The Center of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Al al-Bayt University

Issued by the Council of Deans pursuant to its decision No. 506/2021/2022 dated 4/4/2022

According to Article (8) of the System of Scientific Centers No. (70) of 1998at Al al-Bayt University 

 

Article (1):    These instructions shall be called "Instructions of the Center of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Al al-Bayt University" and shall come into force as of the date of their approval.

Article (2): The following words, wherever mentioned in these instructions, shall have the meanings assigned to them below, unless the context indicates otherwise.

University: Al al-Bayt University.

President: The President of the University.

Entrepreneur: Whoever starts a project, and gives way to others with this launch, and he is the initiator of the creative idea, and the race to plan a project, based on pioneering and new ideas, based on development, risk, in addition to profit.

Innovator: Any person who possesses the qualities of an innovative personality and seeks to achieve his dream and turn it into something real tangible that can be benefited from and benefit him and society.

Center: Center of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Director: Director of the Center.

Council: The Council of the Center.

Incubator: Technological business incubator at the university, where it incubates creative and distinguished projects.       

 Committee: Excellence Committee for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Company: The commercial company that was incubated and established in the incubator

Product: Commercial product created or developed in the incubator    

Office: ITC Technology Transfer Office  

Article (3): The center is administratively linked to the president or one of his deputies.

Article (4): The Center seeks to achieve the following objectives:

  1. Spreading awareness of the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship culture and ways to nurture it, among university employees, students and members of the local community.
  2. Encouraging entrepreneurs and innovators to unleash their entrepreneurial and innovative energies, in preparation for refining and developing them in various scientific, cultural, artistic, social, sports and other fields.
  3. Providing the necessary requirements to transform the ideas of innovators and entrepreneurs into implementable projects, whether through the distinguished research projects they submit or the creative manufacturing ideas proposed by them, and adopting and promoting entrepreneurial ideas to turn them into promising and sustainable economic projects, through business incubators, in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development.
  4. Empowering youth economically by creating new job opportunities, which contributes to reducing unemployment levels (this goal represents the main axis in all development plans at the level of the national economy).
  5. Working to involve the local community in Mafraq Governorate in all its categories with Al al-Bayt University, which contributes to starting small and medium-sized projects for innovators and entrepreneurs.
  6. Contribute to achieving innovative education and training that helps to explore the innovative talents and capabilities of the university community in all its categories and members of the local community.
  7. Networking with national and international centers and institutions and participating in pioneering projects nationally and internationally.
  8. Establishing business incubators to incubate creative ideas and seek to turn them into startups and then productive companies that support the national economy.

Article (5): The Center works to achieve its objectives by adopting any of the following means:

      1. At the level of individuals and entrepreneurs:
          1. Holding seminars, seminars, workshops and specialized training programs in the field of detecting entrepreneurs and innovators in various fields, and ways to develop, guide and invest them.
          2. Identify the characteristics of entrepreneurs and innovators, their strengths and weaknesses, in order to raise the efficiency of the educational and training process for this segment.
          3. Stimulating the moral and material to unleash the potential of entrepreneurs and innovators among the distinguished members of the university community in all its categories   and members of the local community, in addition to adopting incentive incentives to refine, direct and develop these energies.
          4. Organizing specialized competitions in various fields of knowledge at the university and governorate levels, in preparation for honoring distinguished innovative and pioneering participations and ideas, in an effort to adopt them, publish, support and promote their works at the level of the Kingdom and at the external level.
          5. Open channels of communication with the competent official authorities to register the intellectual property rights of innovators from university students and members of the local community.
          6. Follow-up of distinguished people, innovators and entrepreneurs in order to determine the extent of development of their skills, and overcome the difficulties they face.
          7. Granting (certificates of participation to participants in courses, lectures, training workshops or others) in accordance with the instructions issued by the Council for this purpose, and the Center may not in any way grant academic degrees of any kind.
          8. Benefiting from the expertise of qualified employees at the university, as well as people with competence, competence and experience from outside the university inside and outside the Kingdom in holding its training courses and programs.
          9. Motivating innovators to unleash their creative energies by incubating them and providing them with the required support to develop their products through startups within the university.
          10. Supporting and sponsoring all educational, training, and research activities that can lead to products that can be manufactured and commercialized, and providing distinguished technical services for their development.
          11. Any other activities that would achieve the objectives of the Center at the level of individuals.
      2. At the level of innovative and entrepreneurial SMEs:
        1. Qualifying young entrepreneurs, innovators and distinguished people, in order to move them from the category of job seekers to the category of owners of small and medium enterprises.
        2. Studying the feasibility of investment ideas submitted by entrepreneurs and innovators, and training the owners of these ideas on how to prepare them.
        3. Adopting (new) and completed projects in the business incubator for a temporary period.
        4. Strengthening relations with centers of excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship in Jordan and the world, in order to learn about the distinguished experiences in this field, in order to benefit from them in providing services to entrepreneurs and innovators benefiting from the center.
        5. Open channels of communication with the competent official authorities to register patent rights for these projects.
        6. Assisting entrepreneurs and innovators in finding sources of funding for their ideas and productive projects.
        7. Training on communication and negotiation skills in order to deal with all suppliers of all kinds, whether suppliers of raw materials or human resources, in cooperation with the competent authorities at the university.
        8. Work on marketing the products of small and medium enterprises, through participation in exhibitions and introducing them to them.
        9. The continuous follow-up of the development of these projects, and provide the necessary consultations for them.
        10. Patents and matters related to technology transfer are registered through the office.
        11. Strengthening the relationship between the university, industry and the private sector and working to attract venture capital.

Article (6): The President shall form a Council of the Center    consisting of nine members, after consulting the opinion of the Council of Deans, with experience and competence, appointed by the President from inside and outside the University, including the Director of the Center, for a renewable period of two years.

Article (7): The Council shall undertake the following tasks:

  1. Develop the general policies and strategic plan of the Center and submit recommendations thereon to the President.
  2. Discuss the draft budget of the Center and take the necessary measures to approve it duly.
  3. Approving the Center's annual plan that includes its scientific, research and training activities.
  4. Discussing the annual report of the Center's work and organizational structure and determining its needs of human cadres and the requirements for their rehabilitation and training.
  5. Considering the needs of the center of trainers and staff, and raising the necessary placements in this regard.
  6. Approving the recommendation of the Director regarding the programs of hosting delegations, exchanging visits, holding conferences, training programs, holding exhibitions and exchanging publications, in accordance with the legal system at the university.
  7. Propose draft instructions, principles and work procedures of the Center and any amendments that may be necessary.      
  8. Monitor the proper implementation of the Center's plans and programs.
  9. Any other matters related to the objectives of the Center shall be presented by the Chairman of the Council.
  10. Strengthening the Center's activities with public and private sector institutions inside and outside the Kingdom

Article (8):   The Council shall meet at the invitation of its Chairman once a month, or whenever the need arises, and its meeting shall be legal in the presence of the majority, and its decisions shall be taken by a majority of the votes of those present.

Article (9): The financial resources of the Center's budget shall consist of the following:

  1. Gifts, donations, grants and assistance in accordance with the Jordanian Universities Law and the University's regulations and instructions.
  2. 10% of the university's scientific research budget.
  3. Income derived from the Center through studies, consultations and services carried out or provided to other bodies in the public and private sectors inside and outside the Kingdom.
  4. Any proceeds from licensing patents that are registered through the Center's Technology Transfer Office or derived from the Center's projects or the profits of successful companies that have become independent from the incubator.
  5. Income generated through the use of the Center's devices and equipment.

Article (10): The Council exercises the powers of the Department Council and the College Council with regard to the work of the Center.

Article (11): The center shall be managed by a director appointed by a decision of the president for a renewable period of two years.

Article (12): The Director shall undertake the following tasks:

  1. Managing the center and following up all its affairs in accordance with best practices and procedures.
  2. Identify the center's needs of trainers and staff and present them to the Council.
  3. Organizing and coordinating training activities, preparing studies approved by the Council, and supervising the preparation of introductory bulletins and publications of the Center.
  4. Strengthening cooperation links with relevant centers and institutions, locally and abroad.
  5. Participate in the preparation of the strategic plan of the Center.
  6. Prepare the annual work plan of the Center and present it to the Council.
  7. Prepare the Center's draft budget and present it to the Council.
  8. Submit an annual report on the work of the Center to the President.
  9. Implementing the decisions of the Council in accordance with the laws, regulations and instructions in force at the University.
  10. Any other responsibilities and powers delegated by the Chairman or the Council.
  11. Discuss contracts and agreements concluded by the Center with other parties and recommend them to the President.

Article (13): Excellence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee:

  1. The Board appoints the Chairman and members of the Committee for a renewable period of one year.
  2. The committee consists of seven members from inside or outside the university who have competence and experience in the topics of excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship, preferably entrepreneurs who have had practical experience in establishing small businesses.
  3. The Committee shall meet at the invitation of its Chairman and its meeting shall be legal in the presence of the majority of its members.
  4. The Committee shall take its decisions by majority.
  5. The Committee shall undertake the following tasks:
  1. Consider the incubation requests and take the appropriate decision regarding each of them by acceptance or rejection.
  2. Determine the incubation period and the amount of financial allocations for each of the projects that have been accepted for incubation.
  3. Follow up the progress of work in the incubated projects and take the required measures in this regard.
  4. Considering and deciding on requests for extension and increasing financial allocations.
  5. Deciding on matters related to creativity and registration of intellectual property rights.
  6. The Director of the Center shall implement the decisions of the Committee.

Article (14): The incubator provides the following services to the incubated projects:

  1. Providing the appropriate place for the work of the incubated project within the incubator.
  2. Providing the basic office equipment necessary for the work of the project, such as a working table, computer and Internet service.
  3. Use the incubator's facilities, laboratories and equipment and coordinate the use of other services such as engineering workshops and laboratories.
  4. Provide possible technical and technical consultations.
  5. Any other possible services approved by the Board.

Article (15): Mechanism of Incubating Entrepreneurial Projects:           

  1. The center announces the receipt of incubation applications periodically by conducting competitions for entrepreneurial project ideas in specific or general fields and incubating the winner.
  2. A member of the proposed project team submits an incubation request that includes the following information:
  1. The name and signature of each team member as well as their national number and contact information such as phone number and email address.
  2. A detailed explanation of the proposed product and providing scientific evidence of the basis on which it works, such as a successful practical model or scientific research results of the proposed idea.
  1. Project team members are allowed to be from inside or outside the university.
  2. Work to prove that the idea of the project is innovative or that the proposed product is capable of manufacturing and commercialization through an initial survey of patents and similar products with an indication of the points of difference and distinction in it.
  3. The necessary measures are taken by the incubator to ensure the intellectual property rights of the members of the proposed project team by signing a non-disclosure agreement.
  4. The application is evaluated by the Creativity Committee to take the appropriate decision on it, and the Council may seek the assistance of experts inside or outside the university, taking into account the intellectual property rights of the members of the proposed project team.
  5. After the initial approval of the application, the team members undergo training courses and workshops in entrepreneurship held by the Center, which qualifies them to prepare a detailed business plan for their proposed project and how to manage it.
  6. Applicants must provide the committee with a detailed work plan for the incubation period within three weeks of completing their training course, including:
  1. The required incubation period, which is a maximum of (12) months, which can be extended according to the justifications).
  2. The work plan on the project during the incubation period and until reaching a marketable product with a focus on the quarterly milestones of the project through which the progress of the project will be evaluated.
  3. The amount of financial support required and its proposed expenses, not exceeding (9) thousand Jordanian dinars, including the costs of applying for a patent or copyright, if any, and the expenses of residence in the incubator and all services such as engineering workshops, laboratories and consulting.
  4. An analytical study of the market size of the proposed product and the amount of expected returns during the first five years of the product after marketing.
  1. In the event that the work plan is approved, the initial period for incubation is determined, a specific budget is allocated for the project, and the various aspects of disbursement are determined within the following items:
  1. Devices.
  2. Purchase services.
  3. Engineering workshops.
  4. Purchase of materials
  5. Technical Services
  6. Specialized consultations and training courses.
  7. Assistants and not exceeding 10% of the project budget.
  1. During the incubation period, a patent or copyright is registered as soon as possible through the Technology Transfer Office of the Center.
  2. The incubated project is subject to follow-up of progress through quarterly reports followed by a brief presentation to the committee, after which the progress is evaluated and decided upon for the subsequent period as follows:
  1. If the results of the evaluation are positive, i.e. the progress is within the pre-prepared plan, the decision is to continue.
  2. If the results of the evaluation are not positive, i.e. the progress is less than expected, the decision is to continue, but the project is given a warning to compensate for the deficiency during the subsequent period.
  3. If the evaluation results are negative, i.e. progress is weak or non-positive evaluation results are repeated, the decision is to stop support for the project and end incubation.
  1. If an individual working on an incubated project and is receiving a bonus from the Center stops working in the incubator and leaves it for a period of more than three months without prior notice or a compelling excuse, he shall be given a warning to return, and in the event that he does not respond with convincing justifications to the Committee, he shall lose all his rights and contribution to the project.
  2. The faculty member supervising or participating in one of the incubated projects does not receive any remuneration from the incubator.
  3. The participation of a faculty member in working on an incubated project is part of his teaching burden equivalent to supervising a master's thesis.
  4. No member of the team incubated at the center may apply for another incubation until after  the end of thefirst incubation period.

Article (16): Provisions of Companies Derived from the Incubator:

  1. After the end of the incubation period, the company emanating from the incubator has the right to apply to stay in the incubator for a specific period, provided that the company covers the accommodation expenses and any services or consultations it needs.
  2. Legal procedures for company registration are duly taken.
  3. The Center's share of the shares of the spin-off companies shall be as follows:
  1. If the incubation period is exclusively supported by the Center, the percentage is 15%.
  2. If the incubation period is supported by an external funding source according to a special agreement with the Center, the percentage shall be as stated in the terms of that agreement.
  3. It is not permissible to obtain any financing or borrowing for the company emanating from the nursery except with the approval of the center / university, and in the event of approval, the company is obligated to third parties to this financing or borrowing without referring to the university.
  1. In the event that the company wishes to benefit from one of the patents registered in the name of the university, the university grants the company a license to use this patent and the company pays compensation to the university for this license according to a license contract signed between them. The said financial compensation is distributed between the university and the patent inventors according to the form signed through the Technology Transfer Office at the Center.

 

 

General Provisions

Article (17):

  1. The incubator is an approved place for practical training, and working on a project in the incubator is considered for the student equivalent to practical training and for the same period.
  2. Students of the graduation project may submit with their supervisor an application to incubate their project, to which the previous provisions apply in their entirety.
  3. The center can sponsor promising creative graduation projects in the pre-incubation stage by providing them with technical and logistical support in order to develop them and prepare them for the incubation stage.
  4. The center can sponsor young creative students or from the local community in order to train and qualify them to become active entrepreneurs or adopt initial creative ideas in the pre-incubation stage and provide them with technical support in order to develop them and bring them to the incubation stage.
  5. The center can implement internal entrepreneurial projects with the aim of finding technological solutions to local problems or with the aim of contributing to the sustainable development of the university or the local community.
  6. The center can sponsor or adopt creative student projects with the aim of developing and refining the technical and personal skills of students or participating in local, regional or international exhibitions or competitions, which enhances the good reputation of the university and its demand.
  7. The center can sponsor or adopt constructive entrepreneurial initiatives with a positive impact on the academic, career or community aspect by students, university staff or members of the local community.

Article (18): The President shall decide on the cases that are not provided for in these instructions.

Article (19): These instructions cancel any previous instructions of the Center or decisions that conflict with its provisions.

Article (20): The President, his deputies, deans and directors are responsible for implementing the provisions of these instructions, each according to his competence and powers.