“… EBN, could again show that BIC is still one of the most efficient tools for the emergence of new companies, creation of jobs, providing the possibility to apply innovation in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as to stimulate local and regional economies.
…Such professional communities as Business and Innovation Centres, Incubators and other similar organizations are effective generators and accelerators of entrepreneurial innovation and the drive for the creation of thousands of micro- and meso- business objects.
… BICs and their stakeholders offer the perfect set of “start + services for further development” to its innovative entrepreneurs-clients, providing them with a dual mission: public and private interests with devotion to business, qualification, intelligence and impressive value for money”.
From the address of EBN CEO Philippe Vanrie at the Annual Congress.
According to the audit results of Technopark “Idea” for 2011, experts of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network once again confirmed its compliance with the EBN Quality Standards, as evidenced by a certificate “EC-BIC Licence”.
Business Innovation Centre (BIC) – an organization that works to meet the needs of both the public and private sectors and uses a dynamic system for entrepreneurs and projects searching, selection, monitoring and management. BIC is focused on the creation and development of innovative business, offering a wide range of services to support small and medium sized enterprises within the professional cost-effective structure.
BIC promotes the stimulation of the local economy in the areas of industrial development and science-intensive potential. Their objective is to adapt/prepare the internal human, material and financial resources in order to strengthen the business sector. In particular, this concerns the emergence of new small and medium sized enterprises and development of existing businesses which are sources of innovation and technological progress.
Technopark “Idea” is a member of EBN and an accredited Business Innovation Centre since 2009, passing a two-stage audit of the European Network experts.
A part of performance indicators of Technopark, enshrined in the Innovative Memorandum of the Republic of Tatarstan, was integrated in a set of BICs key performance criteria. Thus was the universal scale for monitoring of technopark structures adapted to the regional and the Russian economy. On this base, any innovation infrastructure has the opportunity to become a member of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network, which means the organization, implementation and control of business-processes in compliance with the requirements of the European Standards.
Key performance indicators of Technopark according to the results of 2011 are as follows:
One of the most important indicators is the number of jobs created. This criterion indicates not only social significance of the innovation infrastructure but also the budgetary efficiency. Since 2009, Technopark “Idea” has started monitoring and comparison of the average salary of resident companies with the average republican salary. The results show that the average salary in Technopark is consistently higher that the average republican salary. 
Furthermore, annually Technopark “Idea” transfers about 150 million rubles in the form of Unified Social Tax and Personal Income Tax to the republican budget.
Advantages of accession to the EBN as a full member:
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EBN Full members have the right to use the EC-BIC label registered by the European Commission as a trademark that is recognized as the Quality Standard in innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship across Europe and around the world.
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EBN Full members are assisted in the development and improvement of services provided by the Business Innovation Centre (BIC).
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EBN conducts the annual evaluation of BIC performance and benchmarking.
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EBN permanently shows Business innovation Centres as a benchmark for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship development at the regional level and within the framework of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network.
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Access to the European Network (BIC2BIC Network): through the EBN Community the Business Innovation Centre get access to a dedicated analogous organizations network aimed at innovation, incubation and business development at the regional level.
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Access to the thematic and sectoral networks (B2B network). One of the objectives of these networks is the support of the technical and commercial partnership between innovative SMEs throughout Europe.
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Specialized training: each year EBN members take a number of technical training seminars on the following subjects: from the BIC’s basic provisions for new members to the development and operation of project possibilities for the BIC emergence.
In order to obtain a licence for the EC-BIC Quality Label, BIC must comply with 5 criteria:
1. Mission: Innovation and Incubation.
BICs are professional organizations which promote, stimulate and develop innovation in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at all stages of their development, through a comprehensive incubation process. Depending on the characteristics of the territory and the existing business support organizations already present, BICs may focus on fostering the creation of new innovative enterprises and/or developing innovation in existing enterprises, with the goal of contributing ultimately to regional/local economic development, competitiveness and growth.
2. Organization
BICs should:
- focus on a specific and well-defined catchment area (within a region, province, city etc.). In areas where one or several accredited BICs already exist and operate, any new candidate BICs applying for accreditation should demonstrate there is a clear case for the creation of a new BIC, with convincing arguments such as evidence of market demand; a population and number of SMEs that could justify its creation and sustain its activities in the longer term; the existence of industrial sectors that are not already served by the existing BIC that would be served by the new one, etc.).
- ensure that BICs role is acknowledged by the relevant public authorities in their catchment area and the activities of BICs is aligned with agreed regional/national economic development priorities and innovation strategies.
- involve the public sector in the case where they are predominantly private in structure or involve the private sector in the case where they are predominantly public in structure, (by e.g., participating in relevant local publicly funded development programmes, involving corporates and Business Angels, etc.)
- co-ordinate/integrate their activities with those of other business support organizations to ensure the seamless delivery of a complementary and comprehensive range of facilities and services in the catchment area.
- be financially sustainable with an allocated budget and own profit and loss account.
- have a clear positioning, BICs should be aimed at creating new jobs and stimulating economic growth through the creation of innovative companies or the development of existing companies.
- have identified premises (a BIC may be hosted by a bigger organization) and a clear identity and branding as a BIC that differentiates them from other business support organizations in the catchment area.
- manage professionally and autonomously, have a dedicated team of at least three full time staff – appropriately qualified, experienced and involved in the core activity of SME business support.
3. Services to Innovative Individual Entrepreneurs/Start-up Enterprises and SMEs.
BICs should:
- be active in terms of incubation, creation of innovative enterprises and/or fostering innovation in existing SMEs.
The balance between these two activities should be determined in the light of an assessment of the development needs of the catchment area. In order to achieve this, BICs must:
- Actively promote innovative entrepreneurship and/or the development of innovation in existing SMEs;
- Use a number of methods to detect and promote new innovative projects;
Both of the above should be achieved through a number of activities, such as, competitions and awards, project building, through European, national and regional programmes, partnerships and networking, provision of adequate resources, periodically review their performance against the EC-BIC Quality Mark benchmarks, taking action if necessary to address shortcomings.
4. Evaluation of BIC activities
The BIC accreditation as the European Business and Innovation Centre Network and ongoing evaluation process involves a comprehensive review of BIC activities and performance.
In order to provide adequate data for the annual evaluation of compliance against the criteria for the EC-BIC label BICs must use the common indicators identified in the self-evaluation questionnaire to assess their activities. The provision of this data is also vital to reinforce the reputation of the network, through the Annual Observatory and for benchmarking purposes and the calculation of key statistics, charts and other performance reports. The BICs must also record the following indicators:
The number of academic spin-offs created with the support of the BIC (if any)
The annual number of enterprise creation projects prior to feasibility study
The annual number of enterprise creation projects implemented after feasibility study
The percentage of projects based on technology
The annual number of business plans produced
The annual number of start-ups created with the support of the BIC
The annual number of jobs created by the BIC residents
The survival rate (percentage) of enterprises three years after creation
The number of tenants in the incubator
The number of employees in resident-companies
The number of SMEs participating in programmes aimed at improving competitiveness
The number of SMEs closing down.
5. Quality.
BICs must comply with the EC-BIC Quality System. In particular they must:
- complete and submit their on-line self-evaluation questionnaire on an annual basis, by the given deadline;
- facilitate on-site evaluation visits by EBN experts and provide all the information requested;
- implement the decisions of the BIC Quality Mark Committee.
BICs should also:
- define any other performance indicators as appropriate;
- Implement a management information system for the collection of key information, including performance indicators, contact details, project information etc.;
- regularly monitor client satisfaction through paper surveys and telephone surveys.
EBN Full member status is given to the organizations whose task is to accelerate the emergence of new innovative companies, to provide comprehensive support for the start-ups and spin-offs incubation with the aim to stimulate the emergence of innovative projects in developing SMEs, as well as to the development of innovation and internationalism at the regional and local levels.