Supporting academic entrepreneurship

a blueprint for a university based business incubator

Abstract

This study investigates the challenges to establishing a business incubator in a university domain.  A review of the literature and an investigation of established incubation models.  Key components of a business incubator are discussed leading to recommendations for the creation of a university incubator model. This work has value for university decision makers and provide a template for the development of a university incubator which can be used to determine the viability of the project.  From the study it is clear that there are potential benefits to establishing a university and also a range of challenges and critical risks to consider.  This work is limited as it focuses on a single social field and the findings cannot be immediately transferred to other fields.