Creating an Entrepreneurship Culture: High-tech Start-Up and Spin-Off Creation in Sophia Antipolis

In the beginning, the development of Sophia Antipolis was driven mainly by the large, multinational companies that used the region as a base to conduct research and development. These companies were able to transfer their research results to create commercial applications simply by extracting them from Sophia and then commercializing them through their global corporate infrastructures . Such an infrastructure, however, has been largely missing for research carried out by Sophia-based national research institutes and the ideas coming from individual entrepreneurs. In brief, the commercial potential of the science park was grossly underutilized . In order to bridge the gap between research and its commercialization, academic institutions in Sophia Antipolis have increasingly been attempting to include a broad mix of commercial, marketing, and management skills into their traditionally science-based curricula. The initiatives and projects of two educational establishments, CERAM and Institut EURECOM, both based in Sophia Antipolis, illustrate attempts to successfully transfer local technologies through cooperation between research, education, and industry in an interdisciplinary context.

Michel Bernasconi is professor of management and head of the High-Tech Entrepreneurship Chair at CERAM Sophia Antipolis, a leading management school belonging to the Nice C te d'Azur Chamber of Commerce. The school has an international orientation, with students representing over 60 different nationalities. ^[4] Having been active in the fields of technology transfer and start-up creation for more than 15 years , Bernasconi spent a sabbatical leave in Silicon Valley from 1992 to 1993, examining its methods of transferring technology, by interviewing the French entrepreneurs in the area. In 1999, Bernasconi set up the High-Tech Entrepreneurship Chair at CERAM with the objectives of studying the mechanisms of creating and developing young high-tech companies in France and the worldwide, in order to develop an entrepreneurial spirit among the students at his university. ^[5]

His efforts include getting the attention of the international community of venture capital companies by regularly participating at an international VC summit in the region, so that the VCs will consider Sophia Antipolis start-ups for their portfolios.

Michel Bernasconi

Providing the key ingredients for technology transfer

While most large companies employing CERAM students have an excellent understanding of their markets and their commercialization strategy, high-tech entrepreneurs with a technical or engineering background usually do not even know who their potential customers are or whether a market actually exists for their product or idea. Such entrepreneurs need commercial partners able to understand their technology to the point that they can actually invent the commercial problem and solve it at the same time. This implies that CERAM students, educated with the perspective of working on the transfer of technology, need to have a broad-based understanding of technology and markets in order to complement a scientist's very specific knowledge in one field of science.

Therefore, "interdisciplinarity" is the key word. This presents a huge challenge to our business school, as it requires us to bridge the considerable gap between science and business.

There is no magic recipe for turning technology into market share, but I have however been able to acquire an understanding of the essential ingredients: First, an entrepreneurial culture and spirit are needed. In order for such a culture to be created, scientists need to see success stories that have originated from within their own environment. They can then follow the example and feel encouraged to become entrepreneurs themselves with their own ideas. Second, there is a great need for information in the form of newspapers or mini-conferences, for example. The information needs to come from "within the system" and fulfill the task of explaining to anyone interested how this system works and which issues need to be addressed in order to build a company. Third, a key point for enabling technology transfer is the creation of clubs, associations, and networking.

Nonetheless, even if all of these ingredients are present within a given region, true technology transfer cannot begin until the scientists are complemented by good marketing people and managers who have a track record in the field. In Sophia, these people are far more valuable than any developer, they are a key element of the strategy. The final key success factor is funding, the need for venture capital.

Attracting investors through an International Venture Capital Summit

Since the region of Sophia Antipolis had no industrial tradition, with tourism as the only significant economic activity, there was a problem in attracting sufficient venture capital to finance emerging start-ups. The region is still in the building phase as far as venture capital is concerned . The situation has, however, been improved considerably by the decision to attract venture capitalists through the region's own International Venture Capital Summit. ^[6]

The summit, while being open to VC companies from all over the world, invites a specific and different country every year to discuss the dynamics of venture capital markets while meeting with Sophia-based start-ups in search of finance. The first guest country was Canada, the second one the United Kingdom, the third one Israel, and the fourth one Germany. Organized by CERAM, the fifth summit took place in December 2001. As a result of the initiative, there has been a strong increase of venture capital flowing into Sophia Antipolis. Remarkably enough, nearly 50% of the venture capital firms investing in Sophia today are foreign, with money principally being attracted from the U.S., Singapore, the U.K., Germany, and other countries from all around the world. ^[7]

The Summit has also helped Sophia Antipolis to create a strong global brand, dramatically improving its international awareness. Whereas the name Grenoble, belonging to another leading French technology region, is equally associated with the city of Grenoble (the region as well as its technology), the Sophia Antipolis brand is exclusively associated with the technological science park and its unique focus on cross-fertilization, giving the companies located within the park a very positive image.