This paper introduces Technology Business Incubation (TBI) as a field of study and practice, exploring the concept, its evolution, and scholarship. Science parks, incubators and accelerators are TBI ...mechanisms considered to be important policy tools for supporting innovation and technology-oriented entrepreneurial growth. Their popularity is premised on the belief that these mechanisms provide critical value-added inputs essential for the creation and development of innovative Technology-Based Firms (TBFs). However, determining what type of TBI mechanisms and policies are most conducive to achieving the desired results is very much mission-driven and context-specific. A review of the past three decades of incubation literature, emerging practice, and future trends reveals that despite ongoing debate about their contribution and challenges, the future of TBIs is promising, and there are rich opportunities for research.
This study explores the crucial role of modern science parks in the creation, development, and management of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Thus, it has developed a conceptual framework for analysing ...the role that science parks could have in developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We interviewed several stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem oriented towards sustainable production. The study design comprises three levels of analysis: 27 nodes, 7 themes, and 3 aggregate dimensions. While a science park can play a key role in creating, developing, and managing an entrepreneurial ecosystem, we find that its success largely depends on the level of cooperation among the key stakeholders. This study provides new insights into (i) how we can better comprehend the emergence of linkages to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems and (ii) how science park managers and regional policymakers can better examine the role of key stakeholders in envisioning, configuring, and enabling regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. When studying science parks, it is important to use a holistic approach, focusing on the key players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem – science parks and their stakeholders – and knowing how and when to intervene.
This paper examines the transfer of entrepreneurship education best practices from business schools to engineering and technology institutions. Nations like Pakistan need to educate their youth ...enrolled in large numbers in engineering and technology disciplines, to unleash their entrepreneurial potential to address the challenge of unemployment and hence economic development. Like rest of the world most entrepreneurship education programs in the country are generally offered by business and management schools. The article provides a cost effective approach of transferring the entrepreneurship education best practices developed at the Institute of Business Administration Karachi to five regional engineering and technology institutions. This paper employs the knowledge-transfer theoretical lens using the action research methodology to understand the application of various interventions to transfer entrepreneurship education practices. The results show that the success of these transfer efforts depends on several factors, including quality of the program, quality of the transfer team, absorptive capacity of the receiver and various contextual and motivational factors. Other developing countries with similar challenges can also benefit from the model.
Science, Technology and Engineering Entrepreneurship Education (STEE) might raise student awareness towards the opportunities seeking challenges of entrepreneurship to promote technology transfer. ...However, despite the face validity of teaching technology entrepreneurship, there has traditionally been a weak link between the fields of research entrepreneurship education, and technology management and commercialization literature. In this introductory article, we ask whether entrepreneurship could be taught to students in engineering, science and technology majors via the use of dedicated teaching models. We highlight the prevailing approaches in STEE and identify two main research streams. We discuss promising research avenues for extending research on STEE focusing on the background and profile of target audiences, and assessing their impact on students’ learning outcomes. Finally, we provided summaries of the papers in the special issue and how they contribute to wider understanding of the effective models of STEE.
This article explores the role of start-ups within entrepreneurial ecosystems in driving the transition towards a circular economy. It emphasises the importance of understanding and supporting ...circular start-ups for broader sustainability impacts. Unlike established firms, start-ups can readily adopt ambitious circular business models (CBMs) without the risk of business model cannibalisation and with the agility to adapt to market trends. CBMs enhance value creation, delivery and capture resource flows in an optimised non-linear fashion. Scaling up CBMs is crucial for overall economic, social and environmental benefits. Hence, leveraging the key entrepreneurial ecosystems actors, such as universities, business incubators and related venture development intermediaries, is vital for start-up support. In this special issue, we have invited researchers to submit contributions that delve into the dynamics among start-ups, entrepreneurial ecosystems and the circular economy, aiming to enrich our understanding of the early stage start-up development process with the aim of promoting the circular economy at a firm, regional or national level.
This article provides a conceptual framework for assessing and managing the university technology business incubator (UTBI) as a tool for new venture creation. It is widely believed that UTBIs ...contribute to the nurturing of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). However, they have escaped systematic review in the United States due to a lack of historical data. To fill this gap, a new UTBI performance assessment framework is proposed, which is drawn from a combined survey of the existing body of knowledge in the areas of business incubation, the university's involvement in technology and business development support, and the commonly accepted approaches to organizational assessment that provide the necessary building blocks for the integrative framework. The proposed model is comprised of three performance dimensions: (1) program sustainability and growth; (2) tenant firm's survival and growth; and (3) contributions to the sponsoring university's mission. Further, the scope and effectiveness of the facility management policies, and the provision of services are assessed. The application of this framework is illustrated using four representative UTBI cases selected from a field of 30 five-year or older U.S.-based facilities and their 29 tenant firms out of the 84 firms contacted for the survey (35%). A comparative review of these four cases reveals that the framework provides a flexible methodology to assess the performance of UTBIs. The article concludes with a set of elements identified for evaluating UTBIs under the aforementioned three performance dimensions providing measurement indicators. This framework seeks to provide conceptual clarity for those responsible for assessing UTBI performance, directing their operations, or endeavoring to create them.
Prior research has shown that early development of marketing capabilities enable firms to achieve competitive advantage. The entrepreneurial orientation of the firm acts as a catalyst and impacts the ...market orientation and the marketing capabilities of the firm in a positive way. A high level of entrepreneurial orientation enables the firms to be innovative, take calculated risks and be proactive in their marketing- related activities. The marketing activity of the firm becomes entrepreneurial. In this empirical study, we test the various antecedents and outcomes of marketing capabilities in entrepreneurial new technology- based firms (NTBFs) in a developing country’s environment. The study sample consists of 253 small and medium sized NTBFs operating in the METU Technopark, Turkey. The structural equation modelling approach using PLS was employed to test the research hypotheses. Results show that the early development of marketing capabilities of the NTBF significantly impacted performance, prompting implications for policy makers.
This paper assesses the value-added contributions of university technology business incubators (UTBIs) to their new technology-based tenant firms. The business incubator is widely believed as ...providing a nurturing environment for new business start-ups. However, the role played by university relationships in supporting the development of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) has escaped systematic review in the US due to a lack of historical data. To fill this gap, this article presents empirical data on UTBIs by focusing on their value-added dimensions which include typical incubator services along with university-related inputs. The study is based on a national survey of six representative UTBI facilities, providing an insight into the value-added aspects as perceived by the clients. It concludes that several UTBI services, specifically some of the university-related inputs such as university image, laboratories and equipment, and student employees add major values to the client firms, making the UTBI a viable strategy for nurturing NTBFs.
Chordee is a condition in which the penile head has a curvature. It can be towards ventral or dorsal aspect. Dorsal chordee is very rare. In many normal males mild degrees of curvature can exist. ...Causes of dorsal chordee can be diverse but urethral duplication as its etiology is even rarer. We report a case of six year old boy who presented with severe dorsal chordee with associated double urethra and cleft of the glans dorsally without hypospadia.
Objective: To determine the impact of endemicity of ascariasis in the manifestation of acute appendicitis.
Study Design: Prospective observational study.
Place and Duration of Study: General Surgery ...Department, Combined Military Hospital Skardu, from May 2012 to Apr 2015.
Methodology: Patients presenting with symptoms of acute appendicitis were included in the study. Patients were diagnosed after taking detailed history, clinical examination and blood chemistry. All the patients underwent open appendectomy under general anesthesia. Per-operatively presence of worms was assessed in terminal ileum and after that in the lumen of the appendix initially by palpation and then by opening its lumen after it was removed. Histopathologic diagnosis could not be confirmed due to its non-availability as the surgeries were performed in a remote and resource constraint area of the country.
Results: A total of 224 patients were included in the study. Out of these, 143 (63.8%) were male and 81 (36.1%) female patients. The mean age of patients was 22 ± 6 years. Per-operatively, 21 (9.3%) patients had worms in both ileum and appendicular lumen while 22 (9.8%) patients had worms only in the terminal ileum and there were no worms seen in either ileum or appendix in 181 (80.8%) patients.
Conclusion: There is a relation of parasitic infestation especially Ascaris lumbricoides in the manifestation of acute appendicitis in endemic areas.
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