The new facility will include a $140,000 seed fund.
Malta University has launched its Take-Off Business incubator, along with a Seed Fund Award worth €100,000 ($140,000). This is the country’s first funding programme aimed at early-stage technology companies and start-ups.
The government donated the full €100,000, and grants under the seed fund will range from €2,500 ($3,460) to €20,000 ($27,700). The grants will be awarded to help close the funding gap experienced by researchers and entrepreneurs in the critical early stages of technology commercialisation and start-up development. The aim is to lower start-up costs and risks and improve chances of success.
The incubator itself is situated at Dar Ġużeppi Zahra, the former computer building on campus and now the Centre for Entrepreneurship & Business Incubation, which also houses the university’s technology transfer office.
Malta University, which traces its roots back to a papal intervention in 1592, is the Mediterranean republic’s highest educational institution, offering both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as doctorates. The institution currently counts some 11,000 students, about 600 of which are international, and has fourteen faculties.
The launch event was attended by the university’s rector, Juanito Camilleri, as well as the country’s economy minister, Chris Cardona, and education and employment minister, Evarist Bartolo.
