APTENISA - Startup ideation and acceleration programme
The Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE) and the National Innovation Company, SME, SA (ENISA) have launched the APTENISA programme for business ideation and acceleration that will lead to the detection of 100 business ideas and the acceleration of 32 startups.
Facilitating the creation of new technology-based companies and reducing the obstacles they face during their growth, thus supporting the development of a size that makes them more competitive, is the objective of the APTENISA programme, which is clearly in line with the objectives of the Spanish Government's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the Business Creation and Growth Act.
APTENISA will support entrepreneurship from the initial idea to the acceleration phase, validation of the business model and incorporation through a common methodology, based on the Candy Innovation Model and Lean Launch Pad methodologies, to be developed by the 10 science and technology parks participating in its first pilot edition. The Candy Innovation Model is a methodology based on 4 phases (Challenges-Ideas-Prototypes-Scaling) presented at the 2017 International Congress of the IASP - International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation by Prof. Josep M. Pique from La Salle-URL. The Lean Launch Pad is a methodology academically designed by Prof. Jerome S. Engel from UC Berkeley that uses the scientific method to validate business hypotheses combining the Business Model Canvas and the processes of Customer Discovery, Customer Validation, Custumer Creation and Company Building.
Likewise, APTENISA, taking into account the territorial gap, connectivity and the lack of gender perspective, will promote initiatives that encourage digitalisation or the implementation of technologies in the different sectors, as well as female entrepreneurship.
In addition, the actions will be complemented with the training and creation of an investment community of Business Angels in the environment of the innovation ecosystems of science and technology parks to finance entrepreneurial initiatives in the earliest stages and connect with venture capital funds and exit markets (exit plans) linked to companies that innovate by buying StartUps.
The programme will be developed in 10 Spanish science and technology parks located in 8 different autonomous communities (Basque Country, Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid, Asturias, Valencia, Balearic Islands and Canary Islands).
The 10 participating science and technology parks are as follows:
1. Garaia Parque Tecnológico
2. Parque Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnoparc
3. Málaga TechPark
4. Fundación Parque Científico de Madrid
5. La Salle Technova Barcelona
6. Parque Balear de Innovación Tecnológica (ParcBit)
7. Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Tenerife
8. Parque Tecnológico de las Palmas de Gran Canaria
9. Parque Científico de Alicante
10. Parque Científico Tecnológico Avilés “Isla de la Innovación”
The programme has 4 blocks of activities or phases:
APTENISA TRAIN THE TRAINERS
This is the APTENISA TT (Train the Trainers) programme dedicated to training a minimum of 2 people per park to develop capillary capacities (Capacity Building) that allow the recurrent implementation of the APTENISA Start and APTENISA Launch programmes.
The programme will incorporate training in the Candy Innovation Model Methodology and the Lean Launch Pad Methodologies (LLP) developed by La Salle Technova Barcelona and Prof. Jerome Engel (UC Berkeley).
The Programme will be developed in online format and will last 6 days of training.
APTENISA START
This programme is aimed at scientists, teachers, students or science and technology-based entrepreneurs with the objective of identifying ideas and opportunities.
APTENISA Start is APTE's Pre-Accelerator programme.
It is a 4-week, 8-session programme focused on the first stages of the creation of a new company, moving from ideas to validated business models.
The programme will be developed by park staff trained during the TT programme together with external support in a face-to-face format at each park.
APTENISA LAUNCH
APTE's launch accelerator programme is designed to help in the initial phase of the start-up project and systematically prepare it for market launch.
It is a complete immersive programme to boost the creation of science-technology based and Deep tech companies by boosting high-impact entrepreneurship, generating qualified employment and creating highly innovative Deep tech companies and spin-offs that can achieve market success.
The programme is based on the Lean Launchpad method, developed at the universities of California and Stanford, pioneers of scientific and technological entrepreneurship, to help step by step in business development: from the initial idea to the constitution of the company, the validation of the business model and the development of the client through interviews with the market.
APTENISA INVESTOR NETWORKS
With the aim of providing private financing to entrepreneurial projects in the initial stages, training will be provided for all the parks for managers, professionals and alumni of the universities linked to the parks.
This training will provide the key knowledge and skills to invest in startups from the own funds of people who invest their money.
APTE INVESTORS NETWORK offers a programme on startup investment for 40 potential business angels.
It is structured in 5 modules through which students will deepen throughout the whole process of investment in entrepreneurial projects: philosophy of a Business Angel and own experiences, sources of deal flow and qualitative analysis, methods of valuation of companies with case studies, legal and administrative aspects of investment and finally monitoring and exits plans of the investees.
Once Business Angels have been trained in the different parks, the constitution of Investment Networks will be promoted in each Park and a Network of Investment Networks articulated by APTE will be set up. This will allow investment syndication (several Business Angels investing jointly in a startup) both locally and nationally, systematising periodic investment forums.
