Needs of Global Start-up companies (Deliverable 2) GlobalStart wp1 Studies Deliverable 2 Needs of Global Start-up Companies Table of contents p
The university – support for Globalstart companies
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- 3. The regional infrastructure – support for Globalstart companies
- 1 (a) Profile and background
- Pre-venture Foundation –current situation Feb 2004 – May 2004
- Technology platform Product Market
- 1 (c) The internationalisation process Know-how / technology
- 2. The university – support for Globalstart companies
2. The university – support for Globalstart companies There are 2 relevant universities in Brno among which collaborating staff the product has been created and tested. Their contribution has rather anecdotical character: without the extremely low salaries of university staff the team would never seek the additional sources of earnings, which at the end led to the idea to solve the problem in an innovative way. Some strategic advice and consultation, in quite a minor scale, have been delivered by Petr Holec, head of CTT at Brno University of Technology (for instance, how the materials for investors should be prepared, how to calculate the retained share of the company, etc). Masaryk University promised to pay the IPR costs in the form of loan (Czech law does not allow HEI to keep the shares even of the spin-out companies). 3. The regional infrastructure – support for Globalstart companies Both companies are accommodated at the BUT Technology Incubator since its establishment in September 2003. Anyhow, they do not receive any support neither methodical, nor financial, from this side, in spite of the existence of the Microloan fund which was established to support the operation of the start-up companies. ICsense
1 (a) Profile and background ICsense is a micro-electronics company specialized in integrated sensor interface systems, with its core business in the design of analog and mixed-signal interface circuits combined with digital intelligence and telemetric links. The extensive in-house IP in combination with ICsense’s design environment which enables quick re-use and fast simulation of re-occurring building blocks, allows ICsense to target different industries with different customised applications. The strength of ICsense lies in its knowledge and capability of reading out sensors, and transferring the analog data provided by the sensor into digital data that can be stored and processed. The company was founded in February 2004 as a spin-off of the ESAT-MICAS department of the KULeuveen. The four founders, Bram de Muer, Wim Claes, Yves Geerts and Tim Piessens, hold a Master of Science degree in micro-electronics and completed a PhD. Their experience is in the field of high- and low-end analog and mixed-signal micro-electronics and in sensor system design. Only Yves Geert has some business experience: he worked at STMicroelectronics, the former Alcatel Microelectronics, from 2001 to 2004. In 1999, the university experienced an increasing demand for customised integrated sensor systems from the industry. Bram de Muer and Wim Claes, both PhD students at that time, set up a first business plan with the help of a relative. A year later, mid 2001, they contacted LRD, which helped them to refine the business plan. In a first meeting with the Gemma Frisius Fund, it was said that the business concept needed to be more focussed. A long process of business plan improvement followed. Time pressure as one of the entrepreneurs finished his PhD, in addition to the disagreement with the proposed shareholder structure of the Gemma Frisius Fund, compelled the entrepreneurs to find a different way to set up their new business. Mid 2002, the 4 entrepreneurs met Johan Van den Bossche at a reception of Leuven Inc4. This person helped them to establish ICsense and to find the required venture capital. Finally, also the Gemma Frisius Fund II and the founders contributed to the capital. IC-sense can be seen as an independent R&D department that only fulfils very specific R&D assignments of large international companies. In this way, sector- and technology specific knowledge can be obtained and critical mass can be build up, which will eventually enable the company to grow, to undertake larger projects and to vertically integrate other activities along the value chain. 1 (b) Major milestones
1 (c) The internationalisation process Know-how / technology The four founders of ICsense acquired their know-how and experience through projects of the ESAT-MICAS department with foreign universities and major international companies. One of the founders, Yves Geert, also gained some business experience within a multinational, STMicroelectronics, the former Alcatel Microelectronics. No IP was imported from the university, there was only the transfer of know-how resulted from the research performed by the founders at the ESAT-MICAS department of the KULeuven. IPR do not play a significant role in this specific sector: almost all systems, methods and materials are not IP-protected. With respect to technology issues, ICsense benefits from the support of ESAT professors. Networking ICsense is involved in international networking with regards to technology and know-how: via Leuven Inc., networks of professors and the ESAT-MICAS department, international conferences, etc. The international reputation of professors and the KULeuven also facilitates international contacts. ICsense is also a member of Europractice5, which is a network of European designhouses that offers services to achieve fully packaged, tested and qualified devices and systems. Services includes feasibility and proof of concept studies, prototyping and low volume production, access to large scale industrial manufacturing facilities, custom design, software and training. Membership also allows ICsense to inform potential new customers of its existence and capabilities. According to Bram De Muer, networking is important for ICsense. Operation / production The production of ICsense products is mostly outsourced to international assemblers active in Eastern Europe or Asia. Only when the number of product units is small, ICsense is able to produce the systems in-house. Finished products require certain safety and quality labels. At the moment, this is the responsibility of the customers of ICsense but in the future ICsense plans to acquire those labels itself. The difficulty with safety and quality labels is that they are country-specific. Market The competitors of ICsense mostly consist of 4 to 5 very small companies (5 to 10 persons) operating within Europe. They have similar know-how as ICsense but they do not compete directly with ICsense. The possibility of a partnership exists but is not used. Large companies have the same knowledge and capabilities but do not want to exploit it: they focus on the development of large, multifunctional devices that can be produced in very large quantities but do not dedicate their resources to specific smaller projects, which ICsense is targeting at. 2. The university – support for Globalstart companies According to Bram de Muer, LRD did a good job in refining the business concept and setting up the business plan. The current support received from LRD is mainly restricted to some legal advice and contract matters. LRD is always ready to support ICsense but so far, the latter did not really asked for advice. 3. The regional infrastructure – support for Globalstart companies ICsense is located in the Innovation and Incubation Centre of the KULeuven. According to Bram De Muer, the incubator is quite expensive: it is not cheaper than the other business centres in the region and additionally, it is not offering much support in terms of advice. Moreover, a structured organisation for knowledge/experience transfer between the spin-offs of the incubator is lacking. Leuven inc., Leuven Innovation Networking Circle, brought the entrepreneurs into contact with Johan Van den Bossche, who helped them to set up the company and find the venture capital. Johan Van den Bossche is co-founder of SO Kwadraat. The mission of SO Kwadraat is to stimulate and finance spin-off creation from an entrepreneurs point of view, for and by entrepreneurs. ICsense is the pilot project of SO Kwadraat. Metis
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