rchitecting gloCal (global–local), real-virtual incubator

networks (G-RVINs) as catalysts and accelerators of

entrepreneurship in transitioning and developing economies:
lessons learned and best practices from current
development and business incubation practices
Author links open overlay panelElias G.CarayannisaMaximilianvon Zedtwitzb
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https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4972(03)00072-5Get rights and content

Abstract
Entrepreneurship is at the heart of sustainable, organic growth for most developed, as
well as transitioning and developing economies and incubators have often served as
catalysts and even accelerators of entrepreneurial clusters formation and growth.

Our premise is that this may be more so in less developed economies where incubators
can help bridge knowledge, digital, socio-political and even cultural divides and help
increase the availability, awareness, accessibility and affordability of financial, human,
intellectual, and even social capital, the key ingredients of entrepreneurial success.

Incubation has recently experienced increased attention as a model of start-up

facilitation. Venture capitalists see incubators as a means to diversify risky investment
portfolios, while would-be entrepreneurs approach incubators for start-up support.
Incubators are faced with the challenge and the opportunity of managing both
investment risks, as well as entrepreneurial risks. As an indication of their usefulness,
more than a thousand incubators have been established in the last few years based on
a number of different incubation business models (not-for-profit, for-profit, public/private
entity, etc.), which we categorize in five incubator archetypes: the university incubator,
the independent commercial incubator, the regional business incubator, the company-
internal incubator, and the virtual incubator.

In this paper, we propose an overarching incubator model that synthesizes elements

and best practices emanating from the five archetypes empirically identified and also
incorporates substantially higher economies of scale and scope, as well as global and
local (gloCal) knowledge arbitrage potential. This paper presents an architectural
blueprint for designing a gloCal, real and virtual network of incubators (G-RVIN) as a
knowledge and innovation infra-structure and infra-technology which would link
entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs with local, regional, and global networks of
customers, suppliers and complementors and thus help not only bridge, but also
leverage, the diverse divides (digital, knowledge, cultural, socio-political, etc.).

The implications of this archetype of new ventures incubation for facilitating both
venture business activity and broad-based economic development are discussed and
early findings from pilot projects in central and eastern Europe are discussed.

Today's startups are a major source of innovation, as they employ emerging

technologies to invent products and reinvent business models. Corporations that
embrace an open innovation strategy increasingly look to startups as a source of
external innovation. Corporate accelerators offer a potent approach to nurturing
innovations from entrepreneurial ventures. However, the vast differences between
corporations and startups make collaboration a challenge. Corporate accelerators need
to be designed effectively to add value for startups and create innovation benefits for
the company. Based on information obtained during interviews with managers and
participants of corporate accelerators (n=40), managers receive a framework and
strategies for designing corporate accelerators. To leverage startups’ innovation and to
make corporate accelerators an effective part of a firm's overall innovation strategy,
managers need to systematically and thoughtfully consider the design dimensions of
proposition, process, people, and place.

Virtual incubation is a form of incubation usually provided to remote clients. Many “bricks
and mortar” (residential) incubators provide the same kinds of services (access to
mentoring, access to finance, and access to marketing) they give their residential clients
using the Internet. Some incubators (and accelerators) are strictly virtual in the sense that
they don’t even have a building, or that their clients are too far away to take advantage of the
residential amenities, such as a conference room, shared equipment, and other on-site
services. Some virtual incubation programs in less developed countries have offered these
kinds of incubation services to remote clients using the telephone and site visits by a
traveling counselor. Some incubators are virtual because the geographic location of their
clients is such that they would never be able to receive the services in any other manner
(how would you serve two or three clients each on several different islands in the Caribbean
- you couldn’t build a building in all those locations, yet the need for services is the same as
for other incubator clients). An obvious advantage of a virtual program is that the mentoring
and advising can also be provided from anywhere the mentor can access the Internet, and
that means access to mentors who have specialized domain experience that can be useful to
the incubator client, so the advantages go both directions. Internet access has thus increased
access to services for clients, and made more efficient the methods by which the
entrepreneurs receive support. The focus of the incubation is the entrepreneur rather than
the building.
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Related QuestionsMore Answers Below

 What should I look for when seeking to be connected to an online virtual incubator?
 Why don't online virtual incubators for startups exist?
 Are there any virtual business incubators in Africa?
 Why can't Quora start a virtual incubators for all interested Q's?
 Could an incubator of enterpreneurial ideas be virtual?
Ask New Question

Robert Jones
Answered Sep 16 2017

Best way to learn about virtual incubators is to join one. IdeaGist is one of the largest virtual
incubators in the world, and it does not cost anything to join.

136 Views · View Upvoters

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