In order to assist, in the first place ISU Alumni, in the first steps of their journey to a start-up, ISU offers a pre-incubation period (up to 3 months) to the pre-incubation candidates. The process is to work on the draft supplied by the candidates of the essential elements and insert suggestions to lead to a viable business plan concept and mature your project to meet the expectations of the local ecosystem leading to easier access to funding.
During that period advice will be given by ISU experts on the preparation of the business plan (business model definition, clients typology, technical partnership …) as well as local contacts as appropriate, e.g. to test a Proof of Concept or specialized advice on technical or market oriented aspects, ISU will coordinate as needed with extended faculty or marketing specialists of associated organizations (such as SEMIA).
During this period, an office could be allocated at the ISU Central Campus to get an easy access to the appropriate contacts. The financial risk is minimized as also due to this period no formal registration (and costs) are expected. In view of this regular meetings will be organized during the pre-incubation phase.
The objective of the pre-incubation period is to prepare the candidate and mature the project to bring them to the requirements specified by the local public funding organizations or ESA BIC, depending on the preference of the start-up.
This pre-incubation is largely supported by a local grant put at the disposal by the Eurometropole of Strasbourg, in order to promote a local ecosystem.