In-house incubators

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In-house incubators , also known as corporate incubators , are business units that focus on the development of radical innovations . With startup-like structures and in cooperation with other entrepreneurs , the strengths of the established company can be supplemented and a creative, risk- taking development environment can be created.

history

Separate innovation environments were already being used in a similar form in the middle of the 20th century. The original idea comes from the 1940s and can be traced back to the US defense company Lockheed Martin . The term " Skunk Works " referred to a separate department that worked on the development of the first jet engines for US warplanes. Many technology-oriented companies copied this model in the years that followed. Nevertheless, in-house incubators were still a rather rare phenomenon at the beginning of the 21st century . The concept of separate innovation units has only been widely spread through industry since the mid-2010s. 70 percent of DAX companies currently operate in -house incubators. Despite widespread use and great interest in the topic, there are only a few scientifically well-researched examples of success, such as the Philips Technology Incubator

Types of in-house incubators

Company-internal incubators belong to the "for-profit incubators". In other words, they are institutions for the promotion of innovation activities that are run by a private company and with profit-making objectives. The basic design and objectives of the company's own incubators vary greatly. For example, some focus more on developing internal ideas and approaches, while others work with external startups to develop ideas from outside the company. Depending on the form, different names are used for in-house incubators. “Innovation Labs” are internally oriented, in-house incubators. They advance projects that are not accepted within the existing organization, for example because they conflict with current products or business models. As a rule, they primarily consist of the company's own employees and work closely with classic development in the company. If the focus is more on cooperation with external start-ups , these in-house incubators act as “start-up accelerators” with the aim of accelerating innovations outside of existing company structures. By working with start-ups, we primarily rely on external employees.

Marketing of innovations

In-house incubators are designed to encourage the generation, further development and commercialization of radical innovations. Often the focus is on the early phases of the innovation process with their free development opportunities. There are two options for successfully placing innovations on the market. In the case of external exploitation, the innovation is independently placed on the market by the company's internal incubator (spin-out). With internal exploitation, however, the innovation is transferred to the parent company (spin-in). In particular, the integration of innovation into existing structures of a company is a common method in industry. The goals here are, on the one hand, to independently market strategically relevant innovations for the parent company, and on the other hand, to use existing resources required for the market launch .

distribution

In-house incubators exist in almost all industries. While their basic design is comparable across the various industries, each industry has its own trend topics that are in the foreground when aligning the company's internal incubators. Company-internal incubators are often located in metropolitan regions or are part of a tech hub in order to ensure proximity to startups, customers and technologies.

literature

  • G. Schuh, F. Lau, F. Vogt, R. Zimmermann: Design of corporate incubators. Whitepaper - Empirical Study. Fraunhofer Publica, Aachen 2017.
  • G. Schuh, F. Lau, R. Zimmermann, F. Vogt: Configuration Options for Corporate Incubators. In: Proceedings of the Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET). 2017. (10 pages)
  • G. Schuh, F. Vogt, F. Lau, P. Bickendorf: Concept of Innovation Transfer from Corporate Incubators. In: Proceedings of the Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET). 2017. (11 pages)
  • J. Alberti: Business Models for Incubators. Strategies, concepts, recommendations for action. 1st edition. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-8349-2699-9 .
  • P. Gwynne: Skunk works, 1990s-style. In: Research-Technology Management. Vol. 40, 1997, No. 4, pp. 18-23.
  • D. Spath, A. Walter: More innovations for Germany. How incubators can better support high-tech academic spin-offs. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-24530-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ G. Schuh, F. Lau, F. Vogt, R. Zimmermann: Design of corporate incubators. Whitepaper - Empirical Study. Fraunhofer Publica, Aachen 2017.
  2. ^ P. Gwynne: Skunk works, 1990s-style. In: Research-Technology Management. Vol. 40, 1997, No. 4, pp. 18-23.
  3. ^ S. Ford, E. Garnsey, D. Probert. "Evolving corporate entrepreneurship strategy: technology incubation at Philips." R&D Management 40.1 (2010): 81-90.
  4. ↑ D. Spath, A. Walter: More innovations for Germany. How incubators can better support high-tech academic spin-offs. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2012.
  5. ↑ G. Schuh, F. Lau, F. Vogt, R. Zimmermann: Design of corporate incubators. Whitepaper - Empirical Study. Fraunhofer Publica, Aachen 2017.
  6. ^ G. Schuh, F. Vogt, F. Lau, P. Bickendorf: Concept of Innovation Transfer from Corporate Incubators. In: Proceedings of the Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET). 2017.
  7. ↑ G. Schuh, F. Lau, F. Vogt, R. Zimmermann: Design of corporate incubators. Whitepaper - Empirical Study. Fraunhofer Publica, Aachen 2017.