Membership Satisfaction Analysis at BioRegio Regensburg
The BioPark in Regensburg has been a member of Kompetenznetze Deutschland since 2006 following its successful application. This initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) brings together the best-performing innovation clusters in Germany. These are differentiated in 9 thematic groups including biotechnology. With the initiative founded in 1999, BMWi would like to contribute to further networking between industry and research, support the development of (also international) clearly visible clusters and thereby market Innovationsstandort Deutschland nationally as well as internationally. According to the Kompetenznetze Deutschland initiative, it regards itself as “the club for the best innovation networks” in Germany. The membership in the initiative therefore constitutes a seal of approval for the competency networks involved. This validation was to be tested for BioRegio Regensburg with the passing of a five year period. The head office of the Kompetenznetze Deutschland initiative in Berlin therefore conducted a membership satisfaction analysis for the cluster.
The result of anonymous survey consisting of 22 questions had a positive tenor. 54 % of the members indicated that they were generally satisfied, 31 % really very satisfied with the work of the cluster management at BioPark Regensburg GmbH. Only 15% were less satisfied and no one indicated dissatisfaction. “The result was a pleasant surprise for us and of course inspired the small team in its work”, commented managing director Dr. Thomas Diefenthal on this result. “Just from this point of view, whilst we must currently invest a large component of our resources in a third construction phase, shows that the cluster management is well received by customers”. He attributes the good result back to the fact that the cluster with its 42 companies is still small enough to be able to conduct an extensive discussion on status with each member at least once per year. With the motto “small but fine” BioRegio Regensburg has developed very well in recent years- this is shown by the successful foundation of 33 new companies and the number of employees which have increased six-fold to 2,600.
According to Dr. Diefenthal a further strength of the cluster lies in the interdisciplinary linkage of the companies from different fields, also initiated by the BioPark. This also once again is reflected in the analysis. 50% of the companies questioned stated that they were actively involved in at least one further network. The BioPark itself also uses comprehensive services from its partner networks in Bavaria, as for example for foundations the Businessplan Wettbewerb Nordbayern, for trade fairs and events Bayern Innovativ or the Cluster Biotechnologie Bayern and for activities abroad Bayern International. “This interlocking creates synergies for the cluster and its companies and saves on budgets, so that we are able to ultimately form a sustainable network”, emphasizes Dr. Diefenthal. That this positive development is continuing is made evident by the analysis. 64% of the companies questioned prognosed for their development in the next three years mild growth and 36% even strong growth, which affects the planned number of employees.
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