Baltic Sea incubators pilot new ways to support startups

Close to 300 startups and entrepreneurs have benefited from improved incubation services,  thanks to a project aimed at improving incubation services in the Baltic Sea region, called IRIS. 

For two years, 14 incubators from 10 countries across the region have been working together in an effort to improve their services for clients – SMEs and startups. They experimented with new techniques, assessed their internal processes and introduced changes to their approaches. 

The results of the project impact review, carried out by the leading entrepreneurship lab in the Baltics Startup Division, are overwhelmingly positive: 100% of organizations have implemented recommendations from partners, and two-third of organizations started new collaborations.

One of the major quoted benefits came from the peer review mechanism, a unique organization assessment & improvement approach introduced by the project. The incubators acted as advisors and gave feedback to each other in a safe and collaborative environment. This feedback helped incubators better position and specialize their services to clients, extend geographical reach, and introduce personnel changes. All organizations reported that they have implemented recommendations from partners. 

Some organizations have reassigned or changed functions of personnel, others have made decisions regarding the use and expansion of their incubation space, expanded their mentor pool, and established new strategic partnerships. Find out more...