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Best Practices/Open Data Startups Accelerator

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=Name of the Share-PSI workshop = Krems


Title of the Best Practice: Open Data Startups Accelerator

Outline of the best practice

An academic business accelerator is an organisational unit within an university that aims to mobilize and support people to build their own enterprise. Open data can provide a very useful basis for entrepreneurship, allowing for development of added value services by citizens and small enterprises.



Management summary

Challenge

Getting a PSI / open data inspired based business up and running requires a multitude of fields of knowledge and mentoring.


Solution

Universities are well inter-connected, they have the required knowledge necessary for open data startups like (statisitics, visualisation, programming), and they usually have the necessary relationships to practitioners, and other academics to complete missing skills and knwoledge.

Furthermore they can provide

  • Resources: They often own facilities which are not used upto their full capacity.
  • Mentoring: University nodes can act as a trusted third party intermediary, who can establish the first contacts, or bring the first 5 customers. Mentoring also includes things like language support when drafting applications or organizing mentoring events, where people help out.
  • Networking to startups: Professors, Professionals. Within that university network, a request like "Startup Team X is looking for Y for Z Euros"
  • Potential Entrepreneurs like students, Alumni, SMEs, Individuals


Rationale for this solution:

Universities are experienced in event organisation as bringing together stakeholders, idea competitions, mentoring events, networking events and financing roadshows.

Concerning financing: Seed-financing should range from 1.000 Euro upto a couple of 10k Euros, other ways are 1st round funding, 2nd round funding, crowdfunding.


Principle: Engage the startups for a prolonged period of time but do not make their live easy.


Implementation Possibilities: Team with an existing startup company and create a special area within that incubator area, presenting ideas in a special way.


Detailed steps towards the academic startup incubator:

  • make open data via web services available to students: provide some initial tools, training, technology groups
  • expand on successful startup examples, generalize and apply to other areas of business
  • make long lasting competitions, as one month is not enough in order to distill ideas
  • connect with the outer world: journalists
  • provide legal advice for the establishment, IPR and privacy
  • mentors should also come from successful startups
  • The loudest bird survives: Blog on every activity, involve students into that process
  • team up with another academic school (unite media and technics)
  • provide intercultural communication education, as startups are likely to provide services on an international scale
  • first identify friendly customers, then make them enthusiasts




Best Practice Identification

Why is this a Best Practice? What's the impact of the Best Practice?

It contributes to sustainable growth and entrepreneurship based on Open Data, in Europe.


Link(s) the PSI Directive

  • Platforms
  • Organisation
  • Policies and Legislation



Why is there a need for this Best Practice?

Europe Startup culture is lagging behind the US. Innovation and productivity has to rise in order to remain competitive.


What do you need for this Best Practice?

University or other similar educational institute



Applicability by other member states?

Yes


Contact info - record of the person to be contacted for additional information or advice.

Yannis Charalabidis, @yannisc, yannisx@aegean.gr

http://www.aegean-startups.gr (the Uni Aegean Startup Incubator)

http://gov4all.azurewebsites.net (the Uni Aegean / Microsoft Greece open data incubator)

http://www.slideshare.net/charalabidis/academic-business-accelerators (presentation of the best practice)