The Selection Process and Criteria of Impact Accelerators. An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Start-up accelerators, a relatively new and competitive type of business incubators, are nowadays considered to be a highly effective way of providing venture support. Start-ups who have been supported through accelerators have an approximately 23% higher survival rate than other new businesses. This positive effect can be explained by the highly selective process accelerators apply when deciding on which venture projects to support. It comes as no surprise that understanding this process and the respective selection criteria is at the core of accelerator/incubator literature within entrepreneurship research. Existing research is however limited to the investigation of commercial accelerators which provide support to start-ups having an economic purpose only. Hence those academic findings cannot be simply extrapolated to accelerators supporting ventures combining economic goals with social and ecological purpose. Given the growing meaning of sustainability entrepreneurship and hence the increasing number of sustainability-oriented accelerators, the above limitation seems to be an important research gap. This paper addresses the above gap by investigating the selection processes and criteria of so-called impact accelerators focusing on the support of start-ups expected to create not only economic outcomes but also positive social and/or environmental impact. Building on existing accelerator literature, we qualitatively investigate the selection processes and criteria of nine European impact accelerators. By comparing our findings with existing research, we identify important differences between the selection approach of commercial and impact accelerators thus contributing to sustainability entrepreneurship research and practice.

Exploring the Strategic Intent and Practices of University Accelerators: A Case of Australia

“…Within this context, UAs provide time-limited and intense mentorship and entrepreneurship education and training, allowing nascent entrepreneurs to focus their attention on their proposed startup, thus leading to quicker growth or quicker failure-which can be beneficial in pivoting to highervalue opportunities and impacts. Successful UAs have demonstrated they have a key role to play in boosting regional startup ecosystems and providing a network foundation for entrepreneurial engagement between founders, investors, and other university stakeholders [5,10,11]. Cohen et al (2017) defined accelerators as a fixed term, cohort-based program for startups, including mentorship and/or educational components, that culminate in a graduation event [4].…”

“…Just what constitutes the optimal design and process of successful UAs is an ongoing and emergent discussion [4,6,10,11,13,31]; hence, we provide an overview of the services associated with UAs, with contextual examples in parentheses: entrepreneurship education and training (value proposition, business model, lean startup, analytical tools and design thinking); mentorship; coworking space (laboratory and office space); tax and legal advice; startup networking (startup community events and regional entrepreneurial ecosystems); investor networking (VC, angels and funders); technology partner networking; international partner networking (global entrepreneurial ecosystems and supply chains and internationalization) and commercialization of innovation (intellectual property), to name but a few. Many studies have amplified UAs as entrepreneurship education [1,4,5], yet others regard UAs as vehicles for university startups [12,14,20].…”

“…Our opinion is that UAs require an all-inclusive approach to integration, yet aligned to the strategic intent and practices of the university ecosystem in which they operate. UAs are all-encompassing, including startup infrastructures for entrepreneurial clusters [13], authentic training experiences for nascent entrepreneurs [14], student startup facilitation and growth [2], entrepreneurial learning [1], innovation acceleration [6], developing sustainable business models [11], absorptive capacity and growth [32], process and impact [10], open innovation [24], and association with EEE and EE [12].…”

“…From a sustainability perspective, UAs have the ability to create not only economic outcomes but, also, positive social and/or environmental impacts, thereby supporting ventures combining economic goals with social and ecological purposes. This is further enhanced by the notion that startups who have been supported through accelerators have higher survival rates than other new businesses [10]. UAs also have expertise and impact in developing sustainable business models, highlighting societal prevalence and triple bottom line imperatives [11], and even aligning entrepreneurship education programs with capstone educational opportunities [1].…”

“…The rapid proliferation of UAs has resulted in universities adopting new models for commercialization and innovation, together with the emergence and development of the entrepreneurial university [6,7]. Positive impacts of accelerators include startups having higher survival rates than other new businesses not using accelerators [8,9]; yet, negative impacts are associated with accelerators not necessarily combining economic goals with social and ecological purpose; hence, there is a lack in respect of sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainabilityoriented startups [10,11]. Since accelerators can be viewed not only through their impact on individual startups but also as a catalyst for wider ecosystem development, such as entrepreneurship education and training, we are mindful of the heterogeneity of the context regarding disparate elements on impacts and outcomes [4,8,9,12].…”