Narrow Results

Business incubators are intended to support startup and entrepreneurial businesses by providing a number of services and resources to clients. The effectiveness of the business incubation industry has been debated since the industry gained popularity in the 1990s. But up to now, there exists no commonly agreed model in theory and practice to measure the effectiveness of business incubation in a standardized way. The aim of this paper is to identify and to assess critical dimension of business incubation, which are suitable to measure the effectiveness of business incubation. This research is a multi-method approach combining desk-research, interviews and a multi-case study of five incubator organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. From these findings, a model for measuring the effectiveness of business incubation in a standardized way is developed. This model helps incubator manager, policy maker researchers, practitioners, stakeholders and government parties for successful implementation of business incubation initiatives. In addition, it increases new knowledge for academic literature incubators and economic development.

The paper revisits the success case of Boston Route 128 in commercializing technology. The study applies the concept of industrial clusters to explain the development of technologically sophisticated region of Boston Route 128. Boston Route 128 has transformed its structure from the minicomputer and microprocessor-based technology industry in the 1980s to biotechnology industry in the late 1990s and 2000s. It is argued that the successful commercialization process of Boston Route 128 is rooted in innovation, entrepreneurial management and the policy towards technology commercialization. To consider the argument, the paper proposes the cluster model to explain the strengths of Boston Route 128 in biotech clusters. It represents a model of the universities working with industries to form a cluster of high technology based firms. The venture capital accelerates the process of technology commercialization, giving rise to a new Boston model of innovation management. Policy makers may use the Boston model as a benchmark to evaluate their performance in supporting Hi-Tech industries.

This study applies the concept of industrial clusters to explain the development of technologically sophisticated region of Boston Route 128. It is argued that the success of Boston, Massachusetts, is rooted in innovation, entrepreneurial management and the policy towards technology commercialisation. To consider the argument, the paper proposes the cluster model to capture the specific features of Boston Route 128. It represents a model of the universities working with industries to form a cluster of high-technology-based firms. The venture capital accelerates the process of technology commercialisation, giving rise to a new Boston model of innovation management. Policy makers may use the Boston model as a benchmark to evaluate their performance in supporting high-tech industries.

The purpose of this study is to analyse critical resource dimensions for development of patents for these new technology-based firms. The empirical base is 131 new technology-based firms in five high-tech industries: Software/information technology, technology consultants, electronics/electrical, pharmacology and pharmaceutical preparation and mechanics, localised on 16 incubators in Sweden. The incubators in this study are all affiliated to a university. The 131 localised new technology-based firms that answered the questionnaire were rather young (mean 2.76 years) and small (mean 2.07 employees). Five hypotheses were developed from the literature and statistical methods such as factor analysis, correlation and regression analysis were used. The study presents a significant model in several resource dimensions. The study shows that the most important resource dimensions (latent variables) are R&D network, lawyers and patent councils, business competition and university/incubator that will affect development of patents in a positive way.

This chapter portrays a glance picture of entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It begins with an overview of the Saudi context and its development approach. Then, it describes the state of entrepreneurship and maps the Saudi entrepreneurial ecosystem highlighting the challenges and current issues. The chapter concludes by suggesting further development of entrepreneurship research in Saudi Arabia.

The FinTech disruption has affected the global financial industry, which required many countries to cater to this disruption by building the right FinTech Innovation Ecosystems. For these types of ecosystems to succeed, they need to be based on open innovation concept, where multiple players in the ecosystem can work together to ensure FinTech innovation. The FinTech industry itself is formed based on various collaborations between different stakeholders to come up with innovative products. However, on a macro level, for countries to become a global FinTech hub, they need to ensure the existence of nine important components of FinTech Innovation Ecosystem. These components are FinTech Start-ups, Traditional Financial Institutions (FIs), Government, Financial Customers, Technology Providers, Human Capital, Supporting Platforms, Associations, and International Profile. These nine components, using an open innovation concept, can play a major role in establishing the right FinTech Innovation Ecosystems, which shall lead countries to become global FinTech hubs.