Research on Technology Entrepreneurship and Accelerators
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RESEARCH ON TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ACCELERATORS Essays on the emerging phenomenon of accelerators across Europe PhD Dissertation Jonas Van Hove 2018 Advisors: Prof. Dr. Bart Clarysse and Prof. Dr. Petra Andries A dissertation submitted to Ghent University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Applied Economics Academic year: 2017 – 2018 1 Copyright © 2018 by Jonas Van Hove All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. 2 DOCTORAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Prof. dr. Bart Clarysse Ghent University, Belgium & ETH Zurich, Switzerland – administrative supervisor Prof. dr. Petra Andries Ghent University, Belgium – promotor Prof. dr. Johan Bruneel KU Leuven Campus Kortrijk, Belgium 3 4 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS BASED ON THIS DOCTORAL RESEARCH Journal publications Pauwels, C., Clarysse, B., Wright, M., & Van Hove, J. (2016). Understanding a new generation incubation model: The accelerator. Technovation, 50: 13-24. Book chapters Clarysse, B., Wright, M., & Van Hove, J. (2016). A Look inside Accelerators in the United Kingdom: Building Businesses. Technology Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation: Theory, Practice, Lessons Learned. Imperial College Press, UK. Vanaelst, I., & Van Hove, J. (2017). Revolutionizing entrepreneurial ecosystems through a European accelerator policy. Accelerators: Successful Venture Creation and Growth. Edward Elgar Publishing. Van Hove, J., & Vanaelst, I. (2017). Revolutionizing entrepreneurial ecosystems through national and regional accelerator policy. Accelerators: Successful Venture Creation and Growth. Edward Elgar Publishing. Working papers Van Hove, J. (2017). To Fiddle Around With The Startup Engine: The Role of Accelerators In Venture Learning And Experimentation. Practitioner report Clarysse, B., Wright, M., & Van Hove, J. (2015). A Look Inside Accelerators: Building Businesses. Nesta Conference presentations Van Hove, J., Vanaelst, I., & Wright, M. (2016). Regional entrepreneurial ecosystems: Incubator Biodiversity. Specialist Conference Transnational Learnings: the accelerator effect, London, United Kingdom. Clarysse, B., Van Hove, J., & Van Boxstael, A. (2015). Linking Founder Identity, Goals and Performance: the Role of Professional and Development Passion. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2015, Vancouver, Canada. Van Hove, J., Clarysse, B., & Wright, M. (2014). A look inside accelerators: building businesses. Belgian Entrepreneurship Research Day, Ghent, Belgium. 5 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is the culmination of a rewarding journey during my five-year stint at not one but three educational institutes across Europe—it’s been a life-changing experience. Profound gratitude is due to both my supervisors, Professor Bart Clarysse and Professor Petra Andries. Their guidance and forbearance has been peerless in my transition from a science graduate to an independent management scholar. Bart provided this mental bridge and introduced me both to the entrepreneurship and academic management world. His terrific lectures, always an intellectual and humorous highlight, deep insights, inspiring life lessons and constant encouragement are remarkable. Together with Petra, they provided the patience and support in developing the theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions. This thesis would not be what it is if not for both Bart’s and Petra’s efforts. To Johan Bruneel, thank you for so often going out of your way to support me. Your mentorship and friendship has guided me through the intricacies of academic life. Thank you for lots and lots and I look forward to our future talks and drinks. I am also thankful for the conversations I have had with Jana Thiel, who has provided valuable and constructive suggestions in addition to a refreshing alternative view at difficult moments. I truly learned lots about qualitative research from you. I would like to thank Andrew Burford of the Climate-KIC accelerator UK/Ireland whom besides the many interviews for this study, has helped me to understand the ins and outs of an accelerator program. He generously took the time to talk to me about his passion, enthusiasm, and vision for bringing innovative startups to the marketplace and change the world for the better. I learned a lot from him and his out-of-the-box thinking is beyond comparison. My fellow doctoral students have also provided for many interesting and varied conversations over the years. Attempting a PhD is challenging at the best of times, and being able to bounce ideas and difficulties of like-minded colleagues has been a boon. I am greatly indebted to my peers both in the “lazy-lads office” at ETH Zurich as well as my colleagues in Ghent University. I want to thank especially Lien de Cuyper for keeping me company on some of my commutes as well as the cheerful chats. In addition, Charlotte Pauwels—my academic godmother in Ghent University—for pushing me to find value in management research during the first years of my PhD, skeptical as I was due to my STEM-background. Also, Xavier Mundet for his valuable suggestions on some of my earlier drafts, Victor Solomon for his 7 awesome jokes, and Constantinos Mammassis for boosting my ego by calling me ‘blond beauty’. These malakas have been phenomenal and made my time at ETH Zurich incredibly special. Together with AI group guru Immanuel Schwall and ICO expert Camilla Curnis, each one of them supported me in every way during my time at ETH Zurich. The support I have received from them exemplified the helpful, friendly, and inspirational atmosphere on campus. Notably, I also want to thank Iris Vanaelst for cheering me on till the end and Jyun- Ying Fu (Dr. Trent) for his ever-lasting support even though he is located at the other end of the world. He introduced me to the wonders of the East such as the traditional afternoon tea at the Rosebery Lounge, delicious pineapple cake and mouth-watering dumplings… unforgettable moments. All of this would have been of no avail without my family and friends. My parents, big brother JC, look-alike Christoph, and even (yes I admit) my sisters-in-law… thank you for a lifetime of encouragement, learning, and love. Although, Cois, X-man, Don Didi, Thobi, Ajay and many other friends were confused to what I really did for work, they all inspired me to get on with it and gave me valuable advice. This thesis is dedicated to my ever-patient wife-to-be and my love Carmen Adela Sanatescu. I couldn’t have done it without your constant belief in me. Thank you for pushing me to follow my dreams!!! 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The last few years, accelerators are quickly proliferating across the globe. To illustrate, the F6S-platform for founders indicates that the worldwide number of accelerators has grown from 194 in 2012 to 793 in 2015; an increase of 308%. However, there is quite some confusion about what an accelerator is and what its impact is on early-stage technology ventures. To add to the confusion, many programs are continuously evolving their models. Understanding the organizational design of accelerators, its effectiveness, and its role in the startup ecosystem is key if we want to properly advise policy makers, investors, and corporates looking for new ways to spur the development of innovative ventures. Furthermore, focusing on accelerators provides an opportunity to extend the learning and experimentation literature as it offers a natural lab setting. Accordingly, the overarching research question of this dissertation is: what do accelerators do and how do they impact the entrepreneurial trajectory of ventures? This study uses theory elaboration methods to suggest how accelerators are configured and what happens within an accelerator program. The research setting is 40 accelerators across Europe—cohort-based startup support programs that accelerate learning and are seen as problem solvers for various actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem such as venture capitalists, governments, corporates and even incubators. For instance, setting up an accelerator benefits venture capitalists by facilitating investments in a larger number of early-stage ventures at relatively low cost. It also benefits governments and corporates to streamline technology commercialization efforts. Thus, accelerators are an important phenomenon and this study provides several insights. On the one hand, it opens the ‘black box’ by highlighting the design and practices of the accelerator. By recognizing the heterogeneity among accelerators, it is clear that more robust metrics have to be developed in order to monitor the effectiveness of the different models. Although classifications of accelerator programs based on their relative performance (e.g. the Seed Accelerators Ranking Project) could be of importance to startups, it may also provide a distorted view considering programs can differ in their strategic objectives. On the other hand, it explains to policy makers, accelerators and early-stage technology ventures the boundary conditions of acceleration. First, policy makers need to take a long-term budget view when they consider to support startups through accelerator programs. Second, many ventures may not be investor-ready or commercially viable at the end of an accelerator program. Therefore, a systematic policy approach is needed for startups to thrive. Third,