Operation of University Business Incubators as Part of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Multiple Case Studies
Keywords:
Transfer — Technological linkage — Entrepreneurship — Business incubators — UniversityAbstract
Among the components that make up an entrepreneurial ecosystem are business incubators, which are organizations designed to support the development of new companies. They are also present in universities, where, by having access to university resources, they have greater potential, giving them advantages over other incubators. University business incubators (UBIs) created within universities aim to increase and diversify the ways in which university knowledge and other resources can be transferred to society through the incubated companies. However, the use of these resources may be inefficient or limited. Identifying, understanding, and analyzing the interaction processes between incubators, universities, and the communities in which they operate would help find ways to optimize them. After identifying the factors that facilitate or hinder these processes, strategies could be developed to achieve better results.The main objective of this study was to identify, document, and analyze the interaction processes between universities and the productive and service sectors through university business incubators, using a multiple case study of UBIs from three national universities in Argentina. The collected data revealed that technology-focused UBIs can establish stronger links with university research and generate more instances of knowledge transfer from other areas and from the incubator itself. Based on the available literature and the comparative analysis of the three case studies, this study presents some proposals for UBIs in their operations and for strengthening the university’s technological transfer efforts.References
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