Good Practice in Europe : Medventures
Robert SANDERS
EBN
European Business & Innovation Centre Network
Milan 26th October 2011
The European BIC Network
a brief overview in 3 minutes !
The EBN Network
a community sharing values, goals & brands
 The European Network of BICs, incubators, innovation and
entrepreneurship & start-up Centres >>> « Innovation-based
incubators » >>> Business & Innovation Centres (BICs)
 An organised Network of 200+ Business & Innovation Support
Centres covering most regions of EU 27 + neighbouring as well as
partnering countries
 An initiative taken 25 years ago by the EC (DG Regio), public
authorities, industry leaders, and Universities >>> A pioneer in PPP, a
connector between knowledge and business
 A dynamic cluster of clusters with 25.000+ entrepreneurs within the
active portfolio
 A community of qualified & committed innovation enablers &
intermediaries
What impact?
Cumulative figures for the entire network
175.000 Business Plans developed
65.000 Start-up companies created
250.000 Existing SMEs supported
275.000 Jobs created
Some MEDA cooperation examples
 Jordan -Support to Research and Technological Development and
Innovation Initiatives and Strategies in Jordan (SRTD)
 Palestine – PICTI European Investment Bank
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short-term expertise to the staff of the Palestinian ICT Incubator in
developing their capacity to incubate viable ICT start-ups, through
coaching and training them in appraising new projects and in providing
strategic services to their clients.
Tunisia - Agence de Promotion de l'Industrie
Morocco – EBN Congress, Fez 2009
Israel – Study Tours
Lebanon - Berytech
InfoDev, WorldBank – partner on joint initiatives such as “Soft
Landing “(co-incubation) & Training Programme for Incubator
Managers
Invest in Med
 Invest in Med is a project launched by the European Union in the
framework of its neighbourhood policy, with a view to developing
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and partnerships between
businesses in the Euro-Mediterranean region
 Initiated in 2008,and finishing in 2011, Invest in Med is a EUR 12
million project co-financed by the European Commission (75%) and
the MedAlliance (25%)
 The project was managed by the MedAlliance consortium, a EuroMediterranean network including the Euromed networks of
investment and economic development agencies (ANIMA Investment
Network), the Euromed network of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (ASCAME, EUROCHAMBRES), the business federations
(BUSINESSMED)
Progamme Overview
 Invest in Med has launched 48 initiatives for the development of
economic sectors of interest to the South and North of the
Mediterranean
 Putting the accent on transverse domains such as women’s
entrepreneurship, access to financing, the involvement of the
economic diasporas, traceability, etc
 Nearly 2,000 business partnership projects have been created
thanks to the large scale mobilisation of the EuroMediterraneanbusiness community
 MedVentures is just one of these initiatives!
Why MedVentures ?
 Invent new jobs
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Accelerator of job creation through dynamice start-up activity
Build the tomorrow’s Mediterranean “Google”
 Mobilise the Mediterranean international networks
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High skilled Diaspora= entrepreneurship & innovation
Talents+$+international markets
 Build Euro-Med business champions
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Highly innovative market segments where Euro-Med business opportunities
and synergies can be developed (i.e ICT, Mobile phone, Content…)
 MedVentures mobilised 65 innovation and financing networks from
15 countries around 100 high potential start-up projects in the
Mediterranean.
 These start-ups have been accompanied in the development of their
international projects, via communication actions (enhancement of
their projects and business plans), personalised coaching, and
connections with commercial, technological and financial partners.
 In parallel, work has been done with about 30 players from the
world of support for business creation in Europe and the
Mediterranean (incubators, investors etc.) to help them to build a
regional sized hub of services for entrepreneurs.
50+ partners from 15 countries commited
Europe
USA/World
TechWadi, JEMSP,
OECD
European Commission, EBAN, IBAN, CDC,
OSEO, EBN,AFAEMME, CCIMP, EPA
Euroméditerranée, European Business and
innovation Centre network (EBN), OSEO,
Provence Promotion , Publicis Région PACA
Ville de Marseille
Turkey
EuroMed
ANIMA,AFAEMME, RMEM,
RMEI, ASCAME, INSME,
ISPIM,²BusinessMed, Bedaya
UTICA , SAGES
Capital
FCE Banques
Populaires, Dayam,
RMIE, AFEM
MedVentures / 1. Who?
Israel
Algeria
Algerian Start up
Initiative ,
Medafco,
Genilem
Invest in
Israël, TIP
Egypt
ITIDA, EJB, GAFI,
Nile Capital
© ANIMA/Invest in Med
Syria
Lebanon
Berytech,
Bader, IDAL
Tunisia
Morocco
LabX, Galata,
MersinBan
SEBC
Palestine
PICTI, PIPA,
Islamic Univ .
of Gaza
Jordan
I-Park,
JEDCO
100 start-ups in 2010
Check their profiles here !
Focus
 Empower local players > a decentralised approach
 Develop a demand driven and sector-based approach
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Focus on highly innovative market segments
 ICT (mobile phone, content…)
 CleanTech (urban development)
 AgriFood (traceability)
 Healthcare (clinical trials)…
 Not just “talking shops”, concrete actions
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The selected start-ups (100 in 2010) are our final customers
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Involve investors/field players around true case studies
2010 Pilot Project
 35+ local partners (business angels, VCs, incubators..) mobilised in
10 South Med countries
 15+ regional networks (EU, Med, US) involved to screen, evaluate
and connect the projects
 94 start-ups projects sourced and accompanied : €100 million5,000+jobs by 2012
Check our partners profiles and actions on www.medventures.biz
Projects received:
IT domination
Other
industry
10%
Health,
biotechs,
cosmetics
19%
Other
services
5%
Electronics
6%
MedVentures
2010
IT/Web site
27%
IT
66%
IT/Applets
for
smartphones
16%
IT/Hardware
& electronics
13%
IT/Services
15%
IT/Software
23%
Stage per country
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Very early concept
Early stage
Ongoing tests
Already running
Main needs expressed
0.0%
Business partnerships
Capital (equity investment)
International marketing strategy
Connections /networking
R&D, innovation, standards
International exhibitions
Business development
Coaching, mentoring, training
Legal support
Visibility
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
Next steps
 Building on the Med Ventures Platform
 Stopping is not an option!
 Extend the network, focus on more added value actions
 Seek additional support from key stakeholders
 Strong ‘go international’ focus
4 action lines
3. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Giving an international dimension to Euro-Med start-ups and innovation clusters
(International events & business development groups on IT/media, Cleantech,
Agro-Food & Healthcare)
2. ACCESS TO
FINANCE
Boosting Euro-Med
early stage investment
MEDVENTURES
Network & Action Platform
(Tools, trainings &
investment workshops)
4. COACHING &
MENTORING
Building an international
supporting network (Co-
incubation, capacity
building, MedDiaspora
network )
1. SOURCING
Mobilizing Mediterranean high growth start-ups, diaspora and innovation
centers (1000+Start-ups, 300 field players in 10 Med+EC countries)
Sourcing Mediterranean start-ups
 Context
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Local pitching& entrepreneurship events required by our partners
To qualify, mobilise and empower the best entrepreneurs and field
networks (incubators, angels…)
 Objectives
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2011 : following up the 2010 sourced projects
2012-2014: 300+ start-ups /year from Med & European countries
Sourcing Mediterranean start-ups
 Actions 2011
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Online updates (www.medventures.biz) and highlight of the 2010
MedVentures start-ups
 Actions 2012-2014
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MedVentures “entrepreneurship events” in the 10 South Med
countries :
 Identify and connect the best start-ups
 Highlight existing innovation (clusters)/entrepreneurship networks
 Attract international investors/partners (including diaspora)
(A) Access to finance (context and objectives)
A.3 Boost the value of ongoing
deals
(through co-investment &
internationalisation of portfolio)
A.2 Improve the cost efficiency of due
diligence
(supporting local networks and players)
A1. Create
awareness & improve risk assessment
(working on the framework)
(A) Access to finance: specific actions
A3 International workshops
Co-investment workshops
Diaspora wokshops
SMEs
A2 Capacity building
Risk taking > Cases studies reviews
Assessing Business plans > Workshops & trainings on key sectors
Building Peer review networks >Technical Assistance
A1 Tools
Access to finance > portals for local and international investors
Screening & risk analysis > simplified and customised Experts Systems
Sector Focuses and vision > value chain analysis & Studies
Improved legislation, taxation, and framework > EuroMed charter
Governments
Investors
So what’s new?
 Identify with the start-up or company the « real needs »
(cash, cashflow, investment, product and or process
innovation…..
 What are the options
 Public/Private solutions
 Incubator equity in the company
 Cross border partnerships / agreements
 New ideas! Crowd funding etc
 Corporate interest via ‘Open Innovation’ partnerships
(B) Business Development : Context and
objectives
 How to help start-ups go international ?
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International vision (identify competitors, market opportunities,
partners, forecasts)
Smart vision on key sectors
Connection with lead customers
Online/Onsite follow up
 Objectives 2012-2014
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600+ successful partnerships and investments signed
10,000+ jobs created in South Med Countries and Europe (+ 30,000
committed)
(B) Business Development – Actions
 B1 Business development groups
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4 Sectoral groups (IT, agrofood, cleantech, healthcare)
Business / investment workshops
Leveraging existing Euro-Med initiatives (EEN, EBN..)
 B2 Presence in European & international trade shows
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Shared booths during major events in 2012 -2014 (i.e CEBIT Hanover,
GSM Congress Barcelona in IT)
 B3 Virtual matchmaking platform
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2011 : a MedVentures online community on OSEO capital PME
 investors and MedVentures start-ups are invited to register here
(C) Coaching - Mentoring -Training
Context and objectives
 A transversal capacity building approach
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Work around cases studies > MedVentures start-ups
Train and empower field players
Develop the MedVentures community
 Objectives 2012-2014
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300 local players & entrepreneurs trained
100+ partnerships signed (team, investment, business)
(C) Coaching- Mentoring-Training
Actions
 C1 Training & technical assistances
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Pitching to investors / Financing
Building strong business plans
In Maghreb/Mashreq/& Europe
 pilot action 2011: diaspora workshop (Maghreb – June 2011)
 C2 SoftLanding
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Co-incubation network
 C3 Networking events and mentoring platform
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Building and international mentoring network for entrepreneurs
Lessons Learnt
Focus and respond to individual needs
Plan to be flexible
Support is not ‘one size fits all’
Address the needs for international business
development
Manage expectations carefully – realistic market
penetration and sales goals
Relationship building takes time
Transferability
The tools, processes are easily transferable –
such as Soft Landing
Yes, if networking element is strong
Cross border element has strengths and
weaknesses – not always the same evaluation of
business opportunities
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