GIIE Summit 2021

Visions, Missions, and Sustainable Business Models- Insights from Top-Performing Business Incubators, Accelerators & Competitions

1. Can you enlighten us with the most innovative business models that you have seen in the industry over the years?

2. The telecom and ICT companies have been bringing out various billing models and business models. Do you think they were innovating or disrupting OR just doing a trial and error model to identify the best solution.

3. How do you think start-ups should look at innovating over their business model?

4. What is the most important aspect that as an incubator you need to curate a start-up and make it a successful venture?

5. There was a trend to outsource the non-core functions to expert service providers and we saw a roll back after 5-6 years. Was it the right strategy to implement the outsourcing model in the 1st place? And if yes, why do you think there was a roll back after few years?

6. When it comes to social innovation does Business models have any role to play? If yes, what and if not, why?

7. As an incubator what is the most important aspect that you look for in a start-up before you decide to support them?

8. Will it be true if I say, many of the start-ups do not have a clear vision or purpose and just jump in with an idea or solution?

In a new knowledge-intensive economic landscape, firms need to access external knowledge sources due to their inability to generate all necessary knowledge on their own. The interaction with and learning from external knowledge sources implies that firms depend upon decisions and actions made by business partners and external support organizations.

1. How do you define the value of Innovation Eco-system?

2. How to derive greater value from the Innovation Eco-system?

3. Do you think business strategies directly or indirectly impact the outcome of value for Innovation Eco-system?

4. How to measure the value of Innovation Eco-system?

5. What are the key differences between business strategy formulations based on a single company vs. a wider innovation ecosystem perspective? In terms of:

a. Vision

b. Industry & Business Environment

c. Goal Setting

d. Resources & Capabilities

e. Organisations and Systems

6. How can the innovation ecosystem add social value/impact to the lower rung of the community?

Innovation ecosystems are a complex process that span the generation of ideas, their translation into products, and the commercialization of these products to a large scale. The success of this progression depends on multiple factors, such as a business culture that rewards entrepreneurship, risk-taking and a will to embrace change, a set of regulations and administrative norms that incentivize this attitude, a strong knowledge-generation sector (universities, research centres and laboratories), and collaboration between these knowledge centres and commercial businesses. Innovation can be successfully steered towards applications particularly valuable to society (e.g. green energy).

1. What were the innovation ecosystem-related priorities emerging from the past decade?

Entrepreneurial culture has strengthened in the past decade but has not resulted fully in the creation of new firms.

There is a lack of sustained creation of breakthrough technologies and, where there has been innovation, it has not been widely successful at delivering solutions to increasing energy consumption, managing emissions and meeting the demand for inclusive social services.

2. What are the priorities for innovation ecosystems to the revival of economies?

Expand public investments in R&D, and incentivize venture capital and R&D in private sector and the diffusion of existing technologies that support the creation of new firms and employment in "markets of tomorrow".

3. What are the priorities for innovation ecosystems to lead to the transformation of economies?

Incentivize and expand patient investments in research, innovation and invention that can create new “markets of tomorrow”.

Incentivize firms to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion to enhance creativity.

4. How can the innovation ecosystem add social impact to the society?

5. Economic development = Community development. What are your views?

6. How can innovation help in generating alternate income for people at the grass root levels?

Entrepreneurship competencies combine creativity, a sense of initiative, problem-solving, the ability to marshal resources, and financial and technological knowledge. These competencies enable entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial employees to provoke and adapt to change. They can be developed through entrepreneurship education and training that focus on promoting an entrepreneurial mind set and behaviours.

Schools, vocational and higher education institutions are increasingly developing these competencies in students by enriching their study programmes with dedicated entrepreneurship education courses, either as self-standing modules or embedded into curricula. Problem-based teaching and assessment methods are particularly successful.

Key priorities for public policy include introducing a progressive approach to entrepreneurship education over the student’s lifetime; specialised entrepreneurship education training and support for teachers; and strengthened business start-up support in vocational and higher education institutions, including linkages between education institutions and existing business support organisations.

Questions for discussion

1. How can government approaches to promoting entrepreneurship competencies be enhanced?

2. How can collaboration be achieved across relevant ministries?

3. What are current trends and gaps in developing entrepreneurship competencies from early levels of education to university?

4. How can links between entrepreneurship education and start-up support be strengthened?

5. How can the impact of entrepreneurship education and different entrepreneurship education approaches on business start-up and SME innovation performance be assessed?

6. How can entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurship attitudes be measured?

Lan transferred to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Viet Nam, taking on the role of Head of Exploration of the UNDP Viet Nam Accelerator Lab. She is in charge of scanning for new development trends and find partners for UNDP’s innovation projects.

No matter how great your business idea is, one essential element of start up success is your ability to obtain sufficient funding to start and grow the business. While many people finance their new companies with their own capital or by borrowing money from family or friends, there are other options available. But start up founders must understand that raising start up funding is never easy, and usually takes longer than anticipated.

1. How important it is for Start ups to get access to funding?

2. What are possible routes for accessing fund?

3. Type of Funding and its Pros & Cons

4. How to develop better access to funding for the Incubation Centre or Innovation Eco-system?

5. Role of crowdfunding platforms and its benefits

6. Linkages of Access to funding to Valuation of the company

Building your network is a key component to the ongoing success of your start up.

Starting a business is always going to be a difficult endeavor that requires a large number of factors to go in your favor. However, there are many things that you can do to increase your chances for success. If you've ever started your own business, you likely know how difficult it can be to start networking when you lack the networking experience. While networking can be difficult if you don't know what you're doing, it's highly valuable for any business and could be essential to the success of your start up.

Many start up have found their first successes through the network connections and referrals that they've built, which has allowed them to minimize the risk of failure. Building your network is a key component to the ongoing success of your start up, which means that you should focus your efforts on fostering a community of support through your peers and the surrounding business community. While you might be able to create the first elements of a business without a strong network, one of the major ways to build a sustainable and long-lasting successful business is by networking.

1. How important is it to have a strong network to find New Business, Referrals & investors?

2. Should partnership opportunities be considered as important?

3. What are the avenues to look for Mentorship and Support

4. Does networks help in Gaining Feedback & Ideas

5. How can networks help in Increased Access to Business Resources

6. How can we leverage our networks to Grow our Team with Top Talent and to Accelerate Learning

7. Networks should Help Others Succeed. What is your view on this?

1. How do you make these programs attractive to the employees and other contributors in corporates?

2. How do you make it attractive to start-ups?

3. What are the criteria to short list relevant start-ups into the incubation program?

4. What kind of support can student-preneurs expect from the incubation program?

5. How do we educate the participants about the importance of IP/Patents?

6. What should a start-up look for when considering an incubation program?

7. What are the common pit-falls and how should a start-up prepare to deal with them?

Mastering Innovation: Strategy, Process, and Tools enables you to achieve success by showing you how to:

Deploy the technology, tools, and principles to effectively recognize, evaluate and validate new opportunities

Create a corporate culture that fosters ongoing, company-wide creativity

Build an architecture that allows innovation to thrive throughout your company

Successfully invest for future growth while managing the risks of disruption

Perfect your own creative problem-solving skills while developing these skills across your organization

Determine when to enact radical innovation from within, and when to seek it externally

Utilize design thinking and lean validation methods to hasten your response to opportunities