Abstract
Accelerators are one of the most recent and prominent institutions that support start-up development. The phenomenon of accelerators impacts academia as well as policy makers and practitioners. However, the research on accelerators is still very scant and the majority of research concerns the most prestigious and successful American accelerators. The purpose of this paper is to outline the characteristics of Polish accelerators and their specificities, with the focus on the differences between public and private accelerators. The collateral aim of the authors was to describe characteristics and components of an innovation accelerator and its placement in the ecosystem of institutional support for start-ups. The first part of the study focuses on the definition of an accelerator, the review of relevant literature and the differences between other well established institutions such as incubators and business angels. The second part of the study presents the current state of accelerators in Poland. It is observed that the majority of the accelerators in Poland are publicly funded and accelerators avoid taking equity in accelerated start-ups. This is an effect of the competition from public accelerators, which offer a sizable equity-free grant of 200,000 PLN. This study enriches the research on different models of local accelerators and their acceleration programs.
Highlights
Given the economically important role of accelerators, scholars have begun to develop an understanding of what and how accelerators accelerate. ( . . . ) the processes through which accelerators foster the development of start-ups have yet to be described and explained. ( . . . ) We suggest that another interesting avenue for future research on accelerator governance relates to the differences across accelerators and their impact on portfolio companies’ trajectories
The Polish scene of innovation accelerators is significantly different than the American one
Polish accelerators were inspired by the American experience, there are many differences between two countries
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The current conditions for setting up businesses based on IT solutions, due to the low costs and rapid development potential, generate a lot of interest on the part of investors and potential customers In such an environment and economic context, accelerators seem to effectively address the growing demand and supply for innovative services and products [3]. Several start-ups taking part in accelerators part in accelerators have achieved spectacular success recognition, suchorasDropbox. Corporations struggle struggle with with innovations, attracting the most talented graduates and they do not adapt as fast as start-ups. Com/chartsandtables, [9] (accessed online on 6 May 2020)
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