Studying the governmental, industrial, and academic partnerships between incubation centers for furthering innovation: Evidence from biotechnology firms in Singapore

Abstract

In Singapore, the number of incubation centers is rapidly increasing to fulfill the demands of the associated audience. These centers are vital in providing important facilities and capitals for new start-ups. This study aimed at identifying the governmental, industrial, and academic partnerships between incubation centers for furthering innovation in biotechnology firms in Singapore. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five employers from top management in biotechnology firms in Singapore. After the collection data, qualitative analysis was conducted in two steps (step 1: thematic analysis and step 2: word cloud analysis). The results obtained from this study showed that incubation centers play an important role in establishing early-stage biotech start-ups, promoting bio-entrepreneurship. It has also been observed that different challenges are faced during incubation process which include legal issues, infrastructure issues, strategic alliances issues and others. Moreover, the governmental, industrial, and academic partnerships between incubation centers have proven to be effective in promoting innovation processes in biotechnology firms.