BBI Maker Acceleration (BMA)

Important results from the project

Increased commercialization: By exposing all our startups, early in our process, to makerspaces we have opened for the opportunity to iterate faster. So far two companies have gone to market quicker using our maker activities. The goal of eight commercialized ideas have not yet been realized. Collaboration for success: We believe that the collaboration between college/university, local makerspaces, venture capital and incubator has been improved during the project. We have also exposed a number of startups to international maker environments such as Radicand in Silicon Valley.

Expected long term effects

The result of the project is that more companies get the chance to iterate their prototypes more rapidly in parallell with their customer development process (according to Lean Startup principles). We also have stronger connections with other maker activities in the region which has created a good foundation for new collaborations, ideas and ways of working. We notice that exisiting maker spaces are not used yet to the extent thatwe had hoped. We will continue to work to expose more startups and entrepreneurs to maker culture as a part in our startup program.

Approach and implementation

By including visits and workshops at the leading regional makerspaces early in our startup program, we wanted to change the way our companies think about their product development. The contacts between maker actors and our startups have been established and will hopefully lead to new innovations. The creative space that we now have within the walls of the incubator, will hopefully lead to many fruitful meetings, rapid prototypes and new companies.