IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa06p190.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Opportunities of University Business Incubation in the Less Favoured Regions of Transition Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Zoltan Bajmocy

Abstract

The idea of setting up university business incubators (UBIs) has recently gained attention in the less favoured regions of the new entrants of the European Union. But the foreign best practices almost always derive from highly developed regions, which makes them difficult to adapt. In the lagging behind regions universities are unable to accomplish such a project without local government support and EU subsidies. Thus university business incubation can and must be interpreted as a local economic development tool. The main objective of present paper is to answer the question whether a UBI programme can be successful in a less favoured region of a transition country or not, and which are the main peculiarities that have to be considered when adapting the patterns of more developed regions. Raising the question is underlain by the observation that the international literature of business incubation pays little attention to the problem of the necessity and feasibility of incubation. First we review the most important findings of literature on UBI’s contribution to the enhancement of local university-industry relations with a special emphasis on the service providing function and the spin-off process. Second we interpret the results of an empirical analysis carried out in the Szeged sub-region, Hungary. We examined the expectations of local SMEs towards university-related incubation on a sample of 170. We supplemented this by analysing the entrepreneurial motivations of the students and, as a new feature, PhD students of the University of Szeged on samples of 286 and 134. Moreover we examined the sparse process of spin-off formation with interviews. The attitudes of local SMEs towards incubation are rather heterogeneous but some characteristic patterns can be identified. The analysis of students and PhD students and the interviews reinforced the hypothesis that incubation can only be the second step in enhancing the local knowledge commercialization, a well-developed pre-incubation strategy must be implemented prior to that. In the concluding part on the basis of the literature review and the empirical analysis we point out the factors which are necessary to consider in our opinion when planning and managing a UBI project in a less favoured region.

Suggested Citation

  • Zoltan Bajmocy, 2006. "Opportunities of University Business Incubation in the Less Favoured Regions of Transition Countries," ERSA conference papers ersa06p190, European Regional Science Association.
  • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p190
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa06/papers/190.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron A. Boschma & Jan G. Lambooy, 1999. "Evolutionary economics and economic geography," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 411-429.
    2. Etzkowitz, Henry & Webster, Andrew & Gebhardt, Christiane & Terra, Branca Regina Cantisano, 2000. "The future of the university and the university of the future: evolution of ivory tower to entrepreneurial paradigm," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 313-330, February.
    3. Sean M. Hackett & David M. Dilts, 2004. "A Systematic Review of Business Incubation Research," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 55-82, January.
    4. Ulrich Witt, 2003. "Economic policy making in evolutionary perspective," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 77-94, April.
    5. Clarysse, Bart & Wright, Mike & Lockett, Andy & Van de Velde, Els & Vohora, Ajay, 2005. "Spinning out new ventures: a typology of incubation strategies from European research institutions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 183-216, March.
    6. Goldfarb, Brent & Henrekson, Magnus, 2003. "Bottom-up versus top-down policies towards the commercialization of university intellectual property," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 639-658, April.
    7. I. Pena, 2004. "Business Incubation Centers and New Firm Growth in the Basque Country," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3_4), pages 223-236, April.
    8. Celine Druilhe & Elizabeth Garnsey, 2000. "Emergence and growth of high-tech activity in Cambridge and Grenoble," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 163-177, April.
    9. Bob Morgan, 2002. "Higher Education and Regional Economic Development in Wales: An Opportunity for Demonstrating the Efficacy of Devolution in Economic Development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 65-73.
    10. Harvey Goldstein & Catherine Renault, 2004. "Contributions of Universities to Regional Economic Development: A Quasi-experimental Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(7), pages 733-746.
    11. Richard R. Nelson, 1995. "Recent Evolutionary Theorizing about Economic Change," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 48-90, March.
    12. Rice, Mark P., 2002. "Co-production of business assistance in business incubators: an exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 163-187, March.
    13. Inzelt, Annamária & Szerb, László, 2003. "Az innovációs aktivitás vizsgálata ökonometriai módszerekkel [Examining innovation activity by econometric methods]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1002-1021.
    14. Varga, Attila, 2004. "Az egyetemi kutatások regionális gazdasági hatásai a nemzetközi szakirodalom tükrében [Regional economic effects of university researches in the light of international literature]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 259-275.
    15. Sean M. Hackett & David M. Dilts, 2004. "A Real Options-Driven Theory of Business Incubation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 41-54, January.
    16. Ron Boschma, 2004. "Competitiveness of Regions from an Evolutionary Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 1001-1014.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zoltán Bajmócy & Miklós Lukovics & Zsófia Vas, 2010. "A Subregional Analysis of Universities’ Contribution to Economic and Innovation Performance," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 17(1), pages 134-150, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marijn van Weele & Frank J. Rijnsoever & Chris P. Eveleens & Henk Steinz & Niels Stijn & Menno Groen, 2018. "Start-EU-up! Lessons from international incubation practices to address the challenges faced by Western European start-ups," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 1161-1189, October.
    2. Ali Mohammadi & Hossein Karami, 2014. "The Role of Universities in Innovation Development as Trainer and Innovator," International Journal of Management Sciences, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 3(7), pages 471-486.
    3. Amandine Maus & Sylvie Sammut, 2018. "Business model innovation in incubators: the role played by dynamic capabilities theory," Post-Print hal-02466175, HAL.
    4. Fredin, Sabrina, 2012. "The Dynamics and Evolution of Local Industries – The case of Linköping," Papers in Innovation Studies 2012/7, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    5. Zoltán Bajmócy & Miklós Lukovics & Zsófia Vas, 2010. "A Subregional Analysis of Universities’ Contribution to Economic and Innovation Performance," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 17(1), pages 134-150, May.
    6. Robert Huggins & Andrew Johnston & Rebecca Steffenson, 2008. "Universities, knowledge networks and regional policy," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(2), pages 321-340.
    7. Han, Shaojie & Su, Jingqin & Lyu, Yibo & Liu, Qing, 2022. "How do business incubators govern incubation relationships with different new ventures?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    8. Mingfeng Tang & Grace Sheila Walsh & Cuiwen Li & Angathevar Baskaran, 2021. "Exploring technology business incubators and their business incubation models: case studies from China," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 90-116, February.
    9. Christina Theodoraki & Karim Messeghem & Mark P. Rice, 2018. "A social capital approach to the development of sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: an explorative study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 153-170, June.
    10. Ernesto Tavoletti & Corrado Cerruti, 2012. "Business Incubation: The Case of the European Space Agency," DSI Essays Series, DSI - Dipartimento di Studi sull'Impresa, vol. 29.
    11. Serge Francis Simen & Gérol Sylvère Nganafei, 2018. "Comment influencer positivement le succès des incubateurs universitaires de start-up technologiques ?," Post-Print halshs-01785627, HAL.
    12. J. Piet Hausberg & Sabrina Korreck, 2020. "Business incubators and accelerators: a co-citation analysis-based, systematic literature review," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 151-176, February.
    13. Soetanto, Danny & van Geenhuizen, Marina, 2019. "Life after incubation: The impact of entrepreneurial universities on the long-term performance of their spin-offs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 263-276.
    14. Ernesto Tavoletti, 2013. "Business Incubators: Effective Infrastructures or Waste of Public Money? Looking for a Theoretical Framework, Guidelines and Criteria," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 4(4), pages 423-443, December.
    15. Amezcua, Alejandro & Ratinho, Tiago & Plummer, Lawrence A. & Jayamohan, Parvathi, 2020. "Organizational sponsorship and the economics of place: How regional urbanization and localization shape incubator outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    16. Frank J. Van Rijnsoever & Marijn A. Van Weele & Chris P. Eveleens, 0. "Network brokers or hit makers? Analyzing the influence of incubation on start-up investments," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-25.
    17. Jin Hong & Jinfeng Lu, 2016. "Assessing the effectiveness of business incubators in fostering SMEs: evidence from China," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 20(1/2), pages 45-60.
    18. van Weele, Marijn & van Rijnsoever, Frank J. & Nauta, Frans, 2017. "You can't always get what you want: How entrepreneur's perceived resource needs affect the incubator's assertiveness," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 18-33.
    19. Perkmann, Markus & Tartari, Valentina & McKelvey, Maureen & Autio, Erkko & Broström, Anders & D’Este, Pablo & Fini, Riccardo & Geuna, Aldo & Grimaldi, Rosa & Hughes, Alan & Krabel, Stefan & Kitson, Mi, 2013. "Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university–industry relations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 423-442.
    20. Bajmócy, Zoltán, 2004. "Az üzleti inkubáció szerepe a vállalkozásfejlesztésben [The role of business incubation in company development]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1132-1150.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p190. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.