Contact:
Randy Morris
Director of Membership
National Business Incubation Association
(740) 593-4331
rmorris@nbia.org

NBIA Announces Latest Soft Landings Designees

Program recognizes incubators that help companies reach beyond national borders

February 27, 2008

ATHENS, Ohio –With the addition of two new designees in 2007, 10 business incubators from around the world now hold the National Business Incubation Association’s Soft Landings International Incubator designation. Launched in 2005, NBIA’s Soft Landings program recognizes incubators that excel at helping nondomestic companies enter the incubator’s domestic market.

The Incu-Tech Business Incubation Programme of Hong Kong and the Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies of North Brunswick, N.J., are the most recent recipients of the NBIA Soft Landings International Incubator designation. ATP Innovations of Sydney, Australia, and Wallonia Space Logistics of Liege, Belgium, also earned their first renewal of the designation in 2007.

Business incubation programs like these catalyze the process of starting and growing companies by providing entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make their ventures successful. Incubating nondomestic firms takes more than the standard set of incubation services, however. “Soft Landings is a recognition of an incubator’s focus on welcoming nondomestic firms into its domestic market with cultural translation services, help getting through red tape and other programs,” said Randy Morris, NBIA director of membership.

Soft Landings International Incubator designations are effective for two years; programs must reapply biennially for continuing designation.

Other incubators holding NBIA’s Soft Landings designation are the Emerging Technology Centers of Baltimore; University of North Dakota’s Center for Innovation & Technology Incubator of Grand Forks, N.D.; US Market Access Center of San Jose, Calif.; @Wales Digital Media Initiative of Cardiff Bay, Wales; Technopolis Ventures of Espoo, Finland; and Twin Technology Business & Innovation Center of Helsinki, Finland.

For more information about NBIA’s Soft Landings program, visit www.nbia.org/resource_center/soft_landings/index.php.

The National Business Incubation Association is the world’s leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship. Since 1985, NBIA has provided industry professionals with the information, education, advocacy and networking resources they need to bring excellence to the process of assisting early-stage companies.