Technology Acceleration Research Articles

Start-Up Accelerators and Their Impact on Sustainability: Literature Analysis and Case Studies from the Energy Sector

Start-up accelerators are units supporting entrepreneurs (substantively, financially, legally, and organizationally) in establishing and running young and innovative companies such as start-ups. The commencing energy crisis has led to the need for energy savings, as well as the need to change energy policies and implement energy transformation, creating a wide field for start-ups and start-up accelerators. Making full use of potentially innovative solutions developed by start-ups is, in turn, essential for energy giants and related accelerators in the market. This has created the need for specific research in this direction. Therefore, in this paper we review the literature for 2011–2021 with respect to the role of accelerators supporting start-ups. A survey based on the Scopus database resulted in the identification of 76 papers on accelerators. Particular attention was paid to aspects of sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental). The analysis indicated that 75 works dealt with the economic aspects, 35 focused on social aspects, and only 5 focused on environmental aspects. Due to the perceived gap related to the small number of works dealing with environmental aspects, a decision was made to analyse the energy sector and the methods of operation of accelerators in this sector. Three models found in the market that were used by energy companies to cooperate with start-ups were characterized, along with their goals, in an attempt to enable an improved understanding as to which acceleration model best fits a manager’s organization. The models were supported by case studies—a model of commercial cooperation between a corporation and an external accelerator, a model of creating a corporate accelerator within an internal structure, and a hybrid model.

Start-ups and Business Accelerators in Algeria: Financing and Marketing

Abstract Emerging institutions play an important role in the economies of the contemporary world, and because of the sensitivity and weakness of these institutions, especially in terms of financing and marketing, in the presence of a fierce environment of competition, countries have resorted to providing several support mechanisms, and perhaps the most prominent of these mechanisms are the platforms of entrepreneurs, especially business accelerators, where The latter provides the necessary facilities and assistance such as accompanying, financing and even marketing for the establishment of emerging institutions, especially those based on new technological initiatives until they become able to continue and compete in the external environment. Therefore, through this research paper, the role that business accelerators play and their contribution to enhancing the presence of emerging institutions, working on their success and continuity, raising the level of creativity and innovation, as well as activating the relationship between research centers and emerging institutions by transforming these ideas into successful projects, as well as highlighting the most important models of these Accelerators in Algeria.

Learning-Based Error-Constrained Motion Control for Pneumatic Artificial Muscle-Actuated Exoskeleton Robots With Hardware Experiments

Due to high biological adaptability and flexibility, pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) systems are widely employed in exoskeleton robots to accomplish rehabilitation training with repetitive motions. However, some intrinsic characteristics of PAMs and inevitable practical factors, e.g., high nonlinearity, hysteresis, uncertain dynamics, and limited working space, may badly degrade tracking performance and safety. Hence, this paper designs a new learning-based motion controller for PAMs, to simultaneously compensate for model uncertainties, eliminate tracking errors, and satisfy preset motion constraints. Particularly, when PAMs suffer from periodically non-parametric uncertainties, the elaborately designed continuous update algorithm can repetitively learn them online to enhance tracking accuracy, without employing upper/lower bounds of unknown parts for controller design and gain selections. Meanwhile, some non-periodic uncertainties are handled by a robust term, whose value is only related to the initial states of PAMs, instead of exact upper bounds of unknown dynamics. From safety concerns, we introduce error-related saturation terms to limit initial amplitudes of control inputs within saturation constraints and avoid overlarge errors inducing overlarge acceleration. Meanwhile, the constraint-related auxiliary term is utilized to keep tracking errors within allowable ranges. To the best of our knowledge, this paper presents the first learning-based error-constrained controller for uncertain PAM-actuated exoskeleton robots, to realize high-precision tracking control and improve safety without additional gain conditions. Moreover, the asymptotic convergence of tracking errors is strictly proven by Lyapunov-based stability analysis. Finally, based on a self-built exoskeleton robot, the effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified by hardware experiments. Note to Practitioners—This work is motivated by the practical requirements of exoskeleton robots in rehabilitation training and exploration fields. Currently, PAM systems, as a kind of new flexible actuator equipment, are playing increasingly important roles in the development of exoskeleton robot control. However, uncertain (or time-varying) parameters/structures and highly nonlinear dynamics, such as creep and hysteresis, may badly increase the control difficulty of PAMs. Moreover, higher and higher tracking accuracy and safety requirements also induce urgently solved problems to practical PAM-actuated exoskeleton robots, e.g., smooth start, motion constraints, and rapid error elimination. To this end, this paper proposes a new learning-based adaptive controller, which realizes accurate tracking control for PAM-actuated exoskeleton robots by utilizing an elaborately designed repetitive learning algorithm and a robust term to handle periodic and non-periodic uncertainties, respectively. More importantly, the proposed controller simultaneously enhances transient performance of PAMs, including gradually improved tracking accuracy, effective constraints for startup acceleration and tracking errors. Additionally, it is not required to consider the upper bounds of unknown dynamics and additional gain selection conditions, which is theoretically and practically important for PAM systems. Some hardware experiments further verify the effectiveness and robustness of the suggested controller. In our future work, we intend to design more effective methods for PAMs with unmeasurable states and time-delay.

Transient-mixed lubrication model numerically for friction and wear of journal bearings under heavy load during start-up

Purpose Friction and wear are very important factors in predicting the performance of journal bearings, particularly under heavy load in start-up processes. However, there are few relevant studies on the numerical model. This study aims to establish a transient-mixed lubrication model to predict the performance of journal bearings, focusing on the friction and wear behavior under heavy load during start-up. Design/methodology/approach The average Reynold equation, three-dimensional energy equation, shear stress model for friction and Archard model for wear are coupled in the transient model by finite difference method. The linear wear simulation method is bought out to reduce the update times and the calculation time. Findings The different start-up accelerations and linear wear times set are compared and discussed, which indicates a reasonable start-up acceleration is necessary for journal bearings under heavy load during start-up, and setting linear wear times is an effective method to reduce the simulation time significantly. Furthermore, the wear profile in the start-up process spreads in both the clearance and circumferential directions, but mainly in the clearance direction, which increases the minimum film thickness and affects the friction performance. Originality/value This study is of great significance for the numerical prediction of the transient performance of journal bearings during start-up considering friction and wear.

Corporate University as a Business Accelerator in the Field of Education

Corporate training is currently more flexible and acts as an accelerator in the field of training. The object of the current research is the system of education in corporate universities. The purpose of the work is to analyze the possibilities and experience of evaluating the effectiveness of training at a corporate university in order to identify tools that can be used to evaluate various performance indicators and to determine which of them can be transferred to other educational organizations. Possible shortcomings of the implementation of corporate training in the format of a corporate university as a separate legal entity are shown. To achieve this goal, we have identified suitable tools for evaluating the effectiveness of corporate training and evaluating its applicability in practice. As a result, the authors determined that the assessment of the effectiveness of corporate training in terms of indicators of the 1st and 2nd levels of the Kirkpatrick methodology can be easily carried out using various tools. Corporate universities usually use the necessary surveys during and after training for this purpose. The authors proposed to apply various methods of post-program support using appropriate educational technologies and mandatory assessment of participants sometime after training.

Accelerating emergence: the causal (but contextual) effect of social impact accelerators on nascent for-profit social ventures

Given the legitimacy challenges faced by entrepreneurs, gaining access to the resources necessary to create viable new ventures is often difficult. Accordingly, scholars advocate that entrepreneurs align with high-status partners to convey that they are an accepted part of the sociocultural and organizational landscape. Although startup accelerators have been argued to play this supportive role for high-tech, high-growth ventures, it remains unclear whether they are effective at serving the needs of ventures pursuing social missions alongside business structures, or for-profit social ventures (FPSVs). To explore this issue, we examine whether social impact accelerators (SIAs), accelerators specifically designed to support FPSVs, help such ventures make the transition from mere ideas to viable organizations, a process known as emergence. To determine a causal relationship, we employ a quasi-experimental design and adopt propensity score matching with the nearest neighbor matching algorithm to study 7185 startups that applied to 383 accelerators worldwide from 2013 to 2019. By matching accepted startups to a control group of rejected startups, we find that SIAs, on average, facilitate new venture emergence, with accelerated FPSVs raising more external financing, earning more revenues, and hiring more full-time employees than their unaccelerated counterparts. These results hold when controlling for selection bias, thereby providing robust evidence for a causal relationship between acceleration and startup emergence. However, a subsequent subgroup analysis reveals that this causal effect is contingent across a breadth of “who,” “when,” and “where” contexts, highlighting the idiosyncratic differences that different startups face in the acceleration process.

액셀러레이터: 개념화와 향후 연구과제

Since the foundation of Y Combinator in 2005 and Techstars in 2007, startup accelerators have rapidly emerged as a new form of organization in the startup ecosystem. In Korea, Primer was founded in 2010 as the first startup accelerator and was then followed by other early accelerators. The recent government certification of accelerators has since triggered the rapid spread of accelerators. However, despite this rapid diffusion of accelerators, there is a paucity of research. This paper seeks to offer a conceptual model as to how accelerators add value. It also provides suggestions for accelerator design, public policy and future research. Accelerators can mitigate institutional voids that hinder the creation and success of startups. They also assist startups to gaining access to human, social, and financial capital by offering education programs, mentoring service, networking opportunities, and demo days. In addition, mentoring helps startups to test key assumptions and receive feedback on their ideas and business models. In doing so, startups can evaluate their ideas and business models more objectively and from diverse perspectives, mitigating problems stemming from the overconfidence and inexperience of entrepreneurs. After a brief review of the history of accelerators, the paper delineates the sources of high failure rates of startups, explaining how accelerators add value by mitigating the difficulties associated with startups and how the characteristics of entrepreneurs, startups and ecosystems affect the value-added roles of accelerators. The paper concludes by offering implications for theory, practice, and public policy and by providing future research suggestions.

Startup accelerator analysis: strategic decision on effort exertion and information disclosure regime

PurposeThis study aims to investigate a startup accelerator’s decisions toward exerting effort in an information acquisition process and selecting an information disclosure strategy. In particular, the authors are interested in examining which factors may cause the accelerator to report more or less accurate information, which will subsequently affect the investment decision and the outcome of the ventures. This study examines the impact of the equity share taken by the accelerator on the effort level being exerted in the information acquisition process, as well as the accelerator’s decision on the information disclosure regime.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use mathematical models built upon well-established theoretical and practical concepts to analyze the research problems and derive the findings.FindingsThe authors show that when the accelerator takes a sufficiently large equity share from the entrepreneur in exchange for admitting the entrepreneur’s venture into the acceleration program, the accelerator is motivated to exert a significant level of effort to observe an accurate signal for the quality of the venture, and then disclose the information about the venture’s quality consistently with the observed signal (informative disclosure regime). On the other hand, if the accelerator takes a small equity share, it is optimal for her to exert no effort in the information acquisition process and simply adopt the basic disclosure regime, where the accelerator reports the quality of the venture based solely on the ex ante expected payoff of the venture, regardless of the observed signal.Practical implicationsThe results indicate that an equity sharing scheme, which awards a sufficient amount of equity to the accelerator, can be an effective tool to help obtain accurate information about the quality of a startup venture and make a well-informed investment decision.Originality/valueThis research illustrates that the ownership stake of the accelerator can potentially indicate the accuracy of the information about the venture provided by the accelerator to outside investors. That is, when the stake held by the accelerator is large, the investors can conjecture that the information about the venture reported by the accelerator may be highly accurate and reliable. In contrast, if the accelerator holds a small stake, then it is likely that the information provided by the accelerator may not add any value to the publicly available information. These insights can guide investors (e.g. angle investors, venture capitalists, etc.) in making well-informed startup investment decisions.

Global before birth: A study of internationalization mindsets of entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT Our research finds that even before a start-up has formed, a combination of the entrepreneur’s willingness and ability to internationalize determines the likelihood that an entrepreneur will in fact internationalize. Even before a venture is launched, entrepreneurs already have an internationalization mindset that influences their engagement in internationalization activities later on in the entrepreneurial process. Two hundred and thirteen early-stage entrepreneurs in a business accelerator participated in this research. Using intake data, we mapped their entrepreneurial internationalization mindset profiles. Two years after intake, we observed the actual internationalization behavior of the firms. We discuss the implications of our research for entrepreneurship policy makers, support organizations, business accelerators, and entrepreneurs.

Socio-economic impacts of covid-19: the business accelerator role for the state enterprise development

Socio-economic impacts of covid-19: the business accelerator role for the state enterprise development

Peer Entrepreneur Networks in a Startup Accelerator Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In response to the global spread of COVID-19, startup accelerators have shifted all activities online. To understand how this shift affects peer entrepreneur networks – a key constituent of accelerators value proposition to participating entrepreneurs – we draw on longitudinal network data from two editions of the same startup accelerator program before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on interaction ritual theory and the physical proximity principle, we hypothesize and test how online acceleration limits social connectivity. We find that in the online, compared to the offline cohort, networks became less dense, entrepreneurs reached fewer peers via indirect connections; and clustering increased. We highlight the impact of physical distancing on entrepreneurship and discuss contributions to theory on peer networks and startup acceleration.

Mentorship Processes within Startup Accelerators

The last decade has seen the development of a new support infrastructure in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: the startup accelerator. Accelerators offer a structured developmental process that includes an educational component, networks, and intensive mentoring. Despite the central place of mentoring in accelerators, current studies do not explicitly include mentors contribution to programs’ impact. Moreover, there are no comprehensive descriptions of mentor types, roles and practices within accelerators, and how these should be integrated in their operation. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting a comprehensive description and classification of mentors in accelerators and their roles, goals, characteristics and practices. Building on these characteristics, we suggest best practices in terms of mentoring style and mentor-mentee fit. Our review and suggestions are based on 45 in-depth interviews with accelerator managers and 269 structured interviews with mentors that participated in accelerator programs in Israel during the years 2011-2019. We believe this study has important implications for practitioners, researchers in the field and policy makers.

Demand Pull versus Resource Push Approaches to Entrepreneurship: A Field Experiment

Despite the proliferation of entrepreneurship training programs, the question remains if and how such programs can add value to nascent entrepreneurs. To answer it, we compare two broad approaches that have inspired various entrepreneurship methodologies: resource push and demand pull. Although there are some commonalities, each approach focuses on different starting points and sources of competitive advantage for entrepreneurial ventures. We argue that entrepreneurs can benefit more from one approach than the other depending on their idea stage and educational background. To test our ideas, we conduct a randomized field experiment within a 6-month startup accelerator program in Singapore. Our findings reveal that demand pull training is more effective for early-stage and STEM entrepreneurs than resource push training as it helps them overcome their weaknesses and prioritize the activities that create the most value in the initial steps of startup launch.

Good Match: Feedback Interaction in Nascent Entrepreneurship

Feedback is a key entrepreneurial practice that requires a good match between parties, but we have little theory that explains under what condition such a good match emerges. This article addresses this gap throughout 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork at a business accelerator to investigate the relational work performed by entrepreneurs and mentors and unpack the role of the relational infrastructure of the accelerator in framing their role and social interaction. The findings show that a good match requires the creation of a shared understanding of the situation and the media of exchange that overcomes its original framing by the third party and power asymmetry. Accordingly, a good match emerges because of the relational work making the relationship meaningful based on the construction of an alignment between relations, transactions, and resources.

Teaching Them How to Fish? The Makings of Business Accelerators

One-third of early-stage venture financing currently goes to business accelerator-backed startups. We examine whether startups join accelerators to alleviate financing constraints or to improve human capital for long-term growth. Using a novel three-stage two-sided matching econometric framework, we quantify and compare explanatory powers of short-term financing prospects and long-term growth prospects for the revealed preference during the accelerator admission process. We find that short-term financing prospects explain 48% of the variations in the matching values, while variations of key five-year startup performance prospects can explain 96%.

The impact of video game prototyping in an accelerator as viewed via spatial, temporal, and product scales

Objective of the study: We seek to understand two aspects of a business accelerator: first, how an accelerator influences early product development, and second, how an accelerator impacts participants during and after acceleration.Methodology/approach: We conducted an ethnography of a rapid prototyping program in video game development. Methods included 810 hours of participant observation, 58 interviews, and hundreds of analyzed material artifacts.Originality/Relevance: We add insight into the impact and outcomes of an accelerator program across multiple scales: spatial, temporal, and product. Our study is one of the first to examine a formal video game development accelerator.Main Results: Accelerator participants created 42 prototype games, two companies received additional funding, but no games were released within one year of the program. Product scales changed over time from expectations, to prototypes, to final games. The spatial-temporal scale of the accelerator was open to interpretation. Participants and observers held two main spatial-temporal perspectives (present-local and future-global) that changed over a one year time period.Theoretical/methodological contributions: First, we conceptualize an accelerator as a dual competitive place where participants and observers engage in dueling and evolving spatial-temporal perspectives over time. Second, we develop the concept of an accelerated digital product scale to explain the process of evolvement from an accelerator product to a potential final product.Social/Management contributions: We conclude the impact of an accelerator is more complex than the structure or the output. The accelerator may rapidly generate ideas or prototypes, but this does not guarantee a quicker final product release.

Problems of Legal Assessment of Business Accelerators in the Russian Federation

The paper focuses on such an economic and legal phenomenon as a business accelerator. Despite the fact that business accelerators are widespread in Russia, little is known about their legal status and regulation. What is the legal definition of accelerator programs? What is the difference between accelerators, incubators, business angels and a collaborative environment? The relevance of the study is also influenced by the public sector’ interest of the in participating in such programs. Business accelerator programs allow you to teach a novice entrepreneur how to develop an effective business model, financially support its implementation by attracting investment funds. Current trends in the development of startups are that business accelerators will soon be available for all projects with commercial efficiency. Therefore, it is important to determine the legal status of business accelerators, their role in business development, the degree and forms of state participation in the activities of accelerators. The paper attempts to answer the above questions.

A sea change

A sea change

Propulsion optimization of a jellyfish-inspired robot based on a nonintrusive reduced-order model with proper orthogonal decomposition

In this research, the propulsion of the proposed jellyfish-inspired mantle undulated propulsion robot (MUPRo) is optimized. To reliably predict the hydrodynamic forces acting on the robot, the proposed nonintrusive reduced-order model (NIROM) based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) additionally considers the POD basis that makes an important contribution to the features on the specified boundary. The proposed model establishes a mapping between the parameter-driven motion of the mantle and the evolution of the fluid characteristics around the swimmer. Moreover, to predict new cases where the input needs to be updated, the input of the proposed model is taken from the kinematics of the robot rather than extracted from full-order high-fidelity models. In this paper, it takes approximately 950 s to perform a simulation using the full-order high-fidelity model. However, the computational cost for one prediction with the proposed POD-NIROM is around 0.54 s, of which about 0.2 s is contributed by preprocessing. Compared with the NIROM based on the classic POD method, the proposed POD-NIROM can effectively update the input and reasonably predict the characteristics on the boundary. The analysis of the hydrodynamic performance of the MUPRo pinpoints that, over a certain period and with a certain undulation amplitude, the hydrodynamic force generated by the swinging-like mantle motion (k < 0.5) is greater, outperforming Aequorea victoria in startup acceleration. It is demonstrated that considering a certain power loss and a certain tail beat amplitude, the wave-like mantle motion (k > 0.5) can produce greater propulsion, which means higher propulsion efficiency.

Business Incubators, Accelerators, and Performance of Technology-Based Ventures: A Systematic Literature Review

This review aims to identify the typologies of business incubators (BI) and business accelerators (BA) and to define a taxonomy integrating both the BI’s and BA’s characteristics and services portfolio, facilitating the adoption of open innovation practices. A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out encompassing the research topic concerning the relationship between the incubation structures and the performance of technology-based ventures. This comprehensive SLR encompasses a total of 1614 publications, aiming to advance the knowledge on BI and BA. This SLR allowed for the identification of current trends and future challenges, as well as of the most important authors, publications, and journals in this research framework. This SLR establishes a new taxonomy for BI and BA, based upon three main pillars: human capital, social capital, and organizational capital. BI and BA help in the development of new high-technology ventures, by being facilitators for open innovation practices. This SLR is limited by the literature, as the collection of publications was performed exclusively through ISI Web of Science (WoS). Further research can be made into the modes of how these structures impact open innovation practices at the regional level using a knowledge spillover approach.