Start-up Programme for Entrepreneurial Spirit

The Creative Pre-Incubator (CPI) is a programme developed in Lower Austria that provides professional assistance and counselling for students, graduates, and staff of universities of applied sciences in the development of their business ideas. The programme was created by the Lower Austrian start-up service “accent” and the St. Pölten UAS. The CPI’s success was recently celebrated within the framework of an event at the seat of the municipal administration in St. Pölten that highlighted the entrepreneurial spirit and success stories of the local universities of applied sciences.

Back in 2013, the Creative Pre-Incubator programme was developed by “accent”, the incubator of the province of Lower Austria, together with the St. Pölten UAS. In 2014, the programme was already successfully carried out at the UAS with three teams. And since last year, the programme has been open for all universities of applied sciences in Lower Austria.

Exciting ideas: From head to reality

“The heads of our Lower Austrian students are full of ideas and new business models. With the Creative Pre-Incubator, we can help them turn these ideas into reality”, emphasises Jochen Danninger, Provincial Secretary of Economy. “So far, 71 teams have successfully completed the programme and 16 of them have founded a start-up. We are particularly pleased with the high share of women who now account for a third of all business foundations.”
Warrify, Quickspeech, Circly, Digicust, and Farm-Ing. are only some of the successful start-ups that go back to the Creative Pre-Incubator.

The programme is implemented by accent’s CPI team and is part of the province of Lower Austria’s SCIENCE TO BUSINESS spin-off initiative.

Important component of the start-up ecosystem in Lower Austria

“Every year, we supervise approximately 20 teams at the universities of applied sciences in this CPI programme and the best among them are then admitted to our academic start-up programme. So far, 13 founders and founding teams have succeeded at this”, explains accent managing director Michael Moll. “They are an integral element in the Lower Austrian start-up ecosystem and have a sustainable impact on the economic development of our province”, adds Hannes Raffaseder, Chief Research and Innovation Officer at the St. Pölten UAS.

The success of this Lower Austrian initiative shows once again that the development of entrepreneurial spirit in the province has been excellent these past years and that the support tools of the provincial government make an importance contribution in this context.

• Further information: Creative Pre-Incubator® - Start Your Business