Large turnout for the financing workshop for non-financial professionals given to APTE member park technicians

Leganés Tecnológico Science Park (Madrid Carlos III University) was the venue yesterday for the “Innovation Financing for Non-financial Professionals” workshop, organised by this Madrid Park, the Spanish Association of Science and Technology Parks (APTE) and the Castellón Jaume I University Science, Technology and Business Park (espaitec), to provide training for the Parks’ management entity technicians so that they can provide fuller financing counselling for their resident companies.

Apte, 29/03/2012

The APTE Technician Network is made up of professionals working in the Association’s operating park management entities who promote technology transfer between the companies based at their parks, offering them a wide range of information and counselling on different subjects.

One of the activities included in APTE’s annual business plan is R+D+I management training for this network of technicians. The first subject covered at the workshop, presented by the Chairman of the APTE’s Financing Delegate Committee, Francisco Negre, was financing for non-financing professionals.

APTE collaborates in and organises this kind of workshop as a mechanism for empowering human resources working in innovative process development, with a view to increasing the Park management entities’ capacity to provide financial counselling for the 6000+ companies based at the science and technology parks forming part of the association, particularly in mechanisms for accessing private financing resources.

The workshop, held at the Leganés Tecnológico Science Park, was organised in collaboration with espaitec, the Castellón Jaume I University Science, Technology and Business Park, and it was attended by over thirty APTE Network technicians from all over Spain.

The event was broadcast live by streaming and there was online interaction through the social networks. Videos and presentations will soon be available for download from the APTE’s and espaitec’s Youtube channels.

Espaitec’s CEO, Paco Negre, got the event underway with a brief theory session on basic financing concepts, and Ana Neira, from the CDTI’s Innovation Promotion Department, then made a quick presentation of the public financing instruments available. This was followed by a practical session given by Rodolfo Carpintier, the Chairman of Digital Assets Deployment, who spoke about the investor’s vision in private financing processes. Ferran Moreno then gave an overview of the different financing sources available and their importance in a company’s financing strategy. To round off the morning’s training, after the lecture on the investor’s vision, the co-founder and Managing Director of AB-Biotics, Sergi Audivert, spoke about the entrepreneur’s perspective. His company is a case of a potential project which, after undergoing several investment stages, has now been launched on the Spanish Alternative Investment Market (AIM), and currently bases part of its growth strategy on purchasing companies through share exchange.

In the afternoon the workshop continued with lectures on new financing instruments. Ramón Saltor presented the Crowd Angel platform, designed for investors all over the world to invest online in a selection of startups ready to receive financing. Héctor Moreno presented InvierteME, a new social network which from this summer onwards will allow talented young people in search of financing to contact investors looking for projects of interest.

The investment process was then covered in detail. Firstly, Pedro Bisbal, the Manager of CVBan, explained the keys to a good sales prospectus, i.e. how to present a business project to a potential investor. To conclude, Juan Pérez, the Managing Director of La Salle, described the investment process in all its stages: pre-investment, investment and post-investment.