The conference was organized by PSG-Science & Technology Entrepreneurial Park (PSG-STEP), the Asia Pacific Incubation Network (APIN) Secretariat, with support from infoDev, The Department of Science & Technology, Government of India & Asian Association of Business Incubation (AABI).

Dr. David Martin, the founding CEO of M·CAM Inc, set the scene in his key note address, providing a thought provoking perspective  designed to stimulate and enhance discussion. He talked of the term "crisis" as a psychic rather than analytic response and advocated "renaissance not recovery" so that entrepreneurship is not used to exploit imbalances and inequities in the world. Of interest were his perceptions of the opportunity for innovation recycling, whereby innovations in the public domain that have never been commercialised, are promoted for commercial application, to capitalise upon the billions of R&D that created the IP in the first place, and the potential of collaborative or fusion networks.

The event culminated in a very useful platform for the delegates, representing business incubation managers, policymakers, investors and incubatees to establish networks and to share the good practices, challenges, opportunities, lessons and solutions. Evaluation of the participant feedback sheets showed that all sessions were rated highly in terms of the level of interest, value gained and the quality of the presenters - and participants look forward to future learning opportunities.

Conference sessions included:

• Business Creation in a Global Recession: Opportunities to Explore New Horizons in Entrepreneurship
• Building the Entrepreneurial Pipeline for Business Incubators
• Attracting Angels, Writing a Winning Proposal
• Rural Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• New Opportunities for Business Incubation in Food, Security & Clean Technologies

The outcomes were as wide and varied as the audience. Delegates ranged from those intending to start an incubator, to incubator businesses, to those involved in the running and management of incubators, to those in Government responsible for determining and implementing policy and programs. As a result individual outcomes for participants vary widely.

For the APIN network, outcomes included:

• Building and Strengthening of the incubator movement in Asia Pacific
• Greater exposure and broader reach for APIN
• Exchange of information and ideas and shared experience
• Exposure to incubation best practices
• Effective peer learning

Please refer to www.incubationasia.com or write to Suresh Kumar, APIN network coordinator, at step@psgtech.edu / info@incubationasia.com for further information about the 4th regional conference as well as other APIN initiatives.