Incubator Facilities Research Articles

The Transformation of Traditional Universities into Entrepreneurial Universities to Ensure Sustainable Higher Education

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the experience and to identify the drivers of transforming traditional universities into Entrepreneurial Universities for ensuring sustainable higher education in Latvia. Due to the wide scope, Entrepreneurial University characteristics, the present research study is limited and focuses on the university providing access to students to business incubation facilities, relationships with business incubators for students, as well openness of university to collaboration and knowledge co-creation with its external stakeholders. Analyses of the experiences of universities of Latvia business incubators providing services to students, as well cooperation between higher education institutions (HEI) and local governments and entrepreneurs show that there is a positive trend. In opposite, such a trend can’t be observed towards building Entrepreneurial Universities in Latvia over the past 5 years. The results of the survey show that there is a need put higher efforts to assist young entrepreneurs in building cooperation networks and strengthening knowledge co-creation with external stakeholders.

StartX and the ‘Paradox of Success’: Filling the gap in Stanford’s entrepreneurial culture

Stanford University’s legendary success in technology transfer, based upon a relatively small group of serial faculty entrepreneurs, masked unrealized potential residing in the underutilized inventions of less entrepreneurially experienced faculty and students. An optimum academic entrepreneurship and technology-transfer regime matches various levels of inventor interest and involvement with appropriate organizational competence and support. The ‘Paradox of Success’ is that great organizational success in licensing, or other activities, may reduce the motivation to further advancement, in the Stanford case, introducing support structures for research commercialization that are commonplace in aspiring entrepreneurial universities. Stanford had largely bought into an ideology of a self-organizing innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley that implied lack of need for explicit entrepreneurial support structures on campus, such as incubator facilities. This belief inhibited policy intervention until a student-organized accelerator project actualizing underutilized entrepreneurial capacity demonstrated that a step change in promoting entrepreneurship at Stanford was necessary and feasible. Case studies based on archival and interview data show the development of Stanford’s entrepreneurial academic culture and university development strategy.

Entrepreneurship: Solution for Socio-Economic Development

Increasing unemployment in most of the developing countries has become main hindrance behind decreasing livelihood standards and poverty. The per capita income has been decreasing rapidly and the poor are becoming poorer. Even the literates are not able to generate income as per the needs and suffering from underemployment or unemployment. There is a huge skill shortage seen in the qualified graduates as per the industry standards. India has a large population of such literate unemployed pool of labor force which is not able to economically contribute in the society and the nation. The main challenge in front of governments is how to enhance the economic empowerment in the society. The economic empowerment of these excluded literate youths in the country can play a major role in boosting the economy at a local level. There is a need for an entrepreneurial environment which can facilitate entrepreneurs to start their own ventures and develop micro economy. Skill based special trainings and awareness about entrepreneurship among students can be the solution. Information dissemination, financial access, mentoring and business incubation facilities in the education institutions could be few of the steps in this regard. Entrepreneurship attitude among this enormous pool of unemployed literates can increase the trades activities and jobs creation in the local market. Thus an efficient education system pertaining to the industry demands and focused towards empowering the literate youths is need of the hour.

Clustering Research, Education, and Entrepreneurship: Nanotech Innovation at MINATEC in Grenoble

OVERVIEW:This article presents a case study on MINATEC, a regional innovation cluster in Grenoble, France, encompassing several entities: applied and basic research institutes, a university, and incubation and technology transfer facilities. MINATEC was created to foster development in the field of micro- and nanotechnologies. It is organized in a systemic way intended to make the most of interactions among its institutions to create synergistic relations. Established in 2006, MINATEC operates under an organizational model that connects basic and applied research, higher education, and support for start-ups and technology transfer. These features make MINATEC a relevant case study for both public and private innovation managers.

Policy and Practice in Japan's New Business Incubation Revolution: A Typology of Incubation Management and Emerging Hybrid Model

Since 2000, Japan has undergone a revolution in new business incubation, investing in national capacity and building hundreds of incubation facilities. This paper contextualizes developments in Japan within international trends, while identifying model incubator types. A typology of incubation management styles is proposed, contextualized within practices in the U.S. and Europe. The paper is based on an original database constructed of all incubators operating in Japan, in addition to survey and interviews with incubator managers and tenant firms. Several findings are evident. Incubation management style and incubation managers (IM) play an important role in supporting start-ups, and the nature of IM resource networks is crucial. Through a review of key policy history in Japan, policy lessons for national, regional and university level practitioners are identified. Case studies examine comparative best practices stimulating university-based new business start-ups in emerging sectors. A hybrid (university-private sector, training-network support) incubation management model has emerged in Japan, one that cultivates a bamboo network root system, supporting an innovative ecosystem for start-ups.

Technology Business Incubators (TBIs): A Perspective for the Emerging Economies

Technology and entrepreneurship are often reckoned to be the twin-horses pulling national economies towards their developmental destinations. Technology based enterprises (TBEs) are specially attractive to policy-makers because of their higher potential for job creation and wealth-generation through business growth as well as their lower disappearance rates compared to non-technology based firms. As new technologies are often developed in R&D institutions, it was such institutions in the Western nations that first took the initiative of providing incubation facilities to transfer these new technologies to the market. The model was later used by public and private agencies for facilitating technology development for new ventures. Such initiatives are now known by the common name of Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), some of which are focused on technology transfer and others on technology development for new ventures. Though TBIs are generally considered to be a major facilitator of TBEs, the experience of their effectiveness has been mixed, especially in the emerging economies’ context. It is against the background of such diversity of experiences that we have undertaken a comprehensive review of the literature on TBI performance. Our findings suggest that, while in the developed countries technology development drives the incubator movement, the process is reversed in developing countries, where the incubator movement is trying to push technology development forward. For this reason the success of TBIs in developing countries would depend largely on the public support available for them.

Small and Home-Based Businesses: Measures of Success and the Contribution of Local Development Services

Small and home-based businesses have long been identified by Extension educators as an important component of economic development, particularly in rural areas. The services available to these businesses can take many forms, including management training, accessibility of local funding, providing incubation facilities, or setting up mentoring relationships. Extension educators wanting to promote certain services should be aware of historical rates of use of these programs and their impacts on various success measures for small businesses. State-level survey results of small business owners are used to discuss the services used, different measures of success, and statistical relationships between the two.

Incubation time, incubator age, and firm survival after graduation

On the basis of a sample of 149 graduate firms from five German business incubators, this article contributes to incubator/incubation literature by investigating the effects of the age of the incubators and the firms’ incubation time in securing long-term survival of the firms after leaving the incubator facilities. The empirical findings from Cox proportional hazards regression and parametric accelerated failure time models reveal a statistically significant negative impact for both variables incubator age and incubation time on post-graduation firm survival. One important implication that follows from the empirical results for policy makers and managers of those initiatives is that, when incubator managers become increasingly involved in various regional development activities, this may reduce the effectiveness of incubator support. Also, our finding speaks in favour of a strict limitation of incubation times and reinforces arguments of the supporters of maximum tenancy.

Influence of incubation management on pipping position, hatching ability and survival of ostrich chicks

Despite numerous studies, the effect of artificial incubation on the hatchability and survival of near-term ostrich chicks is still not well understood. Records from 13 975 eggs with embryos of 35 days and older, artificially incubated between 2006 and 2008, were analysed to determine the potential effect of pipping position upon the hatchability, and the subsequent survival of ostrich chicks. A total of 864 near-term chicks (6.9%) failed to pip. Chicks that pipped in the correct position had a higher probability of surviving hatching than those pipping in the incorrect position. Genotype did not affect the proportion of chicks pipping in the correct position, or the survival of hatching ostrich chicks pipping in either the correct or incorrect positions. Although female age had a significant effect on the proportion of chicks pipping, the survival of hatchlings was independent of female age. Chicks hatching during winter were more likely to pip than chicks hatching in spring, whereas chicks hatching in summer were more likely to pip in the correct position. In winter the proportion of chicks pipping in incorrect positions were significantly higher than in either summer or autumn. The survival rate of chicks hatching during winter was generally higher than those hatching in the other seasons. The transfer of eggs between setters during incubation, had a negative influence on the ability of ostrich chicks pipping in the correct position. Incubated ostrich eggs with intermediate levels of water loss, i.e. between 9.0 and 18.9% of fresh-egg weight, were more likely to pip in the correct position overall than those with higher or lower levels of water loss. Chicks from eggs stored for intermediate periods, i.e. 3, 4 and 6 days prior to being set, were more likely to pip than chicks from those eggs set directly after collection without storage. Storage time also affected pipping position, with chicks from eggs stored for five days being more likely to pip in the correct position than chicks from those eggs set directly after collection. These results emphasize the need for ostrich incubation facilities to avoid the transfer of eggs between setters during artificial incubation, strive to achieve an optimal level of water loss, and apply a protocol of not setting eggs immediately after collection to maximize the hatchability of chicks pipping in the correct position and post-hatching survival.

Cooperation patterns of incubator firms and the impact of incubator specialization: Empirical evidence from Germany

The article examines cooperation patterns of 150 firms located in German business incubators (BIs). More specifically, this study distinguishes between networking within the tenant portfolio and the academic–industry linkages of the tenant firms. We further contribute to the relevant literature by explicitly considering differences in cooperation patterns between firms located on diversified and specialized incubator facilities. Empirical results do not support the common assumption that specialized incubation strategies increase the effectiveness of incubator-internal networking compared to diversified BIs. Also, incubator specialization is not superior to diversified incubators with respect to the promotion of linkages of their tenants with academic institutions. For academic linkages, industry effects matter more than incubator characteristics.

Business incubators: new mechanism for economic/enterprise development or passing fad? Exploring complex relationship of the growing phenomenon in the context of Scotland

Business incubation facilities continue to proliferate around the world as governments and institutions seek to derive suggested economic and social benefits, but whether incubators 'add value' translated into the national/regional assets including intellectual capital, remains a vexed question. We contribute to this debate by considering the relationships between incubator outputs, investor objectives and managerial perceptions of the role of incubation in Scottish business incubators. We develop a novel analysis of the portability and tangibility of incubator outputs in the course of our discussion. Case study and interview evidence indicate that a 'multiple investor' model predominates in Scotland; that different investors' objectives are frequently either prima facie or potentially incongruent; and that managers adopt a variety of strategies to deal with incongruities with consequent implications for business incubators' outputs. We discuss the relevance of our approach for the evaluation of business incubation and the implications of our analysis for policy makers.

Institutional structure and incentives of technology transfer

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand different institutional mechanisms for promoting effective innovation diffusion and maximizing spillovers from fruitfulness of university‐industry linkages.Design/methodology/approachThe approach involved the content analysis of university documents and in‐depth interviews with university personnel. The paper investigated the types of changes which had been instituted by selected universities in regards to the management of invention disclosure and patent licensing procedures, policies for new business startups by faculty and graduates. The paper then studies how university incentive structures have been reshaped to encourage and facilitate engagement with industry.FindingsThe types of changes have been instituted by select universities enhance research commercialization capacity in regards to the management of invention disclosure and patent licensing, policies for new business startups by faculty and graduates, and provision of seed capital, training and incubator facilities, especially the relationship between technology transfer offices and university administration, as well as faculty; how university incentive structure has been reshaped to encourage and facilitate engagement with industry; how gross royalties and/or net royalty income are distributed between university and faculty.Originality/valueThis paper describes the important role of institutional underpinnings for building commercial linkages. It also explores what university policies and institutions shape the nature and fruitfulness of innovation diffusion in China.

Cell culture in vivo by means of diffusion chamber system

In a diffusion chamber (DC) system, cells are cultured in vivo - hence making it possible to minimize infection and foreign material contamination. In view of this merit, we devised a technique to combine a DC system and a scaffold to the end of incubating sufficient host cells for grafting. In the present study, PLGA sponge and rat bone marrow cells were encapsulated inside a DC and then placed inside the abdominal cavities of rats. DCs were removed at two or four weeks after grafting. At four weeks after grafting, fibrous and calcified tissue matching the shape of the PLGA sponge was formed. These results suggested that the PLGA sponge was an effective scaffolding material in inducing three-dimensional tissue formation and that combination with a DC system resulted in a cell mass matching the scaffold shape. In addition, the cells were cultured in vivo - which meant that DC culturing did not require special incubation facilities or technologies after grafting.

Beyond incubation: an analysis of firm survival and exit dynamics in the post-graduation period

With regard to the survival rates of business incubator (BI) firms, the literature mainly presents findings of failure rates only during the incubation period. Little is known about the survival or exit dynamics of firms after leaving the incubator facilities. This study approaches this research question by examining the survival of 352 firms from five German BIs after their graduation. The findings suggest that graduation causes an immediate negative effect on survivability that lasts up to 3 years after leaving the incubators. Furthermore, heterogeneous patterns of post-graduation exit dynamics between the BIs were observed. It was also found that performance during the incubation period is an indicator of the propensity of business closure after graduation. This study offers valuable insights and implications for all stakeholders of BI-initiatives.

The effect of diet manipulation on nitrous oxide and methane emissions from manure application to incubated grassland soils

Changes to agricultural management, particularly of the nitrogen (N) input to farms, have great potential for mitigating emissions of N containing gases, especially the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N 2O). Manipulating diets fed to livestock is a potential method for controlling N excretion and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG's) to the atmosphere. We selected three slurries derived from sheep that had been fed, either ensiled ryegrass ( Lolium hybridicum), lucerne ( Medicago sativa) or kale ( Brassica oleracea) and applied them to a grassland soil from the UK in a laboratory experiment using a special He/O 2 atmosphere incubation facility. The resulting fluxes of N 2O, CH 4 and N 2 were measured, with the largest total N fluxes generated by the ryegrass slurry treatment (14.23 ryegrass, 10.84 lucerne, 13.88 kale and 4.40 kg N ha −1 from the control). Methane was emitted only from the ryegrass slurry treatment. The isotopomer signatures for N 2O in the control and lucerne slurry treatments indicated that denitrification was the main process responsible for N 2O emissions.

Bringing science to life: introduction to the special issue

transform biomedical research into life-saving products and therapies. These relationships are mediated by a variety of knowledge transfer mechanisms, including partnership agreements, technology transfer offices, incubator facilities, and licensing agreements. Countries, regions, cities and universities have employed some or all of these mechanisms with varying degrees of success. However, there are few chances to synthesize the lessons learned from these diverse experiences. To encourage a better understanding of the commercialisation of university research, the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy and the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, both at the University of Toronto, co-sponsored an international, multi-disciplinary conference entitled Bringing Science to Life from April 29 to May 1, 2005. Commercialisation policy is of profound importance for the Province of Ontario, and for the University of Toronto. At the University of Toronto, medical sciences are the largest research endeavour, benefiting from one of the largest medical research budgets in North America. No greater source of commercial opportunity exists there than in the biomedical field. Moreover, if the particularities

How scientists commercialise new knowledge via entrepreneurship

In this paper, we explore how university-based scientists overcome the barriers to appropriating the returns from new knowledge via entrepreneurship; and we examine how a university-based technology transfer office (TTO), with an incubation facility, can assist scientists in the commercialisation process. We identify how scientists overcome three barriers to commercialisation. First, we find that scientists take account of traditional academic rewards when considering the pay-offs of commercialisation activity. Second, scientists recognise the commercial value of new knowledge when market-related knowledge is embedded in their research context, and/or when they develop external contacts with those with market knowledge. Third, the deliberate efforts of scientists to acquire market information results in individuals or organisations with market knowledge learning of the new knowledge developed by the scientists; and intermediaries can help individuals or organisations with resources learn of new knowledge developed by scientists. We find that the TTO, principally through an enterprise development programme (CCDP), played an important role in the commercialisation process. The principal benefit of the TTO is in the domain of putting external resource providers in contact with scientists committed to commercialisation. Our findings have important implications for scientists and for those interested in promoting commercialisation via entrepreneurship.

Building A Business Incubator: A Teaching Case Study

The purpose of this case study is to discuss the feasibility of a business incubation facility in an agricultural region of the United States. The paper explains some of the unique characteristics of this environment, and discusses what an incubator might look like in this region. Our research to date indicates that a business incubator facility can not only be a strong engine for economic development and job creation, even rurally, the incubator model creates an environment that greatly improves a new enterprise’s chance for success. In small-town America, those successes are incredibly important for economic growth. Our goal in this paper was to explore some of the challenges and roadblocks encountered as a few project researchers attempt to determine the feasibility of a business incubation facility in a small, rural and agricultural community like ours. A state-of-the-art incubation facility, if located within the central downtown business district, would likely greatly improve the aesthetics of the area, and perhaps draw new business investment into the core of the community. Business incubation facilities create jobs, with the ultimate goal of producing, or graduating, stand-alone companies, capable of self-sustaining operations within a period of about three (3) years. Such economic development activities can be vital in helping rural areas stem the general population loss many have experienced and also potentially lower the rate of rural unemployment and poverty.

The measurement of success in a business incubation project

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact and success of a business incubation project on its participants. The study aims to consider the impact of the project in terms of developing and supporting entrepreneurial activity within Wales. It seeks to build on and enhance existing business incubation literature and contribute to the field by identifying “good” practice and considers the measurement of success within such projects.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs an individual case study methodology which evaluates all aspects of the Graduate Teleworking Initiative (GTi) project. A range of qualitative and quantitative methods is utilised to capture the views of aspiring entrepreneurs. In addition the progress of entrepreneurs is compared with “distance travelled” methodologies developed by other EU programmes, using the experiences of GTi businesses as individual case histories. In addition, this paper looks at additional ways to measure the success of this type of project, based on a study of the current academic literature and work currently being undertaken with funding agencies in Wales in respect of economic regeneration. The case study method is recognised as the most effective research strategy to capture the “rich” experience of complex projects.FindingsThe study finds that, if incubation facilities are to receive continuing support, the measurement of success needs to be broader than a set of statistical outputs. The academic literature queries whether business incubation works, and invites us to decide if the end result is of value or not. This paper considers additional ways to measure the success of this type of project. Applications for public funding in support of business incubators as part of an overall economic regeneration strategy should be able to provide a wider evaluation of effectiveness, and this paper seeks to develop a model to this purpose, to assist the ongoing development of incubator facilities in Wales.Practical implicationsThis study will be of interest to business incubation providers and entrepreneurial researchers in identifying valid and achievable success measures and should inform developments in this field.Originality/valueThe paper provides a unique insight into a successful business incubation project and identifies the key to its on going success. Furthermore, the study identifies generic measures of success for a typical business incubation project based on the GTi experience and a detailed investigation of alternative business incubators.

Estimation of direct and indirect gas production in syringes: A tool to estimate short chain fatty acid production that requires minimal laboratory facilities

A technique is proposed that involves volumetric measurement of gas production in phosphate and bicarbonate buffered in vitro incubations in syringes. Gas production is measured before and after CO 2 absorption by injection of NaOH (10 M) at the end of the incubation. After correction for the amount of CO 3 2− in the rumen inoculum, measurements allow calculation of direct and indirect CO 2 production, reflecting metabolism and acidification, respectively, as well as methane (CH 4) production. This allows estimation of approximate short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, energy lost as CH 4 and it might provide information on the ratio of the glucogenic to lipogenic SCFA produced. Results from in vitro gas production tests in syringes with straw (0.325 g), and eight different tropical seeds (0.125 g) as protein supplements, were used to evaluate whether such calculations could indeed predict measured amounts of SCFA and CH 4 produced, as determined by gas chromatography. The concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), representing both precision ( ρ) and accuracy ( C b) has been used to assess effectiveness of this reproducibility. It was found that indirect CO 2 production equimolarly reflects total SCFA production (CCC = 0.79; ρ = 0.86; C b = 0.93), whereas absorption of gaseous CO 2 provided an accurate prediction of CH 4 produced (CCC = 0.96; ρ = 0.96; C b = 1.00). The ratio of CH 4/gas indirect allowed estimation of the ratio of lipogenic to glucogenic SCFA produced ( R 2 = 0.73; R.S.D. = 0.20). However, the current approach did not allow accurate quantification of proportions of individual SCFA produced (CCC = 0.19; ρ = 0.83; C b = 0.23 for propionate proportions). The potential of a simple gas production technique to provide information on feed quality is illustrated, with the only apparatus required being gas tight syringes and incubation facilities.