The Role of Accelerators in Startup Ecosystems

Abstract

The following research papers have been developed with advanced students in the last couple of months at University of Bremen, Germany. All the three papers contribute to the overarching topic of accelerators in startup ecosystems and, thus, fit nicely under one thematic umbrella.

Lisa Ahuis, Irfan Cheema, Franziska Otten, Chantal-Laureen Pensky and Vanessa Vogt start this research paper by specifying the role of accelerators as drivers of a startup ecosystem. The raise the following research question: how can accelerators influence the institutional framework in ecosystems as change agents? Based on a comprehensive literature review and conceptual foundations, they apply institutional theory to specify institutional change and develop preliminary causalities to be checked by an empirical approach that rests on grounded theory.

Caspar Michael Majewski analyzes based on a Master’s Thesis previously written the social capital acceleration in startup ecosystems with a focus on the role of business accelerators. There are different capitals provided in startup ecosystems. It seems that social capital is of pivotal relevance and deserves much more attention than paid to date. Insofar, the paper targets a well-chosen research gap and followed by this research question: what role do business accelerators play in the acceleration of social capital within startup ecosystems? Majewski responds to this question by an empirical research design that rests on a case study. The empirical background is the dynamic and well-developed startup ecosystem of Berlin.

Jannik Blischke addresses the role of a private business accelerator in an emerging startup ecosystem. The paper is based on a Bachelor’s Thesis written prior to paper development. The empirical background is Bremen where the ecosystem is still in an infant, but moving state. The Kraftwerk City Accelerator is the targeted accelerator. To specify the role of this accelerator, Blischke refers to a model of capitals of startup ecosystems developed by Juling et al. (2016). The empirical fieldwork rests predominantly on interviews and, besides that, on observations and secondary data sources.