Supporting Tech Founders—A Needs-Must Approach to the Delivery of Acceleration Programmes for a Post-Pandemic World

Along with most economic sectors, the COVID-19 crisis has had a strong impact on start-up accelerators, forcing them to seek urgent and imaginative solutions to quickly adapt to a new environment. The enforced change brought challenges that have been exacerbated by the sudden slowdown in economic ac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2023-02, Vol.13 (5), p.3130
Main Authors: Suárez, Tanya, Iborra, Andrés, Alonso, Diego, Álvarez, Bárbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
accelerator
Accelerators
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
digital transformation
Economic conditions
Economic forecasting
Economic growth
Economic sectors
Entrepreneurship
Growth stage
Impact analysis
Medical research
Mentors
New business enterprises
Pandemics
Participation
qualitative data analysis
start-up
Startups
technology
Venture capital
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Summary:Along with most economic sectors, the COVID-19 crisis has had a strong impact on start-up accelerators, forcing them to seek urgent and imaginative solutions to quickly adapt to a new environment. The enforced change brought challenges that have been exacerbated by the sudden slowdown in economic activity. Despite these difficulties, it has become clear that the accelerated digital transformation that emerged through a needs-must approach to engage with start-ups through remote means has also presented new opportunities for accelerators to improve their programmes. This article analyses the impact of the COVID crisis on the organisation and results obtained by a European accelerator, which delivers programmes for growth stage technology start-ups. For this purpose, two very similar programmes have been analysed and compared: one focused on industrial technologies (delivered in 2019–2020) and another one focused on products and services built on space technologies (2020–2021). The research has been undertaken using observational techniques, reinforced through the collection of primary and secondary data throughout the study duration. The result of the analysis point to a possible post-COVID accelerator model that blends online and remote delivery as a new way of improving the experience of start-ups and optimising the use of scarce resources.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app13053130