UK SBS BLOJEU-CR17097BEIS - Follow up research on incubators and accelerators

The final date and time for the submission of bids is Thursday 14th September 2017 at 14:00

The proposed research project aims to investigate the links between the activities of incubators and accelerators, their relations with the wider local ecosystem, and their impact on the businesses supported. The research will inform individual businesses and future policy making at the national and local level and by doing this it will also support the government's objective to make the UK one of the most competitive places in the world to start or grow a business.

The first part aims to answer all research questions outlined above using mixed methods. Firstly, focus groups with incubators and accelerators (separately) will take place; these will enrich the survey data and help to refine the questionnaire for the survey of incubators and accelerators that will be administered subsequently. In this survey, incubators and accelerators will also be asked to provide a list of the businesses they support (including CRN number, name of the business and contact details).

The second part of the research aims to collect quantitative data to answer research question 1 focusing on incubators*. Therefore, firstly a matched-control group will be derived by matching the list of businesses supported by an incubator with the IDBR database (access to the IDBR can be facilitated by BEIS if the contractor already does not have access) and/or other suitable data bases and then by identifying similar businesses who have not been supported by an incubator. The control group of businesses (not supported by an incubator) will be compared to the group of business supported by an incubator on several indicators such as survival rate or number of employees to understand the impact. The list of indicators should be extended by matching the businesses supported and the control group to other data bases (e.g. patent data from IPO). If a control group has been successful established, the contractor should extend the survey to supported businesses to non-supported businesses and include an additional section specifically targeted to understand why these businesses have not been supported by an incubator.

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