Cividanes, Igape´s Director: “the Business Factory is an advantageous model of innovation”

The Director of the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (Igape), Juan Cividanes

The director of the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (Igape), Juan Cividanes will present at the III RIES18 Forum in Pontevedra the Business Factory innovation model, “vertical initiatives focused on the acceleration of projects related to a specific sector or theme,” he explains, qualifying that “verticality in accelerators has numerous advantages for entrepreneurs.”

Accelerators of this type are usually led by large corporations or have a network of leading collaborating companies in the sector. “This allows entrepreneurs not only to access a much more specialized network of mentors and adapted to their needs,” adds this expert, “but they also have the possibility of sharing experiences and knowledge with entrepreneurs in their same situation and sector, with the consequent generation of synergies ”.

In addition, he continues, “they have access to a powerful network of contacts, potential clients, and even investors with experience and knowledge of the sector who can contribute more than just financing.”

Advantages of verticality

In this sense, stresses Cividanes, “verticality not only brings advantages to entrepreneurs, but companies have also known how to see the benefits of accelerators and innovation through startups.”

For this reason, “the implementation in companies of open innovation strategies has arisen from the impossibility of some of them to maintain the pace of innovation imposed by the market,” he added, concluding that “through accelerators they not only gain access to new technologies, but also they promote new ways of working within their organizations, have access to talent and increase their innovative potential ”.

Igape Director

Juan Cividanes Roger has a Master Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Navarra´s IESE Business School; He has a degree in Business Sciences from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia and in Economic Sciences from the International University of Catalonia.

Before being  director of Igape in December 2016, Cividanes was director since 2011 of Xesgalicia, the venture capital management company, dependent on the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Industry.

Cividanes also has extensive experience in the field of private companies, in companies such as Mercagol, Conservas Antonio Alonso, Carrefour, Decathlon or KPMG.