Design of a Startup acceleration program

Abstract

Many universities around the world have developed incubator and accelerator programmes to improve technology transfer within the university as well as enhance the university’s educational portfolio. Although several alternatives boost innovation in the UPC, none offers the full package of technology transfer combined with an improvement in the educational portfolio. This work attempts to design a programme that can cover this opportunity and from which the ETSEIB can profit. The ETSEIB is one of the biggest sources of talent in Barcelona; an accelerator programme could complement the ETSEIB’s portfolio of educational services. In addition, the designed programme should help teachers with their interests and fears, as well as offer them a complementary service. This work proposes a possible design of an accelerator programme for the ETSEIB. The programme design includes a proposal of a programme structure, a budget, and an implementation plan. This project should cater to two sets of possible users. The first are students and teachers who wish to launch startups, and who need training and mentorship. The second group comprises researchers with a product that could fuel a business, but these researchers do not wish to undertake such a project. This group needs a way to improve the technology transfer in the school and to earn profits on these projects without leaving the university. To prepare this proposal for the programme and ensure that it is feasible and sustainable, the design follows the business model canvas framework. Preparing this proposal and deciding on the position of everything in the framework was made possible by linking the theory, the insights from professionals, and the analysis of the environment. The theory has been analysed by conducting research on academic papers, books, and information from other sources. This review sought to understand the concept of incubator and accelerator programmes as well as the theory behind them. Seven interviews were conducted with industry professionals associated with various types of programmes. The variety of opinions and experience has allowed this work to explore the divergences with the theory and recognize the real opportunities in this sector. Understanding the environment where this programme would be implemented was just as important. This paper includes an analysis of the characteristics of the innovation environment of Barcelona and the UPC. It also includes the analysis of responses to a survey questionnaire that was distributed among a large percentage of ETSEIB teachers. The survey provides first-hand knowledge about the opinions of one of the major stakeholders of this programme.