Assessing the current state of university-based business incubators in Canada

Abstract

This paper explores the current state of university-based business incubators (UBIs) in Canada by utilizing both secondary and primary data obtained through desk-based secondary research and semi-structured interviews with UBI managers, academics, and support staff. These data informed the development of nine cases of UBIs in Canada. The data were collected from VoIP (Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol) based semi-structured interviews with 32 participants during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2021–February 2022), from which 9 cases were developed during the pandemic. The key themes derived from the findings were the development of communication skills, curriculum development, extra-curricular activities, industry engagement, innovation, research skills and strategic thinking. The originality of this study lies in its identification of the current state of UBI activities as well as its assessment of the broad range of activities and provisions among Canadian UBIs. The empirical development of showcasing these initiatives is also novel for the efficacy of UBIs concerning institutional and managerial decision-making and operational planning. There are implications for academics, senior management in higher education, entrepreneurs, policymakers and other stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Optimizing the Role of Business Incubators in Higher Education: A Review of Supporting Factors and Barriers

“…On the other hand, some obstacles include a lack of awareness among the academic community to commercialize innovative products or conduct research towards product commercialization, and the need for various reinforcements to assist tenants and implement pre-incubation and incubation [1]. Other challenges include the need for curriculum development, extracurricular activities, industry engagement, innovation, research skills, and strategic thinking [4]. Despite these challenges, university-based business incubators have been shown to have significant contributions to enhancing the employability and technopreneurship of business graduates [3].…”

“…The current state of university-based business incubators (UBIs) in Canada has been assessed through desk-based secondary research and semi-structured interviews with UBI managers, academics and support staff. The main themes derived from these findings are communication skills development, curriculum development, extra-curricular activities, industry engagement, innovation, research skills and strategic thinking [4].…”

“…When Larry Page and Sergey Brin were Stanford University Ph.D. candidates, they founded Google. They created the algorithm for searching that served as the foundation for the Google search engine [4]. When they were Stanford University students, Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown invented Snapchat.…”