Exploration of virtual incubators and development of incubator services for digital entrepreneurship : Receiving Entrepreneurial support from anywhere in the world?

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is frequently linked together with aspects of economic growth and development. In the last 40 years, an increasing number of incubators and service providers have been created to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation. However, in the increasingly globalized and digitalized world, few virtual and digital initiatives have successfully been studied to encourage and facilitate entrepreneurship. This study aims to understand further how digital and virtual products and services can aid entrepreneurs in venture creation and potentially add to an updated and broader understanding of the potential in a virtual incubator program. By looking at three categories of entrepreneurial support actors, traditional public incubators, private incubators, and digital service providers. 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain more in-depth knowledge of how they operate. More specifically, this study is conducted with actors that share the vision to assist startup in their initial phase and create a deeper understanding of what the incubator offers to startups and the possibility to adapt and improve their process using digital tools and external partnerships. Results indicate that the use of digital tools is varied. Incubators are leaning towards relying more on social media for reaching potential entrepreneurs and ideas, and further that a factor of validating every aspect of the startup is essential to promote success. The incubator mainly acts as a mediator of network, funding, coaching, and finding talents has during the COVID-19 pandemic moved most of their activities from physical to online. The issue of trust-building is, however, still prominent, and the incubators are looking for ways and tools to improve on this issue. Implications of this study have the potential to lower barriers to entrepreneurship, where entrepreneurial support becomes less dependent on their local ecosystem and geographical factors. Future research is encouraged to classify virtual incubators and a further look at specific cases and pursuit more longitudinal studies to fully understand the potential effects and implications. This study contributes to the field of incubators and entrepreneurial support and the ongoing digital paradigm shift.