Ondřej Komenda, 25, just took his state examination at the Czech Technical University's nuclear physics engineering faculty Feb. 20, but he already knows what he'll be doing after graduation.

Last month Komenda's company, inSophy, which he started three years ago to develop what he calls sophisticated software solutions for state-of-the-art technologies, literally found itself a home — in Prague's newest and only business incubator. Opened Jan. 17, the Scientific Incubator was created within the university to provide office space and professional training at almost no cost to young entrepreneurs.

The aim of the business incubator, the concept of which was introduced 50 years ago in the United States, is to help business neophytes such as Komenda take their companies from idea to the boardroom.

"The goal of the incubator is to help grow viable companies capable of producing something new," said Milan Press, director of the incubator.

Growing together

The incubator will only work with companies focusing on technological innovation. Its facility, which looks like a newly renovated dormitory complete with a kitchen, a spacious meeting hall and a row of about 20 small offices with basic equipment, already houses six companies.

By the end of the year, Press wants all the offices to be filled with companies working in computer technology, information technology and biotechnology. The incubator will provide them with offices with Internet access and a phone line for 1 Kč (4 U.S. cents) per square meter a year for the first year. The rent will grow gradually over three years, at which point the rent should reach normal market prices.

After three years the incubator will try to send a company out to compete on its own in the real world, Press said.

Projects are selected based on evaluation of their business plans and are reviewed every six months in progress reports. Once ready to leave the incubator, companies will have the option of moving to a yet-uncreated scientific park.

In the meantime, Komenda said, being able to work in such close proximity to other young business minds is crucial to him at this stage of his company's development.

"We go for lunch together or hang out in the meeting hall and talk," he said, adding that he had been looking for this kind of program since getting his first business license three years ago.

Undersupported

The first business incubators emerged in the United States in the late 1950s, a time when the U.S. government felt its country was lagging behind Japan in terms of technological development.

The concept of incubators quickly caught on in Europe. Press said the Czech Republic already has about 10 similar centers in Plzeň, Brno and Ostrava. He pointed out, however, that the country's legal system doesn't offer much support to scientific incubators that aim to bridge the gap between the research and commercial spheres.

Indeed, a business incubator started at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague had to close down at the end of 2002 because it was illegal for the academy to rent its facilities on a commercial basis.

The new incubator emerged thanks to the support of Ikano, a company out of Sweden. The company donated 500,000 euros ($595,000/14.2 million Kč) to start the project with the expectation that it will be as successful as a similar park Ikano founded in Sweden 20 years ago.

"In Sweden the incubator created a huge number of jobs," said Pavel Horejš, executive director of Ikano's Czech arm. "This is about supporting research and development."

It took Ikano five years to overcome the many hurdles in the Czech bureaucracy to see the incubator materialize. The company will support the incubator for its first two years.