Creative Community Spaces
Communities of entrepreneurs create positive social, environmental, and economic changes in local communities. Creative community spaces (CCSs), which are physical spaces that encourage innovation by bringing entrepreneurs and start-ups together, are at the center of these changes. This article showcases a selection of 13 CCSs worldwide that contribute to building a sustainable and entrepreneurial community while helping advance industry-specific and sectoral issues.
How can creative community spaces support sustainable innovation from the root level?
What are some best practices in creating entrepreneurial ecosystems that lead to sustainable innovation and local impact?
Profiles of Creative Community Spaces
Promálaga I+D
Background
Promálaga I+D is managed by Promálaga, the innovation agency of the city of Málaga. Promálaga focuses on local economic development and innovation as well as social inclusion. Promálaga contributes to the research and development of all areas of the technology business and industrial sector by providing office and lab space for research and innovation. Promálaga specifically services the needs of entrepreneurs in new city developments with low-income populations. Such incubators are designed to enable business opportunities for the local population while boosting the development and increasing the livelihoods of the neighborhood. Promálaga has established a series of private and public partnerships across sectors to help advance its mission.
In Essence
Promálaga I+D is an incubator for industry start-ups, catering to digital manufacturing techniques, biosciences, and other industrial sectors. Unlike traditional incubators and accelerators that provide office space for tech or other white-collar-related office environments, Promálaga I+D offers industrial space. Located in an industry park in the city outskirts, Promálaga I+D extends a combination of industrial and lab space with dock access to start-up companies with various industrial needs. Promálaga I+D incorporates the business/industry license for most industry activities (for instance, basic biotech can be conducted under Promálaga's license, but more hazardous activities, such as biohazard, are not included), as well as the utilities requirements of industrial activities. Promálaga I+D offers common spaces and meeting rooms as well as shared facilities, including a cafeteria and a gym, where entrepreneurs can meet frequently and out of which build a community.
Impact
Promálaga I+D contributes to entrepreneurial communities building while also, by virtue of its location in a major industrial zone, connecting innovative entrepreneurs with the city's industrial fabric. Promálaga I+D bolsters the entrepreneurial community both by providing the needed services and advice to facilitate initiation and implementation, and by hosting events aimed at promoting and developing activities leading to job creation in the city's socioeconomic environment. Collaboration and close transfer of knowledge is facilitated among entrepreneurial community and traditional industry.
In Practice
Project in Focus
Promálaga I+D hosts a broad range of companies operating in multiple sectors, including food production, development of technology for industry needs (for example, recycling batteries, lighting technologies), manufacturing of goods and machinery (for example, surfboards, smart bicycles), and biosciences and labs (for example, vet genetic lab). Begun in 2009, the start-up Badennova (http://www.badennova.com) grew out of Promálaga I+D. Badennova has developed a dynamic and smart speed bump that will only affect vehicles traveling above a designated speed limit. The company patented the invention and produced its minimum viable prototype and its more advanced prototype on the Promálaga I+D premises. Supported by Promálaga I+D, the start-up partnered with local universities and the national Center for the Development of Industrial Technology to continue investigating and developing new systems of road safety.