Innovationsbron in English
Turning research and innovation into business.
Innovationsbron is active all over Sweden to create a basis for internationally competitive companies by commercialise innovations.
With innovation means new ideas as products, services or processes based on new knowledge with commercial potential. Innovationsbron offer expertise, capital and processes to identify commerciable ideas, verifying, selecting, investing, business development and deliver business and business-to-market.
Full commercialization begins when a person has an idea. The idea may arise in academic research, industry, industrial research institutes and public sector, or come from individual innovators.
The business concept can then be developed in different ways: in a new company, through licensing, collaborations, etc. Innovationsbron supports this development by providing seed financing, combined with industry related business development as active owners. Innovationsbron also develops incubators, where ideas get professional help to develop faster and stronger, with operational and financial experience.
Innovationsbron was formed by Teknikbrostiftelserna, Industrifonden and the State with the support of VINNOVA and started operations in spring 2005.
Today Innovationsbron is an national company Sweden with offices in Luleå, Umeå, Uppsala, Stockholm, Linkoping, Gothenburg and Lund. Innovationsbron is owned by the State and Industrifonden.
Innovationsbron focuses on turning research and innovation into business. Our vision is for Sweden to become an international leader in commercialising research-related business ideas.
We support researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs translate their ideas into business. Innovationsbron’s role is to act market complementary and our efforts are focused on projects and companies in the very early stages of development. We help overcome the initial difficulties and risks associated with developing business ideas before commercial players, such as private equity companies, come on board.
Innovationsbron aims to strengthen weak links in the chain from the point at which an idea with commercial potential is identified until a company develops without support in line with market conditions.
All commercialisation begins with a person who has an idea. Ideas can originate in academic research, commerce, industrial research institutes and the public sector. Innovationsbron works to increase the influx of ideas and to select the ones that have serious market and growth potential.
The business can then be developed in various ways: within a new enterprise, through licensing if existing companies are better equipped to carry the idea forward, or through collaboration, for example.
Innovationsbron’s business development work combines seed funding with intensive efforts to develop the business concept and answer questions about business model, technology, market and economic potential. Innovationsbron also runs a national programme for incubators, i.e. entrepreneurial environments where new start-ups can receive support developing the business through seed funding, supplemented with business expertise such as business coaching, customer contacts, team enhancement and other areas that promote faster growth.
Once the companies are equipped to meet the commercial market, Innovationsbron plays an active role in engaging subsequent investors. This reduces the gap to the next financier and enables the company to focus on developing its operation. Another important role for Innovationsbron throughout the commercialisation process is to wind down projects lacking business potential in a constructive way.
Innovationsbron is owned by the Swedish state (84%) and Industrifonden (16%). We operate throughout Sweden.
Seed funding
Innovationsbron combines early stage financing with support to develop companies to stages where they can attract commercial funding, partners and customers, thereby positioning our operation in the market complementary stages. Technology and market development are important issues for early-stage companies, and here we work together with researchers, companies and agencies to support development. As important though, and here Innovationsbron is very active, is to develop the companies’ leadership, steering and positioning it and its operation in order to pave the way for sustainable long-term growth, both nationally and internationally.
Seed funding involves many forms of financing targeted at ideas, innovations and enterprises in the early, pre-commercial phases. The aim of seed funding is to enable an enterprise to advance an idea in the early stage when financing is difficult to obtain.
Innovationsbron invests in research-related business ideas with serious growth potential. In early start-up stages enterprises are vulnerable, they often have a low capital base and have yet to prove their commercial viability, technology and market interest.
The risk in the company is often perceived as so high that no commercial player is willing to invest in the operation. Innovationsbron’s seed funding complements the market, takes bigger risks and thereby helps bridge the gap from initial idea to a company that’s ripe for investment. Innovationsbron’s role of complementing the market also means that our investments are contra-cyclical, i.e. when the market backs out of the early stages, Innovationsbron increases its involvement, and when market interest picks up, we back off.
Examples of Innovationsbron seed funding products:
Development grants. FOKUS Verifiering is a development grant, whereby Innovationsbron, in collaboration with VINNOVA, offers funding for commercial and technical verification and for protecting the intellectual property rights of research results.
Soft loans. Innovationsbron can issue milestone oriented loans, Villkorslån, without security, of up to SEK 500,000 for early technical and business development work.
Equity. Innovationsbron currently works with equity investments, both directly through its own investment decisions and indirectly through other financing organisations. The focus for the future is primarily to use direct forms of investment.
Innovationsbron has no required return from its owners. The aim is for the capital invested or loaned to remain intact over time, while expenses that arise from running the business are funded through other means. Innovationsbron’s seed funding activities are based on collaboration with other private and public investors at local, regional and national level.
Innovationsbron’s goal is to attract commercial investors, customers and partners to the enterprise development process as early and reliably as possible. Enterprises should be able to focus on developing the company, the technology and the business rather than looking for investors.
Incubators
An incubator is an entrepreneurial environment where new start-ups can receive structured support developing the business through, adding business expertise such as business coaching, customer contacts, team enhancement, networks, seed finance and other areas that promote faster growth. Innovationsbron finances and develops incubators to become business environments which produce new Swedish companies that are focused on growth.
Innovationsbron runs a national incubator programme that enables participating incubators to strengthen the flow of business ideas into the incubator environments, while creating more innovative new enterprises that generate growth at the regional and national level.
The programme also includes a development process for company and business development, as well as activities for benchmarking and exchange of experience between incubators at national and regional level. These activities are open to all incubators.
In addition to the national incubator programme, Innovationsbron invests in regional projects and processes along with development in special sectors in order to further strengthen the incubators.
Operations throughout Sweden
Innovationsbron’s principal strength is the combination of a strong regional presence coupled with a nationwide overview and collaboration, industry know-how and joint development of models and tools.
Successful support of the commercialisation process requires close contacts with researchers, companies, entrepreneurs, authorities and other players in society.
Innovationsbron’s organisation is adapted accordingly, with four profit centres that have a regional responsibility, and offices based in Luleå, Umeå, Uppsala, Stockholm, Karlstad, Linköping, Gothenburg and Lund.
All commercialisation begins with a person who has an idea. Thanks to our national coverage we meet these people regionally, on site, and offer them early advice, professional selection processes and verification support, for example.
In each region we have established networks and have built up systems for capturing and harnessing as many as possible of the innovations and ideas originating at companies and academies across Sweden.
Successful, long-term commercialisation of research ideas requires smoothly functioning regional and local innovation systems, where business expertise and seed capital are injected in a structured way. Regional activities for system development enable Innovationsbron to promote unity between local players and create effective collaboration.
Innovationsbron has a great deal of knowledge and extensive experience of commercialisation and business consultation in the early stages, and therefore has an important task to establish and develop regional innovation systems alongside its business partners. Our investments in early stages are often multiplied by funds from other players.
There are many fine examples of enterprises that have developed into strong growth companies with Innovationsbron’s help.
We define innovations as new products, services or processes with commercial potential.
