Support For Turning Ideas Into Business: Incubation Centres
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- 31 August 2022
Incubation Centres can be defined as structures established to accommodate newly established technology-based entrepreneurs and to support them through various services, primarily in order to
ensure their survival and then to support their empow- erment. The term incubation, in the traditional sense, is the name given to the process in which hens constantly watch and protect their eggs from external factors.
In an entrepreneurial environment, however, incubation metaphorically refers to the protection of the entrepre- neur from external factors, especially economic factors. This protection aims to support entrepreneurs against risks and ensure that they remain strong in the period when they are in the 0-3-year range, which is called the death valley for entrepreneurs.
Due to the nature of the business, incubation centres should primarily provide accommodation services for entrepreneurs. In order to meet this accommodation need, economically affordable inexpensive office oppor- tunities are critical for entrepreneurs. The most critical elements for incubation centres are the value-add- ed services they provide to entrepreneurs. Basically, services such as training, mentorships, consultancy and information days are offered to entrepreneurs in
order to increase the quality of entrepreneurs. These services are offered in order to increase the quantity and capacity of entrepreneurs in terms of administrative, technical or marketing aspects according to the content of the subject.
Services such as fair participation, trade events, customer meetings, and investor meetings are also offered to the entrepreneurs who have be- come stronger as a result of these basic services in order to commercialize their business ideas. One of the most fundamental problems of entre- preneurs is commercialization. As it turned out over time, even if the entrepreneurs develop the best product, at the end of the day, unless they transform this product into an economic value, it does not achieve the desired result. The project remains at the level of scientific study or invention.
In addition, obtaining the financing needed to develop the project from investors not only pro- vides financial support but also ensures that the network and experience of the structure that provides the investment are transferred to the entrepreneur. Incubation Centres have a great role in accessing this investment called Smart Money and reaching potential customers for commercialization.
Unfortunately, these services which are oriented to commercialization and investment, are not yet presented to entrepreneurs at the required inten- sity in many business incubators. These services are kind of services that should be built in a way which is more result-oriented, more effective and more productive.
Accelerators
Accelerators are complex, tangible output-orient- ed programs in which entrepreneurs are subject-
ed to an intense program in a short period of time, in which their qualifications are increased and they come together with the customers and potential investors they need.
As the name suggests, they are programs that enable the entrepreneurs to cover the road in a very short time that they can take on their own in a long time with many difficulties and to move forward with the right steps. Accelerators are becoming more and more popular these days. The reason for this is the advantages of being in a full community by interacting with all other program stakeholders during the accelerator, as well as offering all the services in terms of quality enhancement and commercialization to the entre- preneur in a short time and in an intense manner.
Looking at accelerators in the global sense, we see that one of the most critical elements is the elimination method, the gradual filtering of the participants and the guarantee of one or more entrepreneurs’ access to investment at the end of the program by the program owners. These two basic features allow the popularity of accelerators to constantly increase and attract attention from entrepreneurs.