The efficiency of incubators in the creation of innovative enterprises: The case of Tunisia

By Alain Fayolle, Amira Ben Salah, Imen Ben Salah, Lotfi Belkacem
English

Innovation is a key element in the creation of new economic and social wealth. The innovation process is very often related to the emergence of new innovative and technological firms and to entrepreneurial motivations and behaviors. Tunisia is engaged in a dynamic public policy to develop innovation and technological entrepreneurship. To that effect, in each region of Tunisia technological incubators are set up and seen as powerful structures to help entrepreneurs and facilitate their entrepreneurial processes, from the opportunity identification to the launching of new business activities. Keeping in mind the importance and the stakes of technological entrepreneurship as a social and economic phenomenon, this article aims to improve understanding on the efficiency of such structures in the Tunisian context. A survey of 120 nascent entrepreneurs incubated in 11 Tunisian incubators was conducted. Results show that the innovation systems at the local level are still in an emergent phase and should be reinforced to bring more and stronger help to nascent technological entrepreneurs. JEL code: M13

Keywords

  • technological start-up
  • incubation system
  • business assistance
  • technological innovation
  • incubator assessment
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