Towards a Distinction Between Technology Incubators and Non-Technology Incubators: Can They Contribute to Economic Growth?

dc.contributor.authorRatinho, Tiago
dc.contributor.authorHarms, Rainer
dc.contributor.authorGroen, Aard J.
dc.contributor.authorFink, Matthias
dc.contributor.authorHatak, Isabella
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-19T18:37:06Z
dc.date.available2017-09-19T18:37:06Z
dc.date.issued2010-01
dc.description.abstractBusiness incubators are an increasingly popular tool for promoting job and wealth creation. Yet given the heterogeneity of incubation models, it is not always clear how incubators operate, what their main characteristics are and how can they best contribute to job and wealth creation. If technology is central in promoting economic growth and new firm creation the crucial mechanism in transferring new knowledge to markets, then technology incubators have the biggest potential to contribute to economic growth. We define technology incubators by their strategic choices in terms 1/26 of mission, linkages to universities and geographical location. We investigate their nature by comparing the levels of business services provision, selection criteria, exit policy and tenants’ characteristics. Our sample includes 12 incubators located in six Northwestern European countries and a total of 101 incubated companies. Data were collected in both incubators and among their tenants. Results show that technology incubators provide more tenants with their services, select younger companies and practice stricter exit policies. Additionally, they tend to attract more experienced teams of entrepreneurs. Our main contribution is a better understanding of the technology incubators impact against the remainder population of business incubators. We speculate that incubators not focused in incubating technology might not be fostering company creation and therefore not actively contributing to growth. Further, the low levels of service provision are both a product and a consequence of slack selection criteria and weak exit policies. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings to business incubator managers, policy makers and prospective tenants.en_US
dc.format.extent26 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M2513TW65
dc.identifier.citationRatinho, T., Harms, R., & Groen, A. J. (2010). Towards a distinction between technology incubators and non-technology incubators: can they contribute to economic growth? In M. Fink, & I. Hatak (Eds.), Current research on entrepreneurship and SME management European Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 1-26.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/5393
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherEuropean Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurshipen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Baltimore
dc.subjecteconomic growthen_US
dc.subjecttechnology incubatorsen_US
dc.subjectbusiness supporten_US
dc.subjectentrepreneurshipen_US
dc.subjectbusiness incubatorsen_US
dc.titleTowards a Distinction Between Technology Incubators and Non-Technology Incubators: Can They Contribute to Economic Growth?en_US
dc.typeTexten_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Towards_a_distinction_between_technology_incubator.pdf
Size:
246.28 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: