Corporate Pre-Incubator: New Platform for University-Business Collaboration

• Published in: European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship pp. 1283 - R18
• Main Authors: Bielicki, Marcin, Weinert, Adam
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Academic Conferences International Limited 01.09.2021
• Subjects: Case studies; Collaboration; Cooperation; Education; Employees; Employers; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Interdisciplinary aspects; Intrapreneurs; Learning; Multidisciplinary teams; Outsourcing; Project management; R&D; Research & development; Startups; Students; Poland
• ISSN: 2049-1050; 2049-1069
• DOI: 10.34190/EIE.21.104

We introduce the new concept of corporate pre-incubator. In this model, the corporation becomes the entity responsible for running the pre-incubation process. This change is primarily driven by the desire to meet the goals of a specific corporation using the pre-incubation method. Our research used the case study of a leading Polish multinational company, which decided to implement the pre-incubation within its structures. The most important goals realised by utilising the preincubation include outsourcing R&D, searching and training individual talented students and whole project teams, promoting intrapreneurship in the organisation, and employer branding. In the article, we also indicate why the corporation decided to organise the pre-incubation process for students. The key reasons are the desire to build interdisciplinary teams, addressing critical competencies for the corporation in the program, which is not fully developed in the existing study programs, or promoting the organisation as a good place for development for talented students. Our work contributes to the growing literature on pre-incubation, entrepreneurship, and intrapreneurship. It shows how well-known tools can be used in a new environment to overcome existing barriers.