BVIZ - German Association of Innovation, Technology and Business Incubation Centres
The BVIZ is the Federal German association of innovation, technology and business incubation centres as well as science and technology parks. The BVIZ was founded in 1988 under the name “ADT – Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher Technologiezentren” in the former West Berlin at the initiative of the first innovation and start-up centres in Germany. Since then, the number of Innovation Centres has continually grown along with the number of association members – particularly in the new federal states following German reunification. To date, the BVIZ is the only German institution which has specialised in initiating, supporting and overseeing enterprise start-ups in the form of organised Innovation Centres.
As an association, the BVIZ supports its member centres in fulfilling their task of initiating and overseeing innovative technology-oriented start-ups. By pursuing this approach, the BVIZ fosters the growth of small and medium-sized enterprise economy as well as innovation-oriented structural change in all regions of Germany.
The goal of the BVIZ is to promote technology transfer and innovation as well as business start-ups and enterprise development. It also seeks to further develop the importance and competence of the Innovation Centres in order to support innovative entrepreneurs and to present them appropriately in the public domain. The BVIZ represents the interests of the Innovation Centres, and thus also fledgling companies, in public areas such as politics, industry, science and the media. As an association, it is thus actively involved in creating favourable framework conditions for innovative start-ups in Germany.