During our project „Entrepreneurial Albania“ supported by SlovakAid we had an opportunity to review the accelerator and incubator ecosystem in Slovakia. The aim was to share a best practice in the area of setting up and running incubator programs with stakeholders of Albanian innovation ecosystem.

The consultations were provided in close cooperation with experts from Neulogy to support Innovation Hub Tirana and Albanian Centre for Research and Innovation in their activities. We would like to share the results in a form of a report  documenting several incubators in Slovakia, their business models and factors that contributed to their success.

What are some of the key take-aways you will find in the report?

Weak spots of incubation environment in Slovakia:

• Improper location of the incubators
• A weak system of financing after the end of grant support
• Incompetent management of the incubator that did not possess enough knowledge about the business environment
• Unsatisfactory training of the staff working in the incubators
• Not suitable incubation duration for companies

Success factors:

• Professional and skilled staff
• Easily available opportunities for engagement of local stakeholders
• Strong financial model
• Appropriate application process