91664 THE WORLD BANK - Growing Innovation Supporting New Technologies and Entrepreneurs through infoDev's Network of Specialized Business Incubators SYNOPSIS infoDev, a global partnership program within the Financial and Private Sector Development Network of the World Bank Group, facilitates a network of approximately 400 business incubators in more than 100 countries. These incubators provide support to early-stage entrepreneurs and firms—offering mentoring, work space, and, often, seed funding. This incubation network has catalyzed over 25,000 firms and al- most 250,000 jobs have been created over the last decade. Challenge and international exposure. The overall winner, MEDKenya, developed a mobile phone app that For many years, information and communications provides symptom checks and first-aid information technology (ICTs) was one of the most fruitful areas via text message. for development, as development agencies sought to increase access to the internet and mobile net- This is just one example of the innovation infoDev works. But the past decade has shown that greater promotes and facilitates. Two Mobile Applications attention must now be paid to applications and ser- Labs (mLabs), one in Kenya and one in South Afri- vices—growth will now come from harnessing ca, were established in FY11, with three more on those networks to solve development problems. the way. infoDev also launched five Mobile Social Networking hubs in FY11—organizations that or- infoDev supports a connectivity agenda through a ganize monthly networking events, talks, and tutor- series of widely-used, authoritative handbooks for ing workshops on app development—and three ICT regulators, such as the Broadband Strategies more are expected in FY12. Several Climate Innova- Handbook and the ICT Regulation Toolkit. info- tion Centers (CICs) will launch in 2012 – in Sub- Dev has also begun to support applications and Saharan Africa and South and East Asia - to support content—for instance by expanding its network of local entrepreneurship providing clean technology business incubators to include specific networks solutions to energy and climate-related issues. focused on technology entrepreneurship, including Mobile Applications Laboratories, Climate Innova- Approach tion Centers, and Mobile Social Networking hubs. These organizations promote—through mentoring, infoDev has a number of major projects underway accesses to testing laboratories, and, sometimes, or in the pipeline for FY12 and beyond. Building on grant funding—the development of technologies a network of almost 400 business incubators, info- that solve local development problems. mLab East Dev has secured funding from Canadian CIDA, Africa, for example, sponsored a contest in June UK’s DfID, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of 2011, where entrepreneurs could pitch their app Finland to develop specialized networks of Mobile ideas to an audience of financiers and industry Applications Laboratories (five expected), Climate stakeholders. Winners received financial support Innovation Centers (six), business incubators for the April, 2012 2 GROWING INNOVATION: NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND ENTREPRENEURS Caribbean (six), and Agribusiness Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centers (four in Africa).  In FY10 and FY11, infoDev commissioned or completed 19 policy-related studies—including After two years of stakeholder meetings and as- studies on how online tasks can be used for de- sessment studies, the first CIC will launch in Kenya in early 2012; centers in Ethiopia and India will velopment; on the possibilities for geospatial open later that year. Each is expected to support 70 systems in development; and the role of infor- firms over a five-year period, providing equity fi- mation and communications technology in nancing of $100,000 to $700,000. Priority projects post-conflict reconstruction. will include renewable energy, water sanitation, mi- cro-hydropower, bio energy, transportation, and  In FY10, infoDev supported EVOKE, a unique solar power. This project also marks an innovative online game that challenged youth and young new step for infoDev as an “accelerator,” combin- ing both incubation and financing. adults to learn about real-world development problems and think creatively about possible so- Agribusiness Innovation and Entrepreneurship lutions. It drew almost 20,000 registered partici- Centers—currently planned for Ethiopia, Mozam- pants from around the world between March bique, Senegal, and Tanzania—will aid small and and May 2010, and won the Direct Impact medium enterprises that focus on post-harvest agri- award at the 8th Annual Games for Change cultural products. The first AIEC will open in 2012 Festival in New York. For more information: or 2013. Also soon to launch is EPIC—a $20 mil- lion program over seven years to establish six new http://www.urgentevoke.com/ business incubators in the Caribbean.  By the end of FY11, infoDev had launched two infoDev is also continuing its long-term policy Mobile Applications Laboratories, in Pretoria, work, providing objective, authoritative guidebooks South Africa, and Nairobi, Kenya. for regulators and government officials on issues relating to ICT. In FY2012, infoDev will launch the ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook, the Broadband  As of FY11, infoDev has funded five “Mobile Strategies Handbook, and a series of six case studies Social Networking” hubs—in Kenya, Nepal, on the contribution of ICT to post-conflict recon- Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam—that organize struction. monthly networking events, talks, and tutoring workshops on issues related to mobile applica- Results tions development. infoDev projects are contributing to achievement of  In November 2010, together with the Interna- the following results: tional Telecommunication Union (ITU), info- Dev released a 10th anniversary edition of the  Approximately 25,000 businesses are under in- Telecommunications Regulation Handbook, cubation in over 100 countries. By the end of which includes new sections on net neutrality, fiscal year 2011, over 3,500 firms had graduated content regulation, and mobile broadband. Sec- from these incubation programs worldwide, and tions of the ICT Regulation Toolkit, on which it almost 250,000 jobs had been created. is based, continue to be visited by over 800 unique visitors each day.  As of FY 2011, over 500 incubator managers have received training under infoDev's Business  At the 4th Global Forum in Helsinki, Finland, Incubation Management Training Program— in May and June 2011, infoDev conducted a the first comprehensive training program avail- business acceleration competition for a group of able for managers of business incubators in de- 50 top SMEs, ultimately awarding 20 with seed veloping countries. funding for internationalization. WORLD BANK RESULTS 3 Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in infoDev does not receive direct funding from IDA and has received only a small IBRD / BB contribu- the Caribbean, a $20 million program over tion. It almost fully financed by donor-sponsored seven years to establish six new incubators in trust funds. There is very small portion (around 3% the region. in FY11 and 0.5% in FY12) of cash contributions paid by IFC and WB.  UK Department for International Develop- ment—DfID provided seed funding to de- Bank Contributions velop business plans for Climate Innovation Centers, or CICs, devoted to technologies In fiscal years 2010 and 2011, the World Bank con- that help address climate change mitigation tributed $395,000 to infoDev's trust fund account. and adaptation. IFC contributed $1.25 million toward a Train the  Ministry of Science and Technology of Bra- Trainers program. The initiative trains incubator zil—Provided funding for a report on e- managers from regional networks to enable them to waste in the country, and a proposed frame- deliver training on behalf of infoDev—thus building work for handling its disposal, recycling, and local capacity and broadening our reach. It was offi- reuse. cially launched in Cape Town, South Africa, in Feb- ruary 2011, and is intended for business incubation professionals who already have experience in devel-  infoDev has also partnered with the World oping countries and emerging markets. Bank, IFC, Germany, South Africa, Nokia, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Brazilian Association of Science Parks Partners and Business Incubation, among others, on a variety of initiatives. infoDev works with a number of important partners and donors: Moving Forward  The Republic of Korea—The Republic of Korea established the $15 million Korean In past reporting years, each of infoDev's disburse- Trust Fund on ICT4D, administered by in- ments was pegged to one of three categories— foDev on behalf of the Global ICT Depart- Innovate, Connect, or Transform. As the ICT and ment of the World Bank. As of FY11, the development agenda has moved away from infra- Fund has supported 34 projects relating to structure and connectivity, infoDev has embraced a cutting-edge ICT solutions for development business model geared toward innovation, technol- problems. ogy, and entrepreneurship. infoDev's comparative advantage in this regard comes from a network of almost 400 business incubation centers in over 100  -The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Fin- countries worldwide, sponsoring 25,000 early-stage land—In combination with MFA Finland firms and creating almost 250,000 jobs. and Nokia, infoDev has created the Creating The majority of infoDev-sponsored incubation cen- Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy ters are consortia, with buy-in from both private program, which has provided support to a sector organizations and government agencies. We variety of initiatives, including Mobile Appli- have found this to be the best model for sustainabil- cations Laboratories (mLabs), the Global Fo- ity—once the government observes the incubator's rum on Innovation and Technology Entre- impact on job creation, they are usually willing to preneurship, the Central Asian Capacity- continue funding it independently of infoDev. Building Initiative and the Open Africa In- There is also co-financing requirement for many of novation Summit. infoDev's investments, and in most cases an incuba- tor matches or surpasses infoDev's funding with  Canadian International Development Agen- outside sources, creating ownership and sustainabili- cy—CIDA provided funding to launch the ty on a local level. A number of the regional incuba- tor networks, such as ECAbit and APIN, have be- 4 GROWING INNOVATION: NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND ENTREPRENEURS gun charging membership fees, which suggests a Example 2: Ir Aprisusi wanted to start a business, move toward self-financing. but she had no money to invest. She wanted to take fermented coconut water create a coconut drink. In A number of prominent donors have noted info- 1999, she became an incubatee with the infoDev- Dev's track record at establishing incubation net- backed Incubator for Agribusiness and Agroindu- works, and have pledged funds for new, specialized stry. The incubator helped secure about $1,200 in networks: CIDA has pledged funding for a network seed money and provided her with space to start of six business incubators in the Caribbean; DFID production. At first, she produced and packaged her provided seed funding for Climate Innovation Cen- drinks by hand. Now she operates eight mechanical ters in Africa and Asia; and Finland is supporting lines, employs 32 people, and her drinks are sold the launch of five mLabs. throughout the country. Beneficiaries Example 3: Commercial banks are hesitant to work with small businesses in Bulgaria. The infoDev- Example 1: After joining the infoDev-supported supported Applied Research and Communications Technology Incubation Center in Lagos, Nigeria, Fund, an incubator in Sofia, mentored the company Jude Okpala doubled his company’s turnover, to 4 Friends on how to launch “Me & Bee,” a comput- $600,000 a year. His company, Cliché Engineering, er game for children. Hristo Enev, one of the makes precision metal components. “The incubator founders, says: “infoDev can help by establishing helped us move the technology to the next stage,” contacts with entrepreneurs in other countries, so says Okpala. we can exchange some expertise and cross-finance.” WORLD BANK RESULTS 5 LEARN MORE Links  infoDev's Incubator Support Center, iDisc: www.idisc.net  mLabs World, a community of mobile applications developers: https://mlabsworld.org/  Climate Innovation Center business plans: http://www.infodev.org/en/Project.127.html  Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship: http://www.infodevgf.net/  EVOKE project website: http://www.urgentevoke.com/  Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean: http://www.infodev.org/en/Topic.38.html  ICT Regulation Toolkit: http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/index.html  ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook: http://www.ictinagriculture.org  Korean Trust Fund on ICT4D: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNI CATIONANDTECHNOLO- GIES/0,,contentMDK:22888151~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282823,00.html Multimedia Photo 1 Jude Okpala, founder of Cliché Engineering in Lagos, Nigeria, poses with his staff outside his busi- ness. (From Beneficiaries section, above; Photo Credit:______; photo attached separately) Photo 2 Stanislav Evstatiev, Elena Eneva, and Mira Arnaudova, and Hristo Enev, of 4 Friends Studio in Bul- garia. (From Beneficiaries section, above; Photo Credit: Sam Raymond, infoDev; photo attached separately )  Video, “What infoDev means to me,” June 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wetJ28lyET0 Geo-reference  An interactive Google map plotting the locations of all 393 infoDev-associated business incubators worldwide is available at http://www.idisc.net/en/IncubatorsMap.aspx  We also have a map of the main activities / networks in infoDev’s Annual Report 2010 / 2011 (avail- able on the website).