diff --git a/ipojo/annotations/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/annotations/Instantiate.java b/ipojo/annotations/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/annotations/Instantiate.java
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+++ b/ipojo/annotations/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/annotations/Instantiate.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/* 
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.felix.ipojo.annotations;
+
+import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
+
+/**
+ * This annotation is used to create an 'empty' instance of the
+ * current component type.
+ * @author <a href="mailto:dev@felix.apache.org">Felix Project Team</a>
+ */
+@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
+public @interface Instantiate {
+    
+    /**
+     * Optional attribute to set the instance name.
+     * Default: no name
+     */
+    String name() default ""; 
+}