A Development of Establishment and Operation Models of University Business Incubation

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to develop an establishment and an operation models of university business incubation (UBI), and to evaluate those two models. The strategies used in establishing the university business incubation were recruiting qualified initiators and a proper number of experts with specific expertise whose job was to write project proposal, followed by training those experts about UBI and how to write proposals of specific fields as well as having them do study visits at various places. After the proposals were approved by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the writers of each proposal were to put their proposals into practice in Rajamungala University of Technology Krungthep (RMUTK). However, those projects had to be approved by the university president and the university board before implementation. According to the HEC, the proposed projects were considered as excellent and RMUTK had enough potential to implement UBI because it could establish and operate a UBI unit faster than the criteria set by HEC. This resulted in the HEC’s grant and support.
With respect to the strategies for developing an incubation model, the following steps were taken: Firstly, an operation committee sought for entrepreneurs who were willing to join the project. Then the entrepreneurs together with career counselors and business service providers co-operated in laying out business plans in groups of specific business. After that the entrepreneurs were to choose a location for their business outside UBI under UBI’s support. The trainees’ advisors were allowed to co-invest. The advisors and the business service providers had to follow-up and supervise them periodically.
According to HEC committee’s assessment, the establishment and the operation of the developed UBI models accorded with all 3 HEC’s KPI criteria. For efficiency assessment of the establishment and the operation of the UBI, it was found that both were successful at a high level (93.64%), which surpassed the criteria of 85% set by HEC’s Mentoring System in 2007. In addition, the satisfactory assessment of the UBI establishment and operation models revealed that those related to UBI activities were satisfied with the models at the highest level ( = 4.56).