On Monday, February 3, Incubase will officially open its doors after two months of test runs. With this new incubator, the University of Twente, Novel-T, and Student Union once again underline the university’s entrepreneurial power. Workspaces and coaching programs that grow along with ongoing development give students an ideal breeding ground for transforming their innovative ideas into startups.
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Stimulating community
For a small fee, University of Twente students can become members of Incubase. This fee gets them a workplace at Incubase and allows them to become part of a community that incentivizes and challenges them to form and refine ideas and bring these to the market. Novel-T helps students through coaching, knowledge sharing via experts, and the START program. “We look at what students need to advance their ideas,” says Mike Verkouter – Manager Incubase and Startup Acceleration at Novel-T.
Entrepreneurial university
The University of Twente now has more than 35 years of experience as an entrepreneurial institution and was named “Most Entrepreneurial University in the Netherlands” by ScienceWorks for the fourth year in a row last December. Opening an incubator is an ideal step forward in providing improved support for entrepreneurial students. “We had been dreaming for a long time about a cool place where our students can build their businesses in an entrepreneurial atmosphere. Incubase has delivered that and more,” says Student Union board member Mathijs de Ruiter. “Here, innovative business ideas are given the chance to grow into successful businesses.”
Students remain the owners of their ideas
Neither the university, Incubase, nor Novel-T require IP or shares in any companies started here, unless it comes to applying knowledge within the startup. Students remain the owners of their ideas. According to recent reports, this approach is unique in the world of incubators and universities. “We ensure nothing stands in the way of the student building their own successful startup or company,” says Verkouter.
