Annual Report - technologiezentrum-aachen.de

Annual Report
2005

Imprint
The annual report has been published
since 1999.
Publisher
AGIT mbH
Aachener Gesellschaft für
Innovation und Technologietransfer
Bernd Thomas
Technologiezentrum am Europaplatz
52068 Aachen
Tel. +49 (0)241/963-1111
Fax +49 (0)241/963-1005
E-Mail: info@agit.de
www.agit.de
www.technology-region-aachen.com
Editorial
Regional Marketing and Inward Investment
Victoria Appelbe
Gaby Mahr-Urfels
© AGIT mbH, Aachen
July 2006
2
AGIT, the Aachen Agency for Innovation
and Technology Transfer, is the regional
development agency for the Technology
Region Aachen . AGIT's main activities
include consulting for technologyoriented
enterprises, international
marketing of the Aachen region,
advising international investors,
development of selected technology
clusters and the management of the
Technology Centre Aachen and the
Medical Technology Centre Aachen.

3
Content
Preface
4
Consulting for technologyoriented
enterprises
5
Regional marketing and
inward investment
9
Cluster
development
16
Technology centre
management
22
Memberships
Participations
Sponsoring
25
AGIT team
26

Preface
The demand for AGIT’s consulting
services on company start-up and
growth was as high in 2005 as it was in
the previous year. Apart from support
with access to finance, advice on
patents, intellectual property rights and
commercialisation were also very
important. AGIT has set an important
course together with RWTH Aachen
University, Aachen University of Applied
Sciences and the chambers of trade and
industry and of crafts and trades
through the "Aachen Appeal“, which
made concrete suggestions for
improvements to German policies
concerning infringement of intellectual
property rights and patents.
Intensive regional marketing activities
were carried out, particularly with
respect to Asia. Half of the investor
inquiries were generated by AGIT's own
marketing and acquisition activities.
The number of business settlements was
only three, thus under the previous
year's level. Many foreign companies
postponed their decisions and are still
receiving intensive support from AGIT.
The cross-border co-operation was
extended through the initiation of a
three-year co-operation in the Leuven,
Eindhoven and Aachen (ELAT) triangle.
We are expecting mutual stimuli for
growth and a better profile in Europe
through the networking of the high
knowledge and research skills at the
three locations.
4
The launch of the "Euregional
Information Service" model project was
also important for the region.
Important business and innovationrelated
data is collected, harmonised
and processed in this project. This has
allowed well-founded statements on the
efficiency and performance of the
Aachen region as well as the Euregio
Meuse-Rhine within the EU for the very
first time.
At this point I would like to thank AGIT's
customers, partners and shareholders
for their support and contributions. I
hope that you will enjoy reading this
year's annual report,
Yours
Bernd Thomas
Managing Director AGIT mbH

AGIT offers specialised and intensive
business support for technology-driven
start-ups and companies from the initial
ideas phase through to the
establishment on the market. The topics
of innovation, patents and utilisation a
well as access to finance are becoming
increasingly important in this advisory
capacity.
Advice on start-ups and growth
In 2005, a total of 90 persons and
companies from the region received
advice on start-ups and growth, 56 in
matters relating to start-ups and 34
within the scope of the growth phase
for their own company.
19 technology-driven companies
resulted from AGIT's advice to start-ups
in 2005 in the Aachen region (see p. 6).
According to their business plans, these
enterprises will create 109 jobs and
invest a total of twelve million euros
within the first year of their existence.
The start-up and growth projects come
from the following lines of industry:
information and communication
technologies 27, production
technologies 22, life sciences 21,
Consulting for technology-oriented
enterprises
5
technology services 12, automotive and
materials 4 each.
Access to finance
The main focus in this area is the
arrangement of contacts between
founders and financing partners and
advice and support on financing
through grants, bank loans, venture
capital (VC) and business angels. Three
venture capital advisory meetings were
organised in 2005. 15 persons/teams
took the opportunity of holding
personal talks with advisors from the
regional and national VC investors.
The individual talks were held with
Number of recipients of start-up support and
resulting start-ups in the Aachen region from 2000 to 2005
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Recipients of start-up support 60 67 55 54 69 56
Start-ups 12 16 21 20 26 19
representatives of various VC companies
and the investment manager of the
NRW-Bank .
AGIT assisted technology-driven
companies up to the summer of 2005 as
a support investor for the
Technologiebeteiligungsgesellschaft of
the KfW tbg. AGIT will continue its work
as a coach within the scope of the
follow-up program "High-Tech Start-up
Funds" and applied for accreditation
in November 2005.

Technology-oriented start-ups in the Aachen region in 2005 that were
supported by AGIT
Company Location Sector
•ACEP GmbH TZA Aachen Modern materials
•B.410 TZA Aachen ICT/multimedia
•Calatherm TZA Aachen Regenerative energies
•Combind GmbH TZA Aachen ICT/telecommunications
•Distribution Partners TZA Aachen Biotechnology/services
•ECOFYS Aachen Energy and environmental technology
•euregio IT Aachen ICT//services
•GloMind GmbH TZA Aachen Mobile phone technology
•InnoEnergie GmbH Aachen Regenerative energies/
wind power stations
•Lerefa GmbH Erkelenz Regenerative energies/compressed air
•M2p labs GmbH Aachen Biotechnology
•PMA Aachen TZA Aachen ICT/software building sector
•PVD Personal TZA Aachen Staff recruitment
•Sens Amotion Aachen Medical technology
•Siegert Consulting GmbH TZA Aachen Energy and environmental
technology/silicon technology
•Spin`tec Engineering GmbH TZA Aachen Microsystems technology
•SDD Aachen GmbH TZA Aachen ICT
•VSP-Aachen GmbH Aachen Regenerative energies/compressed air
and nitrogen production
•Zielonka Consult Euskirchen Financing/services for technologyoriented
companies
6
December 2005

The AGIT played a key role in the startup
and growth initiative AC² within the
scope of the Founder Region Aachen.
As a member of the coaching network it
was not only involved in advising
participants but was also instrumental
in managing the project within the
scope of the working group and
company competition. It also took an
active part in the regular start-up foyer
events and as editor of the magazine for
the start-ups.
Advice on innovation: INSTI -
INnovationSTImulation for
the German economy
AGIT is a co-founder of the INSTI
network and represents the Aachen
region as an innovation partner in the
national INSTI network of the Federal
Ministry for Education and Research.
In 2005, 34 persons/regional
enterprises were given advice on the
topics of inventions, realisation,
protective rights and patents. 34
applications for the financial support of
patent registrations were successfully
made and financed. Within the scope of
its advice on innovations, AGIT also
offered the following INSTI products for
the first time in 2005: the so-called
inventor information and the costbenefit
analysis.
7
The other economic development
agencies in the region request AGIT’s
support on patent questions in their
business support.
Four patent consulting days were
organised in 2005, one advisory
meeting was held in Euskirchen. A total
of 46 persons attended.
Innovation day 2005/Aachen Appeal
AGIT organised the 2005 Innovation Day
in December in cooperation with the
Innovationsgesellschaft Eifel with a
focus on patent infringements and the
commercialisation of intellectual
property.
Around 80 inventors and innovators
attended. The Innovation Day centred
around the Aachen Appeal, which went
out to state, national
Signatories to the Aachen Appeal (left to right):
Prof. Dr. R. Poprawe representing Prof. Dr. B.
Rauhut, Dr. J. Linden, Dieter Philipp, Prof. Dr. M.
Schulte-Zurhausen, Michael Wirtz (not shown in this
picture).
and EU politicians as well as the
business and science worlds and was
proclaimed by representatives of both
universities, the chambers of commerce
and industry and craft and trade and
AGIT. Companies and inventor clubs that

had already suffered from prolonged
patent rights lawsuits and "stolen
patents" reported on their experience
during the Innovation Day.
GET UP! - Qualification of women
specialists
The goal of this project was the
qualification of female specialists in
small and medium-sized enterprises in
the Aachen Region. A total of 20 female
participants from 16 technology-driven
companies made use of this specific
training opportunity. The project was
financed using funds from the European
Social Fund and the Land NRW and was
brought to a successful conclusion at
the end of July 2005.
euBAn - Euregionales Business Angels-
Netzwerk
The project began in January 2004
under the co-ordination of AGIT. euBAn
brings together private investors, socalled
Business Angels, and young
companies at matching forums. 21
companies/start-ups presented
themselves to on average 20 potentially
interested business angels in a total of
four forums. This led to two concrete
financing deal.
Two-thirds of the participating start-ups
and companies in the matching forums
were AGIT clients. These teams received
intensive advice, above all with respect
8
to VC-compatible business plans and an
optimum presentation to private
investors. Four further business angels
were acquired in 2005 so that AGIT has
now introduced a total of 23 business
angels to the project. Further partners
in this network are the Industriebank
LIOF (NL), BAN Vlaanderen (B), SOCRAN
(B) and WFG Ostbelgien (B).
Next AC
June saw the launch of the Next AC
project in which selected participants
are to be helped from unemployment to
self-employment with qualification
measures. The participants initially
received a three-month qualification in
business topics and soft skills.
AGIT then supported the potential startups
over a period of 5 months each in
the specially created start-up workshop
in the Technology Centre Aachen. 24
participants began to prepare for their
self-employment in the start-up
workshop in November 2005.

Regional Marketing and Inward Investment
AGIT successfully continued its inward
investment attraction for the Aachen
Technology Region on both a national
and international level. The presence in
Asia was strengthened through
participation in conferences in Japan
and China as well as publications and
advertisements in Asian languages.
In order to present the services for
companies looking for a location neatly,
a "Welcome Package" was prepared as a
folder and published in four languages
(English, German, Chinese and
Japanese).
The majority of direct contacts with
foreign enterprises were made at
international trade fairs and
conferences. The national and
international network contacts with the
Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftsförderung
NRW (GfW), embassies, management
consultants and university professors
were maintained on an intensive level.
The development of industrial space
continued to be an important field of
work for co-operations within the
region. The NRW pilot project
"Industrial space monitoring" was
successfully concluded at the end of
2005 and perspectives elaborated for its
continuation.
9
International investments
AGIT was able to arouse the interest of
24 potential investors in the Aachen
Technology Region as a location in
2005. Half of these inquiries were
generated from its own acquisition
activities, the remainder came from the
GfW of the Land NRW, the Chamber of
commerce and industry, RWTH Aachen
University and the municipalities in the
region.
16 of these 24 enterprises requested
specific offers of space or property and
six companies received tours of regional
property. In the end, AGIT was able to
convince three companies to move to
the Aachen Region (see page 10).
The majority of inquiries came from the
sectors automotive engineering,
regenerative energies and life sciences.
The planned foci for activities were in
the fields research and development and
logistics. Asia was one of the main
origins of the companies.
In 2006 AGIT will continue to advise
companies who had not yet decided on a
location in the previous year.

International enterprises
which settled in the Aachen region in 2004
with AGIT`s support
24 location inquiries
16 industrial sites/property enquiries
6 tours of industrial sites/properties
3 location decisions for the Aachen Region
Ünsped GmbH (Turkey) – Würselen
Logistics, up to 20 employees
Shinseng- Lux technologies (South Korea) – Aachen
Development and production of LED components, up to now three
employees
LGM/AXONE (France) – Aachen
Engineering services, 5 – 10 employees
10
As on: December 2005

Welcome package from Aachen
companies to investors
In order to welcome new companies to
Aachen region, AGIT created a welcome
package to international investors,
which was sponsored by established
firms with their regional products.
Presentation of the welcome package from regional
enterprises during the official welcome of Ünsped in
Würselen (left to right: Dr. Axel Thomas, WFG District
of Aachen, Mayor Werner Breuer, Sezgin Baki,
Manager of the Ünsped Group Germany, Verena
Kienzle, AGIT, Michael Eßers, WFG District of
Aachen)
Press relations
33 editorial articles, TV and radio reports
were published in regional, national and
international media in 2005. In May a
renowned US-American business
journalist visited logistics companies in
the Euregio at the invitation of AGIT and
its euregional partners. This led to
several articles in international business
magazines.
11
Publications
A brochure about the region was
published in Chinese to strengthen
acquisitions in Asia.
In addition, a so-called "Welcome
Package" about the services offered by
AGIT to companies looking for a location
was published as a folder in English,
German, Chinese and Japanese.
Trade fairs and events
In 2005, AGIT attended nine trade fairs
and congresses to promote the
Technology Region Aachen and acquire
domestic and foreign investors for the
region:
•„Aachener Immobilienforum“, Aachen
•„Kolloquium Fahrzeug- und Motorentechnik“,
Aachen
• „Expo real“, München
• „Zhejiang Investment & Trade
Symposium“, China
• „Clusters and support systems in
SMEs“, Japan
• „2. BioRiver Kongress“, Aachen
• „European Biotech Crossroads“, Lille
• „Biotechnica“, Hannover
• „Cells at Work“, Maastricht

Press advertising
Advertisements to promote the
Technology Region Aachen were placed
in various media including the Chinese
investors guide "Investing Europe" or in
the hotel flyer Bad Aachen. A joint
advertisement of the 13 regional
technology, start-up and service centres
appeared in the “Wirtschaftliche
Nachrichten”.
Internet
The web site of the Technology Region
Aachen was redesigned and extended to
include a section on tourism. The portal
will go online in 2006 following the
necessary technical modifications.
Visitors programmes
AGIT organised and held 16 visitors
programmes for national and
international delegations from the USA,
Poland, Japan, China, Thailand, Korea,
Columbia, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
Switzerland, Tunisia, Morocco and
Algeria.
12
NRW pilot project “industrial space
monitoring in the Aachen region”
AGIT successfully continued the NRW
pilot project in 2005. We are pleased to
report that 45 of the 46 towns and
Final event of the pilot project in November 2005 at
Avantis
municipalities participated in the
detailed investigations of the industrial
space market. On the one hand,
industrial space monitoring
systematically records what is on offer
and on the other, the investigation of
the demand leads to the possibility of
developing long-term marketing
strategies for the entire region. This
new data collection system by means of
digitised maps forms the basis for a
geographical information system (GIS)
that will not only improve internal
communication in the region but also
provide the municipalities and districts
with a further marketing instrument. A
final event was held at Avantis in
November during which the results up
to then and the perspectives for a
continuation of the project in 2006 were
presented.

Meuse Rhine Triangle – Heartbeat of
Business in Europe
Since 2003 AGIT has been involved in
inter-sectoral, euregional location
marketing in co-operation with LIOF,
GOM Limburg and SPI+ under the name
"Meuse Rhine Triangle – Heartbeat of
Business in Europe".
In 2005 the Internet web site
www.heartbeatofbusiness.org was
extended, a high-quality euregional
brochure in English was completed and
contributions made to a euregional DVD
for the Euregionale 2008 and the IHK.
"Heartbeat of Logistics": reported on the
development in the logistics sector: Professor Alex
van Breedam, expert from the University of Antwerp
The euregional event "Heartbeat of
Logistics" was organised at Liège
Airport. 60 companies from the Euregio
Meuse-Rhine attended.
13
EURBEST – Benchmarking European
regions
Through the European project "EURBEST
– Benchmarking European regions" that
was launched in 2003, AGIT has been
able to position the location in
comparison to 20 other European
regions by means of a qualitative and
quantitative benchmarking. The results
of the benchmarking will serve AGIT as a
basis for the further development of the
region.

AGIT – Public relations
Annual Report
The 2004 Annual Report was presented
in June 2005.
Newsletter "AGITaktuell"
Two issues of the AGIT newsletter
"AGITaktuell“, introduced in 2004, were
published and reported on the latest
activities.
Public relations and advertising
AGIT presented its advisory services for
potential start-ups and the technology
centres at the Euregio Trade Fair in
Aachen.
Advertising media was produced to
market the advice on start-ups and
growth and the offices and function
rooms in the two technology centres.
14
In order to promote the services offered
by the Aachen technology centres,
advertisements were placed amongst
others in the "Industrial Property
Analysis 2005" of the City of Aachen
and in the international magazine
"Technology Review".
The tenants in the two Aachen centres
continued to receive the monthly
e-mail newsletter "Zentrumaktuell"
containing the latest tips and
information.

Regional location monitoring and
development
In April 2005, AGIT began a new field of
work, namely "Regional location
monitoring and development". Its goal
is to give the regional economic
development a stronger knowledgebased
and strategic dimension in future.
Thanks to the (inter)national and
(eu)regional monitoring of structures
and innovations, it should be possible
to provide orientation aids within a
European context, provide potential
investors with the latest structural and
market data and inform regional
decision-makers about developments
that are important for structures at an
early date. We also want to draw up
some basic strategic-planning principles
for the region.
EIS Euregional Information Service
The cross-border model project EIS was
launched in the middle of 2005 for the
Euregio Meuse-Rhine and the euregio
Rhine-Meuse-North. Important
economic and innovation-related data
as well as other data relevant for the
euregional development will be
collected, harmonised and presented in
this basic project. It also includes
rankings which will allow the first wellfounded
statements on the economictechnological
performance of the
Euregios within a Western European
context, in other words, information
that can be put to effective use within
the context of (eu)regional location
marketing. The information will not
15
only be provided once but in future it
should be able to be called up
continuously and by anyone. In this way
a contribution can be made to filling
gaps in cross-border knowledge and to
promoting the Euregio as a tri-national
living area and market.
Regional industrial space concept
Following the first presentation of a
regional industrial space concept in
1998, the continuation of this concept
was tackled in 2005 in a regional
participation programme. The goal of
the update is to verify the current
industrial space that is available and the
"regionally important industrial
spaces" and make any additions or
adjustments as necessary. The industrial
spaces classified as "regionally
important" will be recommended in the
supra-regional location advertising as
"Regional TOP locations".
As of 2006 the "Regional location
monitoring and development" activities
will be managed as a separate
department.

Cluster Development
The cluster development team promotes
regional companies, particularly in
those industries and cross-section
technologies that number amongst the
fields of excellence in the Aachen
region: life sciences, automotive and
rail technology, information and
communication technologies,
production technology and modern
materials.
Through the branch initiatives LifeTec
Aachen-Jülich, car e.V., Regina e.V. and
INTRA e.V. AGIT maintains regular
contacts with and participates in coordination
talks on a more intensive cooperation
between the companies.
Since AGIT also identified the sectors
regenerative energies/renewable
primary products and the health sector
as being at the cutting-edge for the
region, preliminary work began on
various levels to devote more attention
to these fields.
Life sciences cluster
The 2nd BioRiver Congress was held in
the Aachen University Clinic in March
2005. The Rhineland Life Sciences
conference was combined with the
euregional conference that was also
held in Spring in Aachen. In this respect
the event was an exchange platform for
two bio-regions, with the Aachen region
at the interface. The two-day congress
attracted more than 450
representatives from companies and
scientific institutions from this large
region. More than 40 lectures, 100
posters and an extensive industrial
exhibition presented a picture of a
16
nascent industry. As a member of the
BioRiver by virtue of its work in the
management of the Medical Technology
Centre as well as a co-ordination partner
for the euregional Life Sciences
landscape, AGIT provided important
support for LifeTec Aachen-Jülich e.V. in
organising the event. The climax was
the signing of a declaration on the
future close co-operation between the
Life Sciences regions Bio River and the
Meuse-Rhine Triangle.
AGIT attended the European Biotech
Crossroads in Lille in November 2005
together with four euregional
companies, including three from the
Aachen Region (AC Biotech,
Jülich/Aplagen and chemagen, both
Baesweiler) and attracted a great deal of
attention for the Life Sciences location,
particularly in the French-speaking
Presence at the European Biotech Crossroads (left to
right): Dr. Tibor Anderlei (AC Biotec), Kathleen
Wouters (Eurogentec), Ute Steinbusch (AGIT), Ron
Meyer (chemagen)
market. AGIT also represented the
euregional Life Sciences Cluster at the
Biotechnica in Hanover through its
presence and poster presentations on
the BioRiver stand.

AGIT also was closely involved in further
events in the Euregio, the Baesweiler
Biotech Day and the Cells at Work
conference in Maastricht, for example
through the moderation of a podium
discussion, several contributions and
stand presentations.
At the end of the year AGIT jointly
organised a evening "around the fire"
for more than 40 representatives from
science and business in the region
together with the regional trade
initiative LifeTec Aachen-Jülich. These
personal talks in a small group in were
just as popular as the podium discussion
chaired by the Degussa representative
Prof. M. Dröscher which featured Dr. T.
Drescher (DASGIP, Jülich), Prof. C.
Wandrey (FZJ, Jülich) as well as Dr. W.
Söhngen (PAION, Aachen).
Transcend - Technology transfer in the
Euregio
This Interreg-funded project was
launched in April 2005 to help establish
closer links between the various
disciplines within the life sciences and
also the IT sector. R&D projects are
discussed in detail in cross-border
workshops to position them on a
broader basis for the purpose of the
technology transfer ideal. The aim goal
is to generate more economic activity
through fast and more intelligent
commercialisation.
17
Automotive and rail technology cluster
2005 was under the sign of automotive
engineering, like the previous year. Cooperation
was stepped up between the
regional trade initiative car e.V. and
AGIT, in particular with respect to crossborder
co-operation. A further focus of
work was the establishment of the automotive
innovation center Aachen (aic),
which AGIT was commissioned to
establish by its shareholders.
aic - automotive innovation center
aachen
The goal of this virtual center is to
network the regional R&D skills in
automotive electronics and the joint
acquisition of research and
development contracts from industry.
The partners are the six institutes of
Aachen University and the Aachen
University of Applied Sciences as well as
the companies FEV and fka. A director
Martin Pölöskey, Director of the aic

for the center was appointed in the course
of 2005. The automotive expert Martin
Pölöskey took over this role in December.
Five industry workshops were held in 2005
with aic and German automotive suppliers
during which a great interest was
expressed in the activities of aic.
AGIT will carry out selective acquisitions
based on the activities of the automotive
innovation center to attract further
automotive suppliers and research
laboratories to the region. For this
purpose AGIT presented both the aic and
the Aachen Technology Region as a
location for business and industry at the
Aachen Colloquium for Vehicle and Engine
Engineering in 2005.
AutoNet.eu
The automotive industry in the Euregio
Meuse-Rhine received a new innovative
stimulus in Autumn from the INTERREG
project Autonet.eu. Its goal is to assist the
automotive companies and scientific
institutions in this region to establish a
more intensive co-operation across
national borders.
The project is split into two parts. The first
is aimed at the preparation and
publication of a euregional automotive
database that can be automatically linked
to existing databases. The second part
plans to encourage co-operation between
automotive companies and research
institutions in 12 technological workshops
and further events. The project group
consists of the automotive clusters and
regional development agencies in the
Euregio Meuse-Rhine. In the regional
18
Marc Jansen, car e.V., and Victoria Appelbe, AGIT,
represent the Aachen region in the euregional
project Autonet.eu
development agencies in the Euregio
Meuse-Rhine. In the Netherlands this is
the Industriebank LIOF and the
Automotive Technology Center (ATC). In
the Aachen region AGIT works together
with car e.V., in Belgian Limburg
GOM/LER and Flanders’ DRIVE and in the
Walloon region the cluster Automobilité
und SPI+.
Information and communication
technologies cluster
Aachen Competence Center - Electronic
Commerce (ACC-EC)
The ACC-EC is one of more than 26
nation-wide competence centres for
electronic commerce, a support
program of the Federal Ministry of
Economics. Up to the end of 2005 it was
managed by the Research Institute for
Rationalisation (FIR) at Aachen
University and AGIT. The Chamber of
Commerce and Industry as well as the
Chamber of Craft and Trade have been
cooperation partners for the initiative
since the beginning of 2006. The goal is

to inform and support small and
medium-sized enterprises in the region
as regards the possibilities and chances
offered by the use of electronic
commerce.
In 2005 the ACC-EC organised a series of
lectures in the region. Apart from
courses at the Chamber of Craft and
Trade in co-operation with the
Sparkasse Aachen, the topic of "Online
marketing for trades and crafts"
explained the opportunities offered by
electronic commerce to master
craftsmen and start-ups in particular.
Interesting sectors and applications
from the business world were once
again presented on the Internet by the
IT-Forum of the District of Euskirchen.
In addition, the ACC-EC took part in the
national roadshow "Business processes
on the Internet" in co-operation with
further network partners. Numerous
enterprises from the region were given
help and advice in all questions related
to electronic commerce.
19
Innovative production technology
cluster
AGIT participated in the 'Virtual Factory'
project with the aim of combining
manufacturing companies in the region
to a joint production chain. The project
was co-ordinated by the Laboratory of
Machine Tools and Production
Engineering (WZL) of Aachen University.
AGIT also supported the Tech2Business
event organised in July by the
production technology network to
present innovations from the university
to regional companies.
Intersectoral support for regional
enterprises
Strategic innovation
The project is based on a method
developed at the University of
Maastricht
aimed at firstly determining the
innovative competence of small and
medium-sized enterprises and
measurably increasing this in a second
step. AGIT is the project partner for the
Aachen Region and is thus responsible
for the strategic investigation of 50
SMEs.

In 2005, six of a possible 15 firms made
use of this offer for companies that is
largely funded by the EU and the Land
North Rhine-Westphalia.
The first company to receive advice was
Müller & Schnigge Handel oHg
(Schleiden-Gemünd).
The New Technology Incubator – Model
in the net of Cooperation
AGIT is co-ordinating an INTERREG III C
project within the scope of activities in
Eastern Europe that is devoted to the
implementation of a network of start-up
and technology centres in the Polish
region around Gliwice. The initiative was
set up under the umbrella of the
trinational outline agreement "Weimar
Triangle” in which the regions of Silesia
(PL), Nord-Pas de Calais (F) and NRW (D)
pledged a closer co-operation. In the
project "The New Technology Incubator
– Model in the Net of Cooperation" the
partners of the city and district of
Gliwice, Eurasanté (F) and AGIT have got
together with the goal of developing a
best practice example in the field of
technology centre management . The
partners published a practical manual
for technology centre managers as the
result of this project.
AGIT is also active as a subcontractor in
the Gliwice region within the scope of a
project sponsored by the European
Social Fund. Polish experts in are
trained in the field of cluster formation
and technology centre management
within the scope of workshops. Basic
principles in the area of entrepreneur-
20
ship and the commercialisation of
projects and business ideas are also
taught.
Business card party
AGIT organised the first business card
party in June for all companies in the
Aachen region at which representatives
Successful launch of the first business card party in
the TZA
of companies can exchange experience
and make contacts in a relaxed
atmosphere. The feedback for this
premiere in the Technology Centre
Aachen, attended by over 300
companies from all parts of the region,
was overwhelming, so that it is now
planned to hold the event in future every
six months.

ELAT - Transnational co-operation in
the triangle Eindhoven (NL) Leuven
(B) and Aachen
The avowed goal of the ELAT -
Eindhoven Leuven Aachen Technology
Triangle project is to pave the way to a
top technology region. AGIT and the
City of Aachen have been co-operating
with the city of Eindhoven and the local
association for regional co-operation
(SRE) as well as the city of Leuven and
the R&D department of the University of
Leuven on this mission since May 2005.
The following teams were set up:
Innovation Strategy:
A common strategy for the competition
between European regions and to
recognise a "Region of Excellence" on a
European level was drawn up in this
team.
International Marketing / Benchmark:
A joint international marketing of the
three regions is the focus of this team.
Technology & Business Communities:
Existing regional clusters were linked
across borders with the goal of
encouraging and promoting new
technologies and their cluster
formation within the scope of this team.
21
Entrepreneurship, Coaching and
Improving Financing Possibilities:
Entrepreneurship is to be stimulated in
universities in this connection. The work
concentrates on two questions: how do
young academics become entrepreneurs
and how can this process be supported,
in particular the basic financing
conditions. The project partners work
together on a common approach to the
problem and in close co-operation with
the regional universities.

Technology centre management
The two technology centres managed by
AGIT, the Technology Centre "am
Europaplatz" Aachen TZA and Medical
Technology Centre Aachen MTZ offer
young companies offices, laboratories,
clean rooms and workshop areas on a
total floor area of around 18,000 m².
AGIT continues to offer services that
differ from the normal services in
industrial or business properties with its
technology centres. On the one hand
the tenants are offered very favourable
terms (low initial rents, individual
contract terms, short periods of notice
and the adjustment of the rented space
at short notice). On the other hand the
tenants can fall back on intensive advice
related to start-up and growth
questions that is provided by AGIT.
On account of these extensive services,
23 new firms decided to start up their
business in one of the technology
centres in 2005. Similarly, many
existing companies also opted to extend
their tenancy in the TZA and MTZ even
though the level of rents in the
technology centres is quite high
compared to other property in the city
and district of Aachen. The quality of
tenants could also be kept high, an
important criterion for the overall
image of the two centres that also offers
the possibility of a synergetic cooperation
between the enterprises
themselves.
22
The specific space requirements of the
individual companies has been reduced
on account of modern and mobile forms
of work within the companies.
Nevertheless, there was a noticeable
increase in the demand for room from
resident companies at the end of 2005
to provide space for new employees.
Thanks to this demand and new leases,
the very good capacity utilisation rates
of 2004 could once again be improved in
2005 in both centres. In December
2005, AGIT attended to the needs of a
total of 108 companies in the TZA and
MTZ.

Technology Centre Aachen TZA
The TZA recorded a total of 20 "new
arrivals" in 2005. Nine companies left
the technology centre. The mean
capacity utilisation at the TZA
throughout the year was 91 percent.
84 companies had their offices in the
TZA in December 2005. The share of
technology-driven start-ups with
subsidised graded rents for the first five
years remained unchanged in 2005 at
around 65 percent.
23
Medical Technology Centre Aachen MTZ
The demand for space in the MTZ from
new companies in the fields of
biotechnology and medical technology
was rather reserved in 2005. The
companies already in the MTZ, however,
sent out positive signs thanks to their
increased demand for space, which also
had a positive effect on the capacity
utilisation rate.
There were a total of three "newcomers"
and five companies left the MTZ. The
average capacity utilisation rate was 76
percent.
There were 23 companies in the MTZ in
December 2005, only slightly below the
"record high" of the previous year (24
companies).

Function rooms
The turnover in the conference sector
was improved over the previous year by
around five percent. Thanks to targeted
advertising and the increasing
popularity, there has been a rise in
demand for conference rooms from
external customers in particular. This
has led to a shift in the ratio between
internal and external customers. The
large number of regular customers and
the acquisition of several new customers
meant that the capacity utilisation rate
for events organised by external
customers was around 80 percent.
Nevertheless, the provision of
conference rooms of various sizes
remains an important service offered by
AGIT for the companies that are
resident in the centres.
24

Memberships
Regional networks
•AKM Aachener Kompetenzzentrum
Medizintechnik e.V.
•BioRiver Life Sciences im Rheinland e.V.
•car competence center automotive region
aachen/euregio maas-rhine e.V.
•EuRegionale 2008 Agentur GmbH
•GründerRegion Aachen
•LifeTec Aachen-Jülich e.V.
•Netzwerk für Existenzgründerinnen
in der Wirtschaftsregion Aachen
•PhotonAix e.V.
•REGINA Regionaler Industrie-Club
Informatik Aachen e.V.
•REGIO Aachen e.V.
State and national networks
•ADT Arbeitskreis deutscher Technologiezentren
e.V.
•BAND Business Angels Netzwerk
Deutschland e.V.
•Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt
•INSTI Innovation e.V.
•TGZ NRW Technologie- und Gründerzentren
im Land NRW e.V.
European networks
•BEBAN Belgian Association of Business
Angels Networks
•EURADA, Europäische Vereinigung
regionaler Entwicklungsgesellschaften
•Gate2Growth Incubator Forum
25
Participations
CMC Carolus-Magnus-Centrum für
Umwelttechnologie GmbH,
Übach-Palenberg
DLZ Zentrum für industrieorientierte
Dienstleistungen Stolberg GmbH,
Stolberg
Entwicklungsgesellschaft Wegberg -
Wildenrath mbH, Wegberg
ESC Euro-Service-Center
Geilenkirchen GmbH, Geilenkirchen
Eurode Business Center,
Herzogenrath (D)/Kerkrade (NL)
HIMO Handwerker-Innovationszentrum
Monschau Betreibergesellschaft
mbH, Monschau
Mess- und Prüfzentrum Fahrzeugtechnik
Alsdorf GmbH, Alsdorf
Regionalagentur Aachen GbR,
Aachen
TAE Technik - Agentur Euskirchen
GmbH, Euskirchen
TPH Technologie-Park Herzogenrath
GmbH, Herzogenrath
TZJ Technologiezentrum Jülich
GmbH, Jülich
Sponsoring
EuRegionale 2008 Agentur GmbH,
Aachen

WWW.
.de