ASEAN Business Incubator Network convenes first project meeting
Close to a hundred representatives from the region’s technology business incubators and start-ups convened at the 1st meeting of the ASEAN Business Incubator Network (ABINet) Project on 2-3 August 2018 in Jakarta.
Other representatives from Indonesian Research, Technology, and Higher Education Ministry and Communications and Information Technology Ministry also attended this meeting which was hosted by the Indonesian Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Ministry.
The ABINet project is an initiative of the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund.
In her opening remarks, Rosdiana Veronica Sipayung, Acting Deputy of Production and Marketing of the Indonesian Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry, highlighted the ABINet as a valuable platform for learning and sharing of knowledge and experience among representatives from business incubator management, start-up incubatees as well as resource persons and experts from ASEAN and Japan. She further added that technology and business incubators (TBIs) had a strategic role in the ecosystem to support the development and sustainability of SMEs and start-ups in ASEAN.
The ABINet project is a multi-year project designed to promote SMEs competitiveness and strengthening of TBIs through capacity building and regional networking and linkages among the incubators in the ASEAN region.
Throughout the two-day programme, experts and practitioners from ASEAN Member States as well as Japan shared their knowledge and experience on the management of technology transfer programmes in the development of start-ups. The meeting covered topics such as good practices in ASEAN and Japan, technology transfer model system, animation technology and related business model and opportunities, incubation management, and commercialisation approaches and strategies.
Included in the programme were study visits to three incubators in and around Jakarta: Skystar Ventures of Universitas Multimedia Nusantara; Technology Business Incubator Centre of Pusat Penelitian Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Teknologi; and Block 71 Jakarta – a collaboration between the National University of Singapore Enterprise and the Salim Group. Through a network of mentors and industry relations, incubator and accelerator programmes, along with companies from various sectors sharing working space, all three TBIs help generate innovation pipelines, facilitate talent development as well as market expansion. They demonstrate the value and benefit of collaborative ecosystems to catalyse innovation and SME growth.
Press-release at the ASEAN official web-site