Modeling the Growth of Technology Units for Health Technology Incubators Suitable for Low-Income Areas

Abstract

Background. This research aimed to optimize the technology policy and reduce the costs of technology growth centers at medical sciences universities. Identifying the effective factors in the expansion of technology units facilitates the development and advancement of innovative entrepreneurs through incubators. Methods. The current qualitative research analyzes data collected through structured interviews with 31 individuals from growth centers, administrators of units located in growth centers, and health entrepreneurship experts. In three stages of categorization, the main and sub-categories have been identified. The relationships between the research components were determined using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique. Results. Based on the results of the ISM, "modeling of technology units for health technology incubators in poor areas" we identified 213 codes of verbal propositions, 25 components and 8 categories which was classified into three levels. The first level is the growth of technological units; the second level includes the infrastructure and planned growth; and the third level includes the indicators of external infrastructure, internal infrastructure, acceptance plan, growth plan, and exit plan. Conclusion. This study determined the framework and relationships between variables that influence the growth of technology units in health technology development centers at universities in disadvantaged areas. This is the first study to incorporate the internal infrastructure as an independent variable, indicating the effect of compensating for regional infrastructure weaknesses.