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Are Service Profiles Incubator-Specific? Results from an Empirical Investigation in Italy*

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Abstract

What are the core services of start-up incubators, and how can the be managed best? We use five incubator archetypes (university, regional business, company-internal, independent commercial, and virtual incubators) to identify key services and describe their implementation. Case-research was conducted on 10 incubators (from an estimated total of 50) in Italy. We concluded that differences in competitive scope (industry, geography, and segment focus) and differences in strategic objectives (profit versus non-for-profit) influence the nature, quality and implementation of incubation services and the way they are managed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Technological Innovation, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, PR China

    Maximilian von Zedtwitz

  2. Department of Management, University of Bologna, 40123, Bologna, Italy

    Rosa Grimaldi

Authors
  1. Maximilian von Zedtwitz
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  2. Rosa Grimaldi
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Correspondence to Maximilian von Zedtwitz.

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von Zedtwitz, M., Grimaldi, R. Are Service Profiles Incubator-Specific? Results from an Empirical Investigation in Italy*. J Technol Transfer 31, 459–468 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-006-0007-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-006-0007-7

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