Town and Stellenbosch was based on earlier experiences from 6 successful Johannes-burg-based events and 4 start-ups sourcing funding. Also the successful earlier tours of the Ampion Ven-ture Bus (for example the tour that started in Wind-houk, Namibia in November 2015) provided experi-ences and insights to learn from. After an intense advertising campaign the 3-day-tour was attended by 18 participants, including individuals from the UK, Belgium, Nigeria, and Australia. The group had the opportunity to get an overview of

talks between one of the attending investors from Joburg with a Cape Town-based startup. This en-couraging experience leads to preparing the next Venture Bus to Cape Town – at this time sponsor are sought for making the trip easier to afford for partic-ipants. The members of the Johannesburg Venture Network “believe that great ideas are brought to life by de-termined teams. They deserve the recognition and growth opportunity that every start-up desires”. The aim is to provide a platform for investors to “meet today’s entrepreneurs with tomorrow’s ideas”. The Venture Network is the South African part of the international Business Venture Network of Madrid based IE Business School . Contact: No email contact provided on website Website Johannesburg Venture Network

South Africa Demo and Pitching Event at jozihub, Johannesburg The next demoing and pitching event of the Johan-nesburg Venture Network will be held May 11, 2016 in jozihub, a technology business incubator in Johannesburg. The number of seats available is limited; seats are on

a first come first serve basis. Registra-tion is required by May 5, 2016 – startups that want to pitch should regis-ter by May 1, 2016 The number of seats available is limited; seats are on Registration is available through website

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Business Incubation in ECA This section provides information about incubation programs from the ECA region (Eastern Europe and Central Asia). ECAbit is the regional networks of business incubators and technology parks, set up with infoDev support. Infor-mation: www.ecabit.org/ contact Olga Lapteva oilapteva.tmb@gmail.com Armenia Startup Privilege Law brings 4 foreign IT companies to Armenia After the passing of the law on "State support for IT sector”, a 4-5 times increase in startup formation is registered in Armenia. 16 startups were founded in 2014, and then in 2015, after the law took effect; the

taking into account all aspects. I think this year we will launch a new initiative in the National Assembly in order to extend the deadline for accepting applications. In addition, the law will be clarified, so that there are

number of newly created companies went up to 80, 71 of which had been granted privileges. Deputy Econo-my Minister Emil Tarasyan in-formed about this during an inter-view with

no barriers to foreign capital, as well as for the creation of Armenian startups”, the Deputy Minister said. He was pleased to note that 4 organizations with foreign capital, having no connection to Armenia, decided to launch a startup here. According to Emil Tarasyan, they view with “Armenpress", noting that in the first cou-

ple of months of 2016, the figure has already in-creased by 10%. "The dynamics is in place, now we have to continue the privileges; December 31, 2017 is the deadline for applications for newly established startups, and the current privileges will be active until 2020. We need to analyze the field of privileges, taking into account

they will expand the range of activities to create a favorable environment for innovation development. "The field of innovative development is of a much wider range and it is possible that a favorable envi-ronment we will attract innovative design companies“ Contact: EIF email; SDO Profile: EIF Provided by: Bagrat Yengibaryan Lithuania Sunrise Valley in Vilnius started “Western Union Startup Space”

End of 2015 a new co-working space opened in Vil-nius, Lithuania on the campus of the “Sunrise Valley” technology park. This space is targeted at students from

tionally Western Union encourages its employees to consult and help young start-ups to succeed. Many financial organizations provide funding for startup from Vilnius University and Vilnius Gedimino Tech-

nical University, but open to anyone thinking of launching a new IT based startup or just having a business

startup support activities. How-ever, the new initiative is not a “Western Union Accelerator”, it

ness idea. The initiative is partly funded by "Western Union Foundation Lithuania" and besides the normal features of a co-working space also provides advisory and support by mentors of “Sunrise Valley”. Addi-tionally

is funded by the WU Foundation as one of their social responsibility projects. Contact: Gerda Vaikutyte, email SDO Profile: WU Startup Space

Business Incubation in ASIA This section provides information about incubation activities from the ASIA region. APIN, the Asia Pacific Incubation Network is the regional networks of business incubators and technology parks set up with support from infoDev. See www.incubationasia.com/index.php; contact Suresh Kumar, psgstep@vsnl.com India Oracle announced to start nine Accelerators in India

The first of nine ‘Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerators' opened in Bangalore, India on April 7, 2016, as Oracl

37 percent to India’s GDP. Nasscom has counted more than 3,100 startups in India and sees the startup land-scape India as the fastest

Photo Oracle on Twitter

Oracle’s President of Product Development Thomas Ku-rian announced on Twitter. This opening is planned to be followed by further accelera-tors later in Chennai, Gurga-on, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida,

scape of India as fastest growing in the world. Oracle chose Bangalore to start because “Bangalore is the second best funded start-up hub in the world, out-side of USA,” as Thomas Kurian said. Under the lead of Sanket Atal, Group Vice President of Development Oracle India, the Oracle Accelerator Bangalore is a first-of-its-kind of a global accelerator initiative by Oracle. Noida, Pune, Trivandrum and Vijayawada. With

these accelerators, the company aims to help speed up the development of start-ups through a combina-tion of technical and business mentoring. This ini-tiative targets MSMEs (micro, small, medium sized enterprises) and start-ups – a sector that contributes

Applications are open from now and until May 05, 2016 through website. The selected startups will begin the acceleration process in early June and November 18, 2016 is set as end date for the first batch. For more information see website: Contact Oracle SCA Team email

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Important upcoming Events http://www.spice-group.de/events/ If the conference hosts are members of SPICE Group the respective logo is shown at the event. As the full list of events is taking too much space in the newsletter only a brief overview can be provided. We recommend visiting the “Events” section on the SPICE Group website. This page also offers the feature to put your own event on the list. Just click on “Add new information“ and you will be guided through the simple process.

May 2 - 4, 2016 in Berlin, Germany: re:publica 2015 TEN is NET is the headline for the tenth re:publica to be held in Berlin. The conference will be both retro-

speakers – speakers are participants”. For more

spective and forward-looking: “Participants are

information and tickets see re:publica website

May 19 - 20, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland: Transformamus The two-days summit "Transformamus“ will bring together relevant players and multipliers of the old and new economy to learn from each other. The Summit

The Impact Seminar (day 2) work in small groups on the learnings from the Insight conference consists of the Insight Conference (day 1) with lec-

tures of entrepreneurs and decision-makers.

Information and registration through website Contact: Josef Frischeisen email

May 17 - 19, 2016 in Warsaw, Poland: 27th Annual PBICA Conference The annual conference of

the Polish innovation center association in 2016 is titled

nies” and will be held together with the StartSmart Conference. It also will feature The “Park Eagle” Award ceremony for technopark client firms,

“realizing the potential of Innovation and Entrepre-neurship in the development of Technology Compa-

Contact: Nadzieja Bąkowska email SDO Profile SOOIPP

Jun 1 - 3, 2016 in Amsterdam, Netherlands: The University-Industry Interaction Conference 2016

The University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) will host the 2016 University-Industry Interaction Conference, a key event for academics, researchers,

pants from all over the world and offers a wide variety of presentations and workshops and networking opportunities to interact, share

practitioners and business people involved in universi-ty-industry interaction, innovation and entrepreneur-ship. This event usually attracts around 400 partici-

knowledge, and establish new contacts. Contact: Conference Manager, Femke de Jong Conference website / SDO Profile UIIN

Jun 7, 2016 in Berlin, Germany: HEUREKA For the fifth time HEUREKA, ”the conference for founders who want to bring their business to the next level” will be held in Berlin. This event is known for

entrepreneurs and meet high level investors and media representatives”. Early Bird tickets until April 30, 2015

excellent possibilities to “get inspired by like-minded Contact: HEUREKA email / Website Jun 7 - 10, 2016 in Washington DC, USA: Global Challenge Cup Finals The Finals of the third time Global Challenge Cup will present the winners of pitching events around the globe held over recent months. During the finals 10

(entrepreneurs, investors, corporate lead-ers, policymakers) will collectively tackle the toughest challenges facing our world.

industry-specific conferences will be held, attendees More information on website Contact: 1776 email

Jun 8 - 9, 2016 in Berlin, Germany: NOAH Berlin 2016 NOAH Berlin again will be a unique discussion plat-form for CEOs and founders from key industry verti-cals (entire program conducted in English). NOAH

tive, energy, healthcare, education, finance, travel, TMT, retail, gaming, wearables, home automation and advertising. A person- (co-hosted with Axel Springer SE) will be a platform

for digital challengers and industry leaders in automo-al invitation is needed for registration. To get this om-plete the online form. Conference website

Jun 13 - 16, 2016 in Berlin, Germany: TOA – Tech Open Air 2016 5.000 attendees,39 countries, 110 international speak-ers and 150 satellite events across the city during three event days – this was the TOA 15, Tech Open Air

Entrepreneurship Music, Art, Science, and Food that aims “to provide a platform for others to build upon”.

in Berlin. The “world’s first crowdfunded festival” of Early bird ticket sales for TOA16 started on website

Jun 23 - 24, 2016 in Bucharest, Romania: ICEIRD 2016 ICEIRD 2016, the 9th International Conference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Develop-ment “Responsible Entrepreneurship. Vision, De-

of Political Studies Public Admin and the University of Sheffield,. For details and the Call for Papers, see website.

and Ethics” is organized by the National University Contact: ICEIRD email Website: ICEIRD 2016

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Sep 15 - 16, 2016 in Riga, Latvia: Baltic Dynamics 2016 Conference

The 21st Baltic Dynamics Conference will be held under the theme “innova-tion and Technology Convergence”.

Center. A Call for Papers has been published with the deadline of May 31, 2016 For more details visit the conference website

The conference is organized by the experiences team of BASTIC, LITICA, and the Latvian Technology

Contact: Ints Viksna, email SDO profiles: BASTIC, LTICA and LTC

Sep 25 - 27, 2016 in Mannheim, Germany: Annual BVIZ Conference

The German Federal Association of Innova-tion, Technology, and Startup Centers (for-mally ADT) will organize its 2016 confer-

ed by the “Mannheimer Gründunszentren GmbH and held in the business incubator “Mafinex Technolo-giezentrum”

in Mannheim, Germany. The conference will be host-

More information see BVIZ website Oct 8 - 9, 2016 in Berlin, Germany: Entrepreneurship Summit 2016

The Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 to be held Octo-ber 8 – 9, 2016 in Berlin as in earlier years is expect-ing again about 1,500 participants - bsed on the motto

will provide input and participants can work together on their business concepts.

“Everyone has the potential to founder. Be an entre-preneur”. Highly qualified and experienced speakers

Contact: Stiftung Entrepreneurship, email Website Entrepreneurship Summit

The Fascination of Co-working - Potentials for Companies and their Employees Fraunhofer IAO has annonced publication of a book on co-working authored by Stefan Rief, Klaus-Peter Stiefel, Anges Weiß , and Wilhelm Bauer (ed):

most companies. How can this be, and to what extent are these developments compatible? This book pursues two objectives: “In the world of work, a phenomenon

has emerged that appears to be at least a paradox: Office work is now sudden-ly performed here in cost-effective, partially in the cheapest, infrastructure. Organization appears to have almost ceased

Firstly presenting the fascinating nature of co-working. Secondly, answering the question how, and in which manner companies can benefit from this form of col-laboration. One thing is for sure: the influence of co- working will undoubtedly change knowledge work.” The book “The Fascination of Co-working “ (ISBN

ceased to exist. And of all the things it is these so- called co-working spaces that develop attractiveness, performance and creativity that are unparalleled in

978-3-8396-0764-0) is available as print version (PDF) and e-book at a price of Euro 24,00. To order visit website; Contact: Juliane Segedi, email European Startups and Growth Companies at High-Tech Venture Days

Startups and growth companies from all over Europe can apply to participate in the HIGHTECH VEN-TURE DAYS 2016 to be held October 18/19, 2016 in Dresden

3D-Printing, Automotive, Aviation, Big Data, Clean-tech, Content Analytics, Energy Technologies, ICT, Micro- and Nanotechnology, Industry 4.0, IoT, Life

Dresden. At this event 40 selected ventures will

Sciences, Logistics, M2M Communications, Machin-ery- and Plant Engineering, Mobile Communications, New Materials, Precision medicine, Rails, Sensors, etc. (this year again no e-commerce) get the opportunity to present to international investors

(business angels, VCs, corporate VCs, Family Offices, Industrialists and "Invest Santander SME"). The focus is exclusively on high-tech companies in the fields of

To apply (deadline is May 31, 2016) use website http://www.hightech-venture-days.com Contact: Thomas Schulz email SDO Profile High-Tech Startbahn

And finally... This newsletter comes a little later than planned – and has a few more pages than usual. There is much going on and we invited you to share your news with our network. Just send us an article or a web link to add your information to the next newsletter. Also your comments on articles in SPICE Update (or on the SPICE News page) always are welcome. Looking forward to hearing from you Heinz Fiedler & Larisa Brovarska

SPICE Update is the newsletter of SPICE Group. It is published 4 -6 times per year and regularly is delivered free of charge to members of the network as well as selected partners. Articles for publication are invited and will be published under the name of the author. Although we do our best for making sure that published information is correct we cannot accept responsibility for errors that may occur nor for web-site links provided. Editor: Heinz Fiedler, SPICE Group, Niedstr. 40, 12159 Berlin, Germany, Email update@spice-group.net