The role of university incubators in stimulating academic entrepreneurship (original) (raw)
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In recent years Fluminense Federal University (UFF) created several departments, projects and activities oriented to the development of innovations. However, it cannot be considered yet as an entrepreneur university. This paper analyses the UFF’s effort of repositioning based on the experience of their technological companies incubator held in 2007. The Laboratory Initiä of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (InitiäLab) is an environment to evaluate technical and economic feasibility of new ventures. It’s a network of projects, R&D and ventures which is organized in the university to improve their level of scientific knowledge translation in goods and services to society. InitiäLab’s researches are working in a process of innovation concepts and models questioning and create a new vision about the interaction between academy and industry joining open innovation, triple helix and design science research concepts. The paper shows UFF and the incubator; the incubation movement in Brazil; the searching for a new model; and the perspectives to an entrepreneurship university. The result is discussion about management models of innovation environments.
University business incubators as a tool for accelerating entrepreneurship: theoretical perspective
Review of Economics and Political Science, 2020
Purpose This paper aims to analyze the link between universities and business incubators (BIs) and to determine how students, scientific researchers and entrepreneurs can benefit from this linkage. It creates an environment in which everyone can help the other to put their new ideas, special skills and abilities into new businesses. In other words, the traditional universities’ role has changed and entrepreneurial universities are now needed to redirect new knowledge for economic development through BIs. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts an analytical descriptive methodology approach to describe the basic features of the data by using the descriptive research design. This research is based on examining a model provided by the author concerning boosting the entrepreneurial aspects and outcomes through university business incubators (UBIs) based on wide theoretical and empirical case studies. Also, the functional structural approach is used to investigate the relationship ...
University Incubators: A Gateway to an Entrepreneurial Society
The paper argues that universities would enhance their participation through an effective and well-integrated incubation system for the development of sustainable entrepreneurial society. This study reviews the shifting trend of universities in society from teaching to research and development, innovation, entrepreneurship, and recently to facilitate an entrepreneurial society by promoting entrepreneurial culture and institutional development. It is categorically accepted by researchers that the 21st century will rely on knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship, and business incubators. However, universities are lacking to contribute with full strength in research commercialization, entrepreneurship and economic growth. In this study, the strengths and weaknesses of university incubators are highlighted to enhance their efficacy for a better economic output. University incubators provide a facilitative environment for revenue generation by ensuring a cloud with financial, legal and technical support for a win-win interaction between universities, business tycoons, government and community. The ideas of human capital, knowledge and, research and development have evolved the economies towards knowledge based economies by having creativity, innovation, knowledge transfer, information access and supportive infrastructure. In an entrepreneurial society, universities move one step ahead by structuring the mechanisms to facilitate entrepreneurial culture and, creating institutes and leaders. Finally, the study presents some future directions for university incubators with policy recommendations.
University Incubators a gateway to entrepreneurial society
This study reviews the shifting trend of universities in society from teaching to research and development, innovation, entrepreneurship, and recently to facilitate an entrepreneurial society by promoting entrepreneurial culture and institutional development. The ideas of human capital, knowledge and, research and development have evolved the economies towards knowledge based economies by having creativity, innovation, knowledge transfer, information access and supportive infrastructure. In entrepreneurial society, universities move one step ahead from promoting research, innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship by structuring the mechanisms to facilitate entrepreneurial culture and, creating institutes and leaders. However, the role of university incubators is facilitative and revenue generation by providing a cloud with financial, legal and technical support for a win-win interaction between universities, business tycoons, government and community. The paper argues that universities would enhance their participation through an effective and well-integrated incubation system for the development of sustainable entrepreneurial society.
One of the most important reasons for developing university technology business incubators (UTBIs) is to permit the commercialisation of technology and research by setting up new firms to graduate into fully-fledged businesses, which are normally referred to as new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Relying on the resource-based theory (RBT) and incubation models, the present research is concerned with proposing a theoretical framework for the enabling factors that influence the graduation of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) that result from the commercialisation of research and technology through to becoming established businesses from a university technology business incubators (UTBIs). A pragmatic philosophy informed the researcher’s theoretical lens. This involved the use of a multiple case study using mixed methods that entailed the use of both quantitative and qualitative research techniques in the form of semi-structured interviews with the UTBI’s management team. The most significant finding of the research is that there are a number of enabling factors that influence the graduation of NTBFs within a UTBI, the most significant of which are stringent selection and admission criteria, the business support services, financial resources, university entrepreneurial network/mediation and organisational resources. Each of these factors is grouped into three stages: the pre incubation stage, the incubation stage and the graduation stage.The unit of analysis for this research consists of the management team within three UTBIs located in one of the UoTs in Gauteng Province. Owing to the nature of the sample, the results may not be representative of the remaining Univrsity of Technology in Gauteng Province. The study attempts to link the development of business ideas to factors that influence their progression into graduated businesses.
Universities and Incubators: Key Factors Driving Entrepreneurship and Socioeconomic Development
Independent Journal of Management & Production, 2014
Economic diversification is an utterly important factor for regions that are directly or indirectly related to any productive mechanisms and seek to strengthen their foundations for the generation of jobs and income. Within this context, to invest in business preparation and maturation, especially in the ones related to the technological area, turns out to be an interesting mean of diversifying a regional economy that is facing the risk of stagnation. This study considers the importance of the role taken on by universities and their incubators in driving entrepreneurship and supporting the creation of new companies and the innovative capacity of a country through knowledge transfer amongst universities and companies, generating benefits and socioeconomic progress. It also conducts a case study on a company of the information technology area, recently incubated and whose major objective consists in becoming part of this economic diversification basis.
Innovation and entrepreneurship in Brazilian universities
International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development, 2008
This article is concerned with the analysis of university-based initiatives in Brazil, emphasising activities directed at enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship. The Triple Helix thesis is utilised here to probe the nature of the changes taking place in Brazilian universities, reflecting the characteristics of the changes taking place in the wider economy. The article begins by reviewing some of the modifications introduced in the Brazilian innovation system and by explaining how universities have been incorporating entrepreneurial activities. Three university case studies are presented in order to identify different models of entrepreneurship and innovation activities. The article shows that different structures have arisen in universities in order to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Government support for these initiatives has been increasing at the federal, regional and local levels. 39 Keywords triple helix entrepreneurial university innovation Brazil TMSD 7 (1) 39-58
2020
Universities facilitate academic entrepreneurship or their ‘third mission’ by making available supporting mechanisms such as science and technology parks, incubators, and entrepreneurship programs. Botswana’s STEM University seeks to develop a technology park in which it will commercialize the research and intellectual property developed by its faculty members, students, research centers and the country’s private sector through incubation and other processes. As a business support process, technology business incubation nurtures start-up companies and mitigates the risk of their early failure. In this enabling environment, start-ups can concentrate on technology transfer and later “hatch” or leave the incubator financially viable and self-sustaining. Pursuing academic entrepreneurship and the university-model of technology business incubation present benefits for the country, the local community and the university in terms of economic development, economic diversification, job creat...
A typology of university business incubators: Implications for research and practice
Proceedings of the International Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2018
The use of incubators and accelerators as institutions to facilitate the development of new business ventures has exploded worldwide in recent years. In particular, there is significant growth in the numbers of university-based business incubators (UBIs), which are incubators housed at and closely integrated with the knowledge development and dissemination activities of universities. In addition to the common incubator objectives of company creation and economic wealth generation, these incubators therefore also have objectives related to student experiential education and the commercialization of university IP. This divergence of stakeholder objectives creates unique challenges for UBIs, which have been addressed through a wide range of structures, processes and management models. This paper is an attempt to bring greater clarity to this situation by proposing a typology of UBIs, based on broad review of the UBI literature and data from incubator management practitioners. The typology examines UBIs from the perspectives of Stakeholders, Objectives, Strategic Focus, Incubation Processes, Resources and Services provided, and the resulting Socioeconomic Effects. Use of a clarifying typology by future researchers should help guide future UBI research by suggesting potential linkages between the context of different universities and the appropriate UBI types. This should lead to more valuable insights than current "one size fits all" isomorphic approaches to UBI management.