Agriculture in Slovakia has historically gone through many stages of development. In the past, it was the main livelihood strategy for rural populations, where it reinforced social bonds and cooperation. Socialistic collectivization and the creation of Common agricultural cooperatives (JRDs) represented a violent transition that did not respect the historical and cultural traditions and their development. They resulted in rural populations losing their connection with the soil and marked the beginning of the deterioration of Slovak agriculture and depopulation of rural areas. JRDs were thus a massive blow for the character of Slovak countryside. Natural and climate conditions had been until that time the main factors shaping the architecture, which was therefore specific to every region. After JRDs’ arrival, outbuildings of family farms were slowly replaced with uniform large-scale structures. With the scale of these buildings not matching the surrounding environment and context, the aesthetic and residential value of rural areas was distorted. After the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the incipient restitutions that followed, the intended revival of bonds between people and their soil never materialized. “Cooperatives” became companies struggling for survival in the now open market and farmers remained their employees. The importance of the countryside has risen in terms of its residential value, but severely deteriorated in the economic sense. Traditions surviving with the original rural populations mix with new modern elements of the in-migrating urban populations. A number of these cooperatives have gone bankrupt, with their premises abandoned, neglected and becoming derelict. Others have survived only to see most of their agricultural productivity decline relative to competition, which, too, resulted in many of their buildings being unutilized and neglected. Since these JRDs used to be part of the majority of villages, with 2759 rural settlements in Slovakia, their number is bound to be very high. They have left a deep imprint in the countryside which occupies soil and hinders the villages in their development. Is it therefore necessary for every village to have their own cooperative, if they tend to be either abandoned or utilized only partially? Transformation of this space into an area serving locals, supporting reinforcement of their social bonds and bonds with the village itself. Opening up former cooperatives for the rural populations.

Open innovation is a term that has become popularised over the years, due to changes in how business is done as a result of globalisation and digital transformation. Efforts are being made by incumbent companies to collaborate with external parties to a greater extent, and at the same time, the startup landscape has contributed with new technologies and innovations that in some cases have disrupted markets. A collaboration between large companies and startups can bring about positive synergies since these two types of organisations are different and have the possibility to complement each other. This master thesis looks into the outside-in model of open innovation, specifically examining corporate accelerator programs and incubation hubs from a startup perspective. The following research explores what key services that are offered within these corporate programs and how they can be improved according to startups that have previously partaken in them. This research is a qualitative study with an abductive approach. As part of the research, 10 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were held with representatives from a variety of startups. The major services desired by the interviewees to be included in corporate-run startup programs range from access to internal and external networks to putting more focus on a variety of funding alternatives. Early-stage startups expressed the desire of receiving help with understanding their market and customers. The key improvement areas brought up by the startup companies included the presence of internal champions that can help speed up certain processes and act as a facilitator for important meetings. Many startups point to the importance of having the influence to customize their program experience. In addition, accelerator and incubator employees with previous entrepreneurial experience are considered very helpful by the startups since they can grasp the struggles of the startup in a better way. Furthermore, to have more financing opportunities is desirable. / Genom åren har öppen innovation blivit alltmer populariserad,på grund av förändringar i hur affärer görs till följd av globalisering och digital transformation. Stora företag satsar i större utsträckning på att samarbeta med externa parter, och samtidigt har startup ekosystemet bidragit till ny och radikal teknologi och innovationer som har rubbat vissa marknader. Ett öppen innovation-samarbete mellan ett stort företag och en startup kan bidra positiva synergier eftersom dessa två typer av organisationer är olika och har möjlighet att komplettera varandra. Detta examensarbete undersöker den så kallade outside-in modell för öppen innovation, mer specifikt undersöks företagsacceleratorer och företagsinkubatorer från ett startup-perspektiv. Följande forskning undersöker vilka nyckeltjänster som erbjuds inom dessa företagsprogram och hur de kan förbättras enligt startups som tidigare har deltagit i dem. Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie med en abduktiv ansats. Som en del av forskningen hölls 10 semistrukturerade djupintervjuer med representanter från en rad olika startups. De viktigaste tjänsterna som eftertraktas av intervjuobjekten som del av företagsacceleratorer och företagsinkubatorer gäller tillgång till interna och externa nätverk, som i sin tur kan förse tillgång till flera olika finansieringsalternativ. Startups som befinner sig i en tidig utvecklingsfas uttryckte en önskan att få hjälp med att förstå deras marknad och kunder. Förbättringsområden som identifierades av startupföretagen omfattar förekomsten av internal champions, som kan hjälpa till att påskynda vissa processer och som kan facilitera viktiga möten. Många startups pekar på vikten av att ha inflytande över att anpassa sin programupplevelse. Dessutom är accelerator- och inkubatormedarbetare med tidigare entreprenöriell erfarenhet väldigt eftertraktade, eftersom de kan förstå sig på startupföretagen på ett bättre sätt. Vidare, är det önskvärt att ha fler finansieringsmöjligheter.

The problem that most, if not all, large companies deal with in one way or another, is to stay relevant and competitive as their industry evolves. They need to keep improving their current services or products but still need to keep their eyes open for disruption. This requires them to make long-term investments in research and development, which does not always result in a quick return. To stay relevant, corporations need to increase corporate innovation. Research on collaboration between startups and corporations has grown substantially in recent years, but there is a gap in academic literature focusing on the barriers of these collaborations. This qualitative study focuses on what perspective Icelandic corporate managers have towards collaborating with startups as part of their corporate innovation. To accomplish that, eight semi- structured interviews with top-level managers from large corporations were conducted. It was clear that all interviewees were very positive about collaborating with startups even though most of them had little or no experience from doing so themselves. Icelandic companies seem to be reluctant to invest the required time and resources it takes for these collaborations to be successful because of the lack of successful examples in Iceland so far. This research only looked at the barriers and benefits from the perspective of top-level managers in large corporations but future research could include the perspective of startups as well.

This thesis wants to save character and identity of local. So it offers comfortable and special living and brings new values for the local inhabitants. Integrate suitable functions to improve the quality of quater.

Incubators have become a popular way for corporations to stay in front of their competition because,y pos today´s startups are an immense spring of innovation as many possess emerging innovation. These corporate incubators offer the startups a support system where they can test and leapfrog their innovations, and add innovation to the corporations. However, there is a large difference between these two parties, which makrs successful collaboration a challenge.  This study examines how to improve this collaboration based on information obtained through an embedded case study of a large corporate incubator and startups present within it. The main findings suggest three important factors for a large enterprise to gain the most value out of their incubators: (1) clear communication, (2) startups need to know what their  objective is, and (3) incubator support from the organization. To leverage startup innovation in a corporate incubator and to attain these three factors, three building blocks for a corporate incubator have been identified: selection process, case building, and graduation. / Inkubatorer har blivit ett populärt sätt för företag att vara konkurrenskraftiga eftersom dagens startups är en enorm källa av innovation. Dessa företagsinkubatorer erbjuder startups ett supportsystem där de kan testa och accelerera deras innovationsprocess och erbjuda innobation till företagen. Men, det är emellertid en stor skillnad mellan dessa två parter, vilket gör ett framgångsrikt samarbete till en utmaning.  Denna studie undersöker hur man kan förbättra detta samarbete baserat på information som erhållits genom en fallstudie av en stor företagsinkubator och dess startups. Resultatet av denna fallstudie är tre viktiga faktorer som behövs för att ett företag ska få ut det mesta av deras inkubator. (1) Tydlig kommunikation, (2) medvetenhet från startups av vad de behöver och (3) inkbatorstöd från hela företaget. För att utnyttja den innovation som startups tillför och för att uppnå dessa tre faktorer, tre delar av processen för en företafsinkubator identifierades: Urvalsprocessen, sammarbetsfasen och examen.

The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of what factors influence the choice of the selection process in government-funded business incubators. The study was conducted as an abductive multiple case-study of selection processes in Swedish government-funded business incubators. Our findings are summarized in a framework illustrating that owners and financiers stipulate important pre-conditions for the opportunities business incubators have in designing and implementing a certain selection process through their impact on the incubator goal and target group, and subsequently the choice of criteria. The regional context (local economics, level of entrepreneurial activity, collaborations and brand awareness) also stipulate a precondition for the incubator’s choice of the selection process by affecting the inflow of business ideas and therefore the pool of potential candidates available to the incubator. The amount and quality of the inflow mainly reflects in the rigorousness or flexibility in the application criteria. The design of the process, and thus the practices included, is highly influenced by the orientation of managers and operative staff in the incubator, conditioned upon available resources (organizational capabilities and constraints), and influenced by best practices, investor objectives, and macro trends. The study provides implications for research on selection processes in business incubators by highlighting that prior research has had a limited perspective of selection by primarily focusing on criteria and the flexibility and rigorousness in applying these, thus disregarding other practices and prevailing selection as an event rather than a process. Furthermore, we pinpoint several factors affecting the choice of the selection process, not previously discussed in the research literature. The emerging framework may also be used by stakeholders in order to understand how different factors impact the selection process and identify areas that are weak and need to be improved. / Syftet med denna studie är att förbättra förståelsen för vilka faktorer som påverkar valet av urvalsprocess i offentligt finansierade företagsinkubatorer. Studien har en abduktiv ansats och genomfördes som en multipel fallstudie av urvalsprocesser i svenska företagsinkubatorer. Resultaten från studien presenteras i ett teoretiskt ramverk som betonar att ägare och finansiärer utgör viktiga förutsättningar för inkubatorns möjligheter att utforma processen genom deras inverkan på mål och målgrupp. Mål och målgrupp återspeglas främst i valet av kriterier, men kan ha en indirekt påverkan även på det sätt som inkubatorerna arbetar för att uppfylla målen. Den regionala kontexten utgör också en viktig förutsättning för inkubatorers möjligheter genom dess påverkan på inflödet av affärsidéer och därmed poolen av potentiella kandidater som är tillgängliga för inkubatorn. Mängden och kvaliteten på inflödet påverkar i huvudsak huruvida tillämpningen av kriterier är rigorös eller flexibel. Utformningen av processen påverkas i stor utsträckning av den operativa personalens erfarenheter och gemensamma organisatoriska lärande i inkubatorn. Sådant inflytande kan dock till viss del vara begränsat av de resurser i form av medel, tid och personal som finns i inkubatorn. Vi finner även att rådande trender inom jämställdhet och hållbarhet, samt best practices och investerar-objektiv har inflytande på hur inkubatorer väljer att utforma urvalsprocessen. Studien bidrar till forskningen om urvalsprocesser i företagsinkubatorer genom att belysa att tidigare forskning har haft ett begränsat perspektiv på urval genom att enbart fokusera på kriterier samt flexibilitet och rigiditet vid tillämpningen av dessa och därmed bortse från övriga selektionspraxis. För att kunna förstå och förbättra urvalsprocessen bör ett bredare perspektiv på urval inkorporeras i forskningslitteraturen, där urval förstås som en process snarare än ett isolerat skeende. Vidare identifierar vi flera faktorer som påverkar valet av urvalsprocessen, men som inte tidigare diskuterats i forskningslitteraturen. Vårt ramverk kan också stödja olika intressenter att identifiera styrkor och svagheter i det ekosystem de verkar inom såväl som deras egen inverkan på urvalsprocessen.

This thesis is about publicly funded support of technology-based ventures. These ventures are regarded as solutions to create growth and societal development. They are commonly originated from universities, institutes or other firms and their products or techniques are commonly new or at least different from the ordinary. They are therefore considered as being of higher risk than generic new firms, but if successful they may also give higher returns. Hence, a range of efforts has been undertaken to support them. However, concerning the issue of public support, gaps of research have been exposed. This thesis aims to give some answers on the question of what characterizes the public support given to technology-based ventures in Sweden. It elucidates two types of public support, the “configuration-type” and the “process-type” The first is studied by using statistical databases built upon the conditional loans and the innovation subsidies that were offered by Sweden Innovation Centre during the years 1994-2003. The second type concerns incubator support, and investigates how best practise incubators can be evaluated. Among the results, it can be mentioned that different support actors use different selection criteria depending on their goals, however the credibility of the applying venture is crucial for approval. Furthermore, a framework for best practice evaluation is developed. / <p>Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic 2005:72</p>

The aim of this thesis paper is to analyse the support of incubator and accelerator programs inthe German entrepreneurial ecosystem with the impact of COVID-19. Incubator and accelerator programs have been established across multiple innovation hubs worldwide over the last decade. They have become a substantial support system for entrepreneurship providing help for young companies to innovate. The benefits offered usually include access to capital, network, mentorship and office space in exchange for equity or to simply foster innovation. With a lot of uncertainties deriving from the current pandemic, entrepreneurship has an increasingly relevant role to ensure a flourishing economy in the future. As the world is adapting to new circumstances, incubators and accelerators need to reevaluate their support to startups as well. The literature review consists of relevant literature by elaborating on the existing entrepreneurial ecosystem theories. It further discusses incubators and accelerators and the German entrepreneurial market before introducing the theoretical framework for the paper. As part of the research, this thesis uses a collective case study method by conducting interviews with startup founders and employees of incubator and accelerator programs in Germany. The qualitative data collection will undergo a deductive reasoning approach to analyse the research phenomenon and to contribute to the field of entrepreneurship. After introducing each company from the collective case study, the empirical findings systematically lay out the data from the interviews by separating the data into a section for incubators and accelerators and a section for startups. The data highlights relevant changes regarding the support of the programs with and without the impact of COVID-19. The discussion chapter points out the findings by comparing the data with the literature and the theoretical framework. The findings are broken down into subsections that point out the importance of the support programs as well as the proposed changes in the offerings. Concluded, changes can be made in the area of mentorships and coachings as there is a need for more individuality. Also regular feedback cycles, a higher capital support and the change to a hybrid model with a remote and on-site structure as well as the use of software to stay connected are possibilities for accelerators and incubators to help the startups. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera stödet av inkubator och accelerationsprogram i det tyska enterepenörella ekosystemet och hur det påverkats av COVID-19. Inkubator och acceleratorprogrammen har etablerats under olika innovationscenter över hela världen det senaste decenniet. De har blivit ett betydande stödsystem för entrepenörskap som ska ge stöttning åt nystartade företag för att hjälpa dom bli innovativa. Förmånerna är tillgång till kapital, nätverk, mentorsskap och lokaler, detta sker i utbyte mot delägarskap eller att bidra till att främja innovation. Med osäkerheten orsakat av den nuvarande pandemin, har entrepenörskap en mycket viktig roll för att säkerställa en uppåtgående ekonomi i framtiden. Då världen anpassar sig till nya omständigheter, behöver inkubationer och accelerationer se över stödet till startup företag. Litteraturöversikten innehåller relevant litteratur som utarbetarde redan existerande teorier inom det entrepenörella ekosystemet. Vidare diskuteras inkubatorer och accelerationer och den tyska entrepönerella marknaden, följt av introduktionen av det teoretiska ramverket för uppsatsen. Som en del av forskningen används en kollektivtfallstudie metod där det genomförts intervjuer med start up grundare och anställda på inkubator och accelerator program i Tyskland. Den kvalitativa inhämtningen av data genomgår ett slutligt resonemang för att analysera forskningsfenomenet och bidra till forskningsområdet entrepenörskap. Efter att ha introducerat varje företag för den utvalda fallstudien, visas datasystematisk med de empiriska resultaten från intervjuerna. Detta görs igenom att separera data i två sektioner. En för inkubatorer och accelationer, och en sektion för start ups. Uppgifterna belyser relevanta förändringar när det gäller stödet till programmen med och utan inverkan av COVID-19. I diskussionskapitlet pekas resultaten ut genom att uppgifterna jämförs medlitteraturen och den teoretiska ramen. Resultaten delas upp i under avsnitt som pekar ut stödprogrammens betydelse samt de föreslagna förändringarna i utbudet. Slutsatsen är att förändringar kan göras inom området mentorskap och coachning eftersom det finns ett behov av mer individualitet. Regelbundna feedbackcykler, ett högre kapitalstöd och en övergång tillen hybridmodell med en struktur på distans och på plats samt användning av programvara föratt hålla kontakten är möjligheter för acceleratorer och inkubatorer att hjälpa nystartade företag.

This research provides information about Economic Development Zones (EDZ) to help the reader understand these programs. For a business owner they are able to make informed decisions about the merits of these programs and decide whether it makes sense for them to relocate their businesses to Florida’s Economic Development Zones. What most readers do not know is that these programs and the operating condition of an Economic Development Zone can offer benefits to a business owner, allowing them to reduce their operating expenses and the cost of doing business. Over the past several years, the researcher discussed foreign trade opportunities with different individuals. One of these conversations was with the sale director of a company located at Sebring Airfield and Intermodal Facility in Sebring, Florida. In this discussion, the benefits of locating a business in an Economic Development Zone, within an economically depressed rural area of Florida, was introduced. This conversation led to researching what it takes to relocate or operate a business in Economic Development Zones located in rural areas. The basic purpose in creating an EDZ through local, state, and federal government agencies is to reduce unemployment in depressed areas of the United States. This goal is accomplished by incentivizing businesses to create jobs and make capital investments in those areas. Different levels of government offer incentives to companies for relocating or expanding their businesses by creating Economic Zones. The incentives for relocating, expanding, or starting a business in an EDZ can be very lucrative. Businesses look for every opportunity to reduce their operating expenses by reducing the cost of doing business. Through incentives and tax breaks, a business could reduce its yearly operating costs making them more competitive. The goal of companies is to reduce their overhead and the government goal is to create jobs which should be mutually supportive, yet it is not the case. This lack of awareness is a major contributing factor for why these programs are not successful. From prior research conducted during a literature review, there is very little information about these programs beyond government webpages. With the rapid turnover of programs due to the political election cycle, there is little current information on the most recent EDZ except what is offered at the Federal level. One of the challenges in starting operations in an EDZ is the identification of the different stakeholders for federal, state and local programs. The lines of communication and the delineation of responsibilities between the federal government, state, and local development councils can be very confusing. In order to navigate between the different programs a business owner needs to understand how support flows down to the local agencies. An interest trend from this research, is a clear lack of awareness about these programs. Most business leaders are not aware of their local economic development office and only a few businesses had received any benefits from this organization. There is a need for better awareness about these opportunities. After reading these articles, a business leader is able to make informed decisions about the merits of these programs and decide whether it makes sense for them to relocate or expand their businesses to Florida’s Economic Development Zones.

台灣的經濟主體是中小企業，而為培育具發展潛力的新興企業，國內自工研院創業育成中心於民國85年首創之後，已陸續成立了四十多個育成中心。育成中心是對有企業家精神之中小企業提供可以利用的空間、共同的支援服務，以及金融、行銷、管理方面的諮詢服務等，希望能夠對創業期，也就是最困難時的中小企業提供協助，以助其成長。因此「育成中心」此一觀念系統立即被有效的引進、吸收與實行，並已具相當成果。 本研究以國內育成中心此一創新機制，就其創立的過程，從國外育成中心的概念引進、國內相關機制的規劃與建立、開發主體的資源整合、對創業廠商育成服務的提供、到營運經驗的交流與擴散，將知識管理的觀念，應用在其活動中，嘗試來描繪創新育成中心知識管理的雛形。 本研究採個案研究法，以較早涉入育成中心事務的幾個單位—經濟部中小企業處、工研院創業育成中心、台大創新育成中心、成大創新育成中心、元智創新育成中心等為研究對象，希望探究以知識管理為內涵的創新育成中心如何運作。主要研究發現與結論有： 1.育成中心的概念主要來自國外，藉著到各國育成中心及其規劃組織進行實地參觀訪問，了解不同的育成中心發展的情境與實務經營的經驗，作為國內各育成中心規劃與發展的借鏡。 2.育成中心的建構，首先藉由「替代學習」引進國外育成中心管理之模式取得範例，然後再藉由「經驗學習」在過程中不斷吸收經驗並改進。知識的引進主要賴由大學育成中心所擁有的知識資源、管道與設備，藉由整合各種有形無形的知識資源來提供一個培育進駐廠商的環境。而對於進駐企業、開發主體內部其他單位、或其他關係人的回饋，育成中心加以分析或利用。育成中心維持在一個時常改變的狀態，配合實務營運的需要，不斷地變動其結構、作業程序、網路等。 3.育成中心的知識加值工作，依「人員互動依賴性」與「工作的複雜性」的高低，區分為：交易型、專家型、整合型、及合作型等四個類型。交易型工作為一般行政支援服務，育成中心將其制式化、標準化為進駐企業提供有效率的軟硬體服務。專家型工作乃是提供企業所需專業知識諮詢的管道，利用大學內教授、顧問或相關專業人員的引介，為進駐廠商提供各種知識的獲得與幫助；而育成中心也須對各類專業知識的進行盤點與聯絡。整合型工作以整合開發主體各部門與外界資金來源管道為主。合作型工作主要是跨機構組織、不同領域專業知識整合的工作模式，包括進駐審查與評估、整合專業知識資源進行輔導、擔任與政府或法令衝突時的協調者、輔助取得政府優惠等工作。 4.育成中心的知識流通可藉由：聯誼會進行經驗交流、不斷擴展人脈關係、舉辦研討會及座談會以交流分享、建立資料庫以數位化、範本化出版流傳。 5.育成中心的知識資本分為：人力資本、結構資本、與顧客資本。人力資本包括開發主體高階主管、育成中心經理人、各領域專家、教授、開發主體內高素質人才、人脈網絡等。結構資本是開發主體中的行政資源系統與無形的組織文化，協助育成中心的資源整合與運作。育成中心的顧客資本主要是進駐的新創企業與已畢業企業，在培育的互動過程中，得到他們意見的回饋與經驗的交流。