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
Name
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ICsense
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Address
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Innovation and Incubation Centre
Kapeldreef 60
3001 Leuven (Heverlee)
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Website
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www.icsense.com
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Contactperson
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Bram De Muer
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Tel
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Tel: +32-16-298 325 Fax: +32-16-298 319.
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E-mail
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info@icsense.com
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Founding date
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2004
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Industry
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Micro-electronics
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SO – origin
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Kuleuven - Applied Sciences – Electrical Engineering dept. (ESAT) – Microelectronics and sensors (MICAS)
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Interview date
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28/05/2004
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Interviewee
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Bram De Muer
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Interviewers
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Bruno Vanhoorickx - Cathy Lecocq
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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
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Pre-venture
< Feb 2004
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Foundation –current situation
Feb 2004 – May 2004
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Near future
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Business concept
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1999: development of business idea
2000: first draft of business plan
2001: first contacts with LRD and GFF
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Design and development of custom integrated sensor systems for specific applications for industrial and academic clients. In contrast to standardized products, the instruments of ICsense are more accurate, smaller in size and with a lower energy consumption
Outsourcing of all other production activities (chip production, assembly)
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Value capturing through licensing and royalties
Production, marketing and sales of own products.
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Technology platform
Product
Market
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Technology developed and further elaborated at KUL. PhD’s of Wim Claes and Yves Geerts are oriented towards possible applications of the technology.
In a first phase, the product market was defined very broadly. Through continuous rewriting of the business plan in cooperation with LRD, the business concept was refined
Only transfer of knowledge, no IPR transfer from KUL to ICsense
(Role of IP is very limited in this sector)
1999: increased demand for custom integrated sensor systems at MICAS research group
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R&D is client related, no additional R&D is performed
A datasystem/custom design environment is in place which enables quick re-use and fast simulation of re-occurring building blocks. Additionally, this system will facilitate the transfer of capabilities and acquired know-how
Unlike their competitors, ICsense does not only target the micro-electronic sector, but also a large range of sectors (automotive, (bio)medical, process industry, quality control, aviation, space). In this way, ICsense tries to create new markets for its products where it can take a leadership position
Active on the European market, first contacts in the US market
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Some applications in mind for the future, but first additional know-how/R&D need to be acquired and some critical mass need to be achieved. In a next stage, a capital increase would be required.
Presence in both the European and American market
Possible customers in Japan, Singapore
Obtaining a profitable market position in Asian markets will be difficult, at least for the medium term, due to piracy problems and the very poor law enforcement in this region
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Finance
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2001: First meeting with Gemma Frisius Fund (GFF)=> business concept need to be more focused
No agreement could be reached with the GFF about the contribution of capital and the distribution of shares
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Startcapital of eur 225.000 gathered with the help of Johan Van den Bossche. Shareholders are:
4 founders
5 business angels
Gemma Frisius Fund II and LRD
MICAS and 4 professors.
To avoid costly investments in machinery and equipment, which would inevitably lead to increasing financing needs, most capital-intensive activities are outsourced.
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Second round financing within three to four years, depending on growth and business opportunities.
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Staff
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Bart De Muer and Wim Claes, respectively postdoc and PhD student, developed the business idea
Yves Geerts, working at Alcatel, and Tim Piessens, PhD at that time, joined later
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Bram De Muer general manager
Wim Claes business development manager
Yves Geerts corporate operations manager
Tim Piessens R&D manager
Important role of Board of Directors: management support especially for major decisions
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One or two civil engineers will be hired to support the development of new systems
Once the company expands, a CEO will be attracted to allow the founders to rededicate their time to R&D and design-activities.
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Networking
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Department of MICAS research group
Professors’ networks, network of relatives and own network
Leuven Inc.
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Network of Johan Van Den Bossche helps for fund raising and management advice.
Large board offers networking and guidance for various purposes.
Fortis Bank gives financial advice (Karel de Boeck, shareholder)
ESAT-professors give help with respect to sector and market issues, technology issues and client contacts
Participation to international conferences
Active use of Europractice-services, a network of designhouses
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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
Name
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Metis Instruments and Equipments
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Address
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Innovation and Incubation Centre
Kapeldreef 60
3001 Leuven (Heverlee)
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Tel
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Tel: +32-16-298 344 / Fax: +32-16-298 319
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Contact
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Alain.Dekeyser@metis.be
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Website
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www.metis.be
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Founding date
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May 1998
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Industry
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Industrial and scientific magnetics
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SO – Origin
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KULeuven – Applied Sciences – Physics dept. – Pulsed Field Research Group
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Interview date
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02/06/2004 – 14h
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Interviewee
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Dr. Alain De Keyser
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Interviewers
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Bruno Vanhoorickx - Cathy Lecocq
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