Concise Guide to Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation

Abstract

The purpose of this edited volume is contained in the title: to give overviews of a wide range of key issues related to the broad concepts of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation. Overall, there are forty-six chapters, including a brief introduction by the editors. Each chapter has a clear and consistent structure, with an introduction, key discussion points in the literature, areas for further research, conclusions, and full references. The chapters address a wide range of topics, including the different types of entrepreneurship (academic, backdoor, student, social, etc.), the effects of disruptive technology, the determinants of entrepreneurship, risk and uncertainty, open innovation, incubators and accelerators, finance for entrepreneurs, technology transfer, and various aspects of university–industry interactions. Take, for example, the chapter on incubators and accelerators (Chapter 20). After clarifying the similarities and differences between business incubators, accelerators, and angel investors (including reproducing a helpful summary table by Cohen, 2013), the ten-page chapter then summarizes the recent literature on their characteristics and how these have changed over time. Tables 20.2 and 20.3 list various accelerators and incubators across the world—detailing their names, country, year founded, levels of funding, number of start-ups, and notable start-ups that were ‘nurtured’ within the accelerator or incubator. These tables are particularly useful to get an overview of the variety of these kinds of support structures that aim to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation among small and medium size enterprises. It is unfortunate that only university-based incubators are detailed in Table 20.3 to the neglect of government and private business incubators. The chapter ends with a call for further research on the linkages between the characteristics of incubators and accelerators and their performance.