Strategic Importance and Sustainable Governance of High-Tech Business Incubators: Evidence from Serbia

Abstract

This paper analyzes symbiotic relationship between high-tech start-ups, governance of business incubators dedicated to developing them and overall impact on Serbian economy and tech landscape. It was written based on previously conducted research, relevant industry reports, a review of academic literature and many articles on the business incubation. As high-tech business incubators are a part of economic development, this paper aims to examine the role of business incubator on SMEs and high-tech start-ups and explore which types of support drive this impact, but also to investigate impact on wider economic and social landscape in Republic of Serbia. Furthermore, the overall benefits of government investing in incubators are elaborated with review of private vs public ownership and differences in opportunities that they provide. The need for strategic governance and systematic support is rationalized by inspecting efficiency and effectiveness through large set of KPIs. Results should provide proper model for development of innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurship support by using business incubator as a tool. If managed properly, incubators can become a key component of national development strategy since they can help high-tech companies to survive and develop in MOST critical initial phase, by providing wide range of services such as management support, financial resources, technical services or simply offering adequate office space.