Over 80 international business support experts, thought leaders, and innovation practitioners gathered in Lipica, Slovenia, for the 2022 EBN Techcamp powered by Better Incubation. Stemming from 26 different European and neighbouring countries, participants discussed the importance of diversity in entrepreneurship support.

Techcamp showcased experiences and strategies and co-developed innovation support programs to give the European innovation ecosystem a competitive advantage by embracing diversity and an impact-driven approach to supporting (tech) entrepreneurship.

It was held on the 19^th and 20^th of October in Lipica, Slovenia, to explore the European innovation ecosystem’s untapped potential in becoming more inclusive and diverse and how to re-strategize, upskill and expand business support services to service a new generation of impactful start-ups. It was co-hosted by EU|BIC Inkubator Sežana and was powered by Better Incubation, a project funded by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation.

Inkubator Sežana is one of our quality-certified EU|BICS who decided to join the Better Incubation project. They quickly became an example for the community by designing a successful and effective incubation support programme for hearing-impaired entrepreneurs. Their motivation and success, as well as the celebration of their 30^th anniversary, are one of the sources of inspiration that brought the EBN Techcamp to Lipica.

The EBN Techcamp is the second of our yearly events and the one that most showcases methodologies, practices, techniques, and tools that the community can bring back to their country and region to better support entrepreneurial innovation. This year, our focus on impact-driven and inclusive entrepreneurship is in large part because we know the challenges the community is facing. We wanted to empower them with the tools that can bring long-lasting resolutions – by increasing the pool of entrepreneurs, diversifying the type of companies they support, and more completely investing in their region’s (sustainable and social) economic development.

Laura Lecci, CEO at EBN

As remarked by the EC and the OECD, inclusive entrepreneurship is an integral part of growth. A widespread business creation by people of all groups helps generate jobs and combat social and financial exclusion while stimulating economic growth. Evidence shows that women, youth, seniors, immigrants, and people with disabilities are often underrepresented in the entrepreneurial space and, on average, less likely to succeed in creating high-growth firms due to a lack of networks, and access to finance, and less adequate ways to gain skills needed grow a company. At the same time, social enterprises are longstanding agents of inclusive growth and have proved remarkably resilient in the face of economic adversity. By design, social enterprises address socioeconomic challenges in innovative ways and engage citizens to become part of the solution.

Over 8 parallel deep-dive sessions, the 2022 EBN Techcamp offered EU|BICs, and BSOs a space to share, debate, and test practices, methods and tools for impact-driven and inclusive entrepreneurship promotion and support. Some of them resulted from the involvement of EBN and IHUB members in 21 Better Incubation pilots that led to new inclusive incubation programmes that involved more than 130 entrepreneurs over 6 months. Tools, methods, and recommendations have been shared during the Techcamp, and are also available in the Better Incubation Toolkit, the Better Incubation Collection of Best Practices, the Inspirational Videos, and the upcoming Better Incubation Insights Paper (focus on programmatic level) and the Better Incubation Roadmap (focus on organizational level).

   

   

Photos by Jan Antonac from VSS Sežana

There is evidence that business incubators and business accelerators can be effective supports for new and growing businesses, and evaluations suggest similar results can be achieved in business incubators that focus on supporting entrepreneurs from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. The keys to success for these initiatives include offering strong preincubation services, building strong linkages with mainstream business support providers and investors, delivering support in flexible modules, and ensuring incubator staff is trained to support the targeted entrepreneurs.

This year’s EBN Techcamp empowered its participants to support a new generation of impactful tech start-ups – companies that are both profitable and work to improve society, operating ‘’double bottom line’’ business models – and to leverage diversity and inclusion and become relevant, competitive, and gain an advantage.

Cristina Fanjul, President of EBN

The event counted on the contribution of many local and international speakers who shared their experiences and best practices for innovation support. Speakers included: Dr. Aida Kamišalić Latifić, the secretary of state at the Slovenian Ministry of Digital Transformation, and David Škabar, Mayor of Sežana, who spoke of the importance of innovation and digitalization in Slovenia for its future; Cristina Fanjul, EBN President, Dorijan Maršič, Director at Inkubator Sežana, both addressing the importance of increased inclusivity for the future of European innovation and sharing their personal experience in the subject; and Tobias Temmen, Venture Partner at Kellogg-WHU, Stanford Change Labs, Andreja Jaklič, Professor at the University of Ljubljana – Faculty of Social Science, and Flora Rosenow, Global Brand Strategy & Communication for Impact expert, who lead workshops on the creation of incubation modules, guaranteeing its societal value from innovation ecosystems, and measuring and communicating its value to others – respectively.

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Better Incubation is a joint initiative of EBN, Impact Hub and EVPA, funded by the European Union, to kickstart an “eco-systemic” change by bringing incubation and business support services closer to society as a whole and to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment as means to create jobs, develop skills, and give the unemployed and vulnerable an opportunity to fully participate in the economy and improve the inclusivity of our societies (www.betterincubation.eu)

About this Toolkit

This Toolkit is a comprehensive collection of handson tools and methodologies for business support organisations aiming to make their incubation and other business support programmes more inclusive and accessible. The Toolkit is based on the experience and exchange among members of the Communities of Practice of the Better Incubation initiative.

It invites managers and contributors to incubation and other business support services to an honest analysis of their practices and gives them tools to go beyond the usual suspects as participants in their programmes.

Being based on the experiences of the inclusive pilot programmes run within the Better Incubation framework, it is not an exhaustive list but offers itself as a starting point for all business support organisations to go beyond the status quo, i.e., mainstream entrepreneurship. This pilot has been running in many European countries: Spain, Portugal, United Kindom, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italt, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.

How to use the Toolkit

The Toolkit is organised in line with the common steps of designing and running a business support
programme. You can easily navigate these different steps below and jump directly to where you are at, or you can read from beginning to end to get a better grasp of the many facets and perspectives when it comes to inclusion and accessibility in incubation and business support. For each step, different tools are listed and you can pick out what best fits your reality.

Speaking of the steps of designing and implementing a business support programme: one important suggestion this Toolkit makes is to add step 2: Removing barriers to processes of developing and running business support programmes. Transforming your spaces and offerings to be more inclusive is not a one-time moment. It needs to happen throughout the programme cycle. However, having accessibility as a step just like “designing the programme” or “selecting participants” highlights the importance of gaining awareness about barriers that people may face in accessing programmes. This approach resonates with a wider mission of the Better Incubation project of placing incubators as catalysts in the entrepreneurship ecosystems and thus allowing them to go beyond their intermediary role.

The 5 Groups in Focus

Woman

The European business and entrepreneurship ecosystem is far from being diverse and inclusive. According to the OECD report , women were half as likely as men to be self-employed , while the share of women who started their own business only increased by 2%. This gap can be explained by deep structural imbalances against female business founders, such as lack of access to finance, low opportunity perception regarding entrepreneurship among women, lack of role models or competing demands on time, with a double burden on home and work responsibilities for women.

Migrants and Refugees

In 2020, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe increased to an unprecedented 23 million . Entrepreneurship therefore represents a great opportunity for refugees and other migrants to rebuild their lives and contribute to the economy and society in their new home country. Relevant business support services can help address these challenges, but it needs to be accompanied by a change of mindset in the sector to better reflect on the real needs of migrant entrepreneurs.

Youth

Youth unemployment represents one of the major social and economic challenges in Europe, with more than 16.5% of them being unemployed in 2018 . In response to the challenges the youth encounters when searching for jobs, entrepreneurship offers an alternative pathway to economic self-sufficiency. Critical success conditions can be provided by training and incubation programmes targeted at the youth to nurture their entrepreneurial attitudes and skills.

Seniors

With the ongoing demographic change and the ageing population in Europe, supporting entrepreneurial skills and becoming self-employed could be considered as innovative ways for middle-aged group workers to continue their professional activity . These include difficulties with mastering digital skills, health issues or social isolation. These demographic changes also affect business incubation support services because a new growing client group is emerging.

People with disabilities

The complexity of this group stems from the fact that disabilities are extremely diverse and are not fixed characteristic of individuals . People with disabilities face many barriers in the labour market, and employer discrimination is frequently reported.

Tools for…

1. Desinging inclusive support programmes
   1. Empathy interviews
   2. Co-creation with organisations in the field
   3. Personas
   4. Flexible modular design
2. Removing barriers
   1. Analyse application data
   2. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
   3. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training
3. Scouting for and selecting diverse participants
   1. Community Mapping
   2. Channels Mapping
   3. Equity-informed selection
4. Delivering the right programme support
   1. Needs assessement
   2. Business model basics
   3. Safer space
   4. Onion principle and confidence building
5. Connecting participans to supportive people
   1. Intentional mentor matching
   2. Purposeful hosting
   3. Peer-to-peer support
6. Facilitating access to capital
   1. Map funding possibilities
   2. Pitch training
   3. Offer funding
7. Manageing impact
   1. Impact mesurement platform
   2. Exit interviews with participants
   3. Competence framework

 

You can find more informaton HERE

 

The sixth issue of the Better Incubation Newsletter describes the upcoming opportunities :

• Better Incubation Contest 2022 | Scaling Impact – deadline to apply is September 1st, 2022
• Better Incubation Toolkit is out
• Future activities and events
• Focus on the upcoming Switch Pitch appointments

Find out more information about Better Incubation news by reading the newsletter here : Better Incubation Newsletter 6_August 2022

This new award is the European Commission’s initiative to recognise and celebrate the outstanding results achieved in the implementation of gender equality by academic and research organisations.

The application process to this first edition of the EU Award for Gender Equality Champions is now open. Deadline for applications is 13 October 2022 at 17.00 (CET).

The EU Award for (Academic) Gender Equality Champions aims to

• complement and boost the requirement for higher education and research organisations applying to Horizon Europe to have in place a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) as an eligibility criterion
• be a tool to advance inclusive gender equality plans and policies in the framework of the new European Research Area (ERA) policy agenda
• act as an enabler for the transformation agenda for universities set in the new ERA, and in line with the new European Strategy for Universities

The prize also intends to raise public awareness of the importance of addressing gender equality in academic and research organisations through institutional change and incentivise a high degree of commitment to implementing inclusive gender equality plans.

The prize will create a community of champions which can inspire other academic and research organisations to become gender equality champions themselves.

The European Research Executive Agency (REA) manages the prize and its winners are selected by an independent expert jury for each prize category.

There are 3 prize categories:

Sustainable Gender Equality Champions | Organisations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their Gender Equality Plan. Apply now

Newcomer Gender Equality Champions | Organisations that have recently started implementing a Gender Equality Plan and can demonstrate the most progress in its implementation and achieved results. Apply now

Inclusive Gender Equality Champions | Organisations that have developed the most innovative inclusive Gender Equality Plan addressing intersections with other social categories such as ethnicity, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTI+) or disability. Apply now

Applicants (universities, higher education institutions, and research performing organisations -public or private – established in an EU country or a Horizon Europe Associated Country) can only apply to 1 of these 3 categories.

Each prize winner will receive €100,000.

There will be 2 winners in the prize category Sustainable Gender Equality Champions, 1 winner in the prize category Newcomer Gender Equality Champions, and 1 winner in the prize category Inclusive Gender Equality Champions.

Check out all the information about the call, the eligibility and award criteria here 

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/prizes/eu-award-gender-equality-champions_en 

If you are an entrepreneur with an innovative solution to a social or environmental challenge and you are ready to scale it nationally or internationally, join the Better Incubation Contest to grow your impact with a wide community of business intermediaries, investors and other entrepreneurs.

About the contest

Organised by the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN), Impact Hub and the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), the Better Incubation Contest 2022 | Scaling Impact aims at selecting the 3 most scalable solutions to social and environmental challenges developed by impact ventures led or founded by entrepreneurs belonging to one of the Better Incubation target groups: women, seniors, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, youth. 

Better Incubation is a 2-year programme (2021 – 2022) funded by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation. The aim of Better Incubation is to foster inclusive and social entrepreneurship in Europe by mobilising and empowering Business Support Organisations (BSOs) to effectively help the social enterprises and potential entrepreneurs from the so called underrepresented groups to grow their businesses. Read more here.

Objectives

We are looking for innovative ventures with a clear social and/or environmental mission founded/co-founded and/or led /co-led by entrepreneurs representing one (or more) of the target groups Better Incubation programme is focussing on:  women, migrants or refugees, youth, seniors and people with disabilities.

We are looking for entrepreneurs addressing one or more Sustainable Development Goals and who are willing to explore growing and scaling their innovative solution either nationally or internationally with the support of Better Incubation network of networks: a unique community of EU|BICs (quality-certified business innovation centres), Impact Hubs and Investors for Impact committed to support innovative impact ventures in Europe and beyond. 

Three selected entrepreneurs will be matched with incubation experts that will accompany their scaling trajectory through remote coaching and mentoring sessions; will benefit from a full immersion week at an EU|BIC located in the targeted destination area; and will pitch their solution to an investors panel during the Better Incubation final event that will be held in Brussels on December 2nd, 2022 within the EVPA Impact Week. This event represents the premier event for the investing for impact community in Europe with more than 700+ social investors expected to join. The contest winners will be awarded with a free ticket to join the Impact Week and will have the unique chance to pitch on stage in front of social investors to bring their venture forward. Also travel expenses to Brussels for the contest winners will be covered.

The Better Incubation scaling support has a value of approximately 7000 €, this includes 15 hours of coaching in total from all three networks EBN, Impact Hub and EVPA experts, 1 week incubation programme, travel and accommodation costs to attend the Better Incubation events and the incubation programme in the targeted destination.

Why join the contest? 

The Better Incubation scaling support is aimed at helping the three finalists:

• Articulate the social value proposition, identifying why and how the proposed solution addresses unmet needs in the chosen location.
• Access to appropriate sector and local experts.
• Assess the team competencies and consider how their business model will adapt to the new environment.
• Understand investors’ perspective so they can develop a pitch for the Better Incubation final conference in Brussels and for potential partners in the targeted destination.

The Better Incubation Contest 2022 | Scaling Impact offers to the winners:

• Networking: Three best finalists will be exposed to a wide network of BSOs (EBN, IHUB) and investors (EVPA) interested in supporting impact driven ventures during the Better Incubation events that will take place in Slovenia, 19-20 October 2022 and Better Incubation Final Conference on 2 December 2022. 
• Mentoring & Coaching: Three best finalists will have access to a virtual 1:1 coaching programme provided by EVPA and Impact Hub experts (15 hours in total). 
• Scaling – full immersion week: Three best finalists will be also eligible for one-week physical incubation provided by an EBN member – business support organisation in the target country. If interested, the winners can join the 2022 EBN Techcamp powered by Better Incubation (19-20 October 2022 – Sežana, Slovenia), where they can meet the incubators that will host them in the targeted country.
• Pitching: The three finalists will be given an opportunity to present their business ideas at the Final Conference of the Better Incubation Project to be held in Brussels, 2 December 2022 within the EVPA Impact Week. 
• Publicity: The three finalists will receive mentions in the Better Incubation and partner networks, including press releases, posts and social media. 

Call application

Better Incubation will offer scaling up services to three selected entrepreneurs willing to grow and scale their solutions to a wider national or international level. 

The call opens on June 21st, 2022, and closes on September 1st, 2022 (23.59 CET). 

APPLY NOW

The following information is requested:

1. General information 
2. Applicant Information (entrepreneur and venture)
3. Solution description 
4. Scalability
5. Innovation
6. Impact
7. Motivation and Expectations

Check this document to see how the application form is structured and the required information for each section. 

Proposal Evaluation and Selection

All proposals submitted before the deadline will pass an eligibility check (see eligibility criteria). Proposals passing the eligibility check will be assessed through a transparent evaluation process that will be managed by EBN and led by internal and external experts.

If a solution scores high enough in the assessment criteria, reaching the minimum threshold, it is eligible for the scaling programme. 

This means that:

1. Each entry meeting the eligibility criteria will be assessed by a minimum of 2 jury members.
2. Based on the average of Jury members’ scores, we shortlist only the solutions that reach the threshold
3. We rank them based on the scores they received and we invite the top 5 for an online interview with the jury panel during the week commencing the 12th September 2022. 
4. Final rank will be elaborated and we will award the best three ones.

Communication between the Better Incubation team and applicants during the application assessment process will be carried out primarily via email. It is therefore recommended that applicants notify Better Incubation if they change the email address they apply with during the application process.  

Eligibility criteria

In order to be eligible to apply and participate, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Their companies must be founded by entrepreneurs from one of the following groups: women, people with disabilities, migrants or refugees, youth (18-29) or seniors (over 50).
• Must have a clearly established social and/or environmental mission.
• Must be an SME, startup company or a foundation that is a legal entity (legal person) such as a private law company, association or foundation, that is fully registered under the laws of a European Union Member State, or an EaSI Progress Axis associated country.
• The venture must be already in existence for more than 1 year.

Assessment Criteria

One the eligibility check is performed, the Jury will review and evaluate the nominations using the following criteria and scoring:

• Solution description > This criterion will assess the proposed solution in terms of how it will address the proposed challenge, on how it will implement the proposed solution, its feasibility and the involvement of stakeholders.  (15 points)

1. Scalability >  This criterion assesses the scalability of the proposed solution, considering both the scaling up trajectory of an already existing product/service, and the future scalability of the solution. (15 points)
2. Innovation dimension > This criterion assesses the innovative capacity of the proposed solution. (10 points)
3. Impact > This criterion assesses how the solution is going to generate social impact (15 points)
4. Motivation > This criterion assesses the elevator pitch submitted by the applicant -120 seconds. (10 points)

65/65 is the max scoring. The minimum threshold for accessing the programme is 35/65.

Competition timeline 

Timetable and deadlines
Contest launch	21 June 2022
Applications due	1 September 2022 23:59 CET
Evaluation	2 September –  23 September2022
3 Finalists announced	week commencing 26 September 2022
Mentoring and Coaching	September- November 2022
Incubation (1 week)	September – November 2022 Winners can also join the “Techcamp 2022 |Better Incubation” taking place in Sezana, Slovenia the 19-20 October 2022 where they will connect with the EU|BIC that will host them in the targeted destination
Pitching session(s)	1-2 December 2022 (Better Incubation Final Event at EVPA Impact Week)

Useful information

• For any clarification you might need, please email: info@betterincubation.eu. Please specify “Better Incubation Contest” in the email subject.
• Online Application Form – link: https://forms.gle/ieeT6r26f6XAhB419
• Download the Call Information Document: Better Incubation Contest_Information Document_final