Incubators and Accelerators – Encouraging Innovation and Advancing Business

Innovation surges strong and deep through the orthopedic industry and is an OrthoWorx initiative or focus area.

As such, we strive to attract and grow the entrepreneurial spirit of Warsaw and Kosciusko County. Two topics currently in the forefront of innovation are incubators and accelerators. You may wonder “what’s the difference?” or “why does it matter?” There are benefits to understanding and supporting innovation in a community.

There are many ways incubators and accelerators can function. Many times they operate together in varying capacities. Fernando Sepulveda of Inc.com, a website devoted to entrepreneurs and business owners, tangibly illustrates this using the concept of a life cycle. Each business life cycle has three parts: childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

Incubator: An incubator correlates to the “childhood” stage of the business life cycle. It is a program or an entity designed to aid entrepreneurs by providing various resources and services, depending on the needs of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur who is unsure of where to go or who to contact can approach an incubator when the business plan is in its fledgling stage and be “plugged in” to investors, financial advisors and other valuable resources.

Sometimes an incubator offers a physical space where the entrepreneur can operate and grow the business. Incubators are not, however, open to every single entrepreneur. Individuals or groups that want the help of an incubator must apply and be accepted. Once the incubator approves an application, the time spent in the program is dependent upon the type of business and where the entrepreneur is in the process of development and ultimate commercialization.

Accelerator: An accelerator focuses on the “adolescent” stage of the life cycle. An incubator takes a business that has a reasonably sturdy foundation and assists, again, in providing connections and resources to further develop the business and help it to prosper. Usually, businesses involved in accelerators do not require physical space. So, an accelerator can operate virtually or “without walls.” Similar to incubators, accelerators choose what projects are accepted. Oftentimes, these ventures are enrolled into a program that lasts approximately three to six months and focuses on refining the business operation, vision and strategy.

Together, incubators and accelerators work to ensure the success of start-up businesses in its “adulthood.” Businesses that mature to adulthood of the life cycle remain in the community. This may lead to job creation, revitalization of neighborhoods where they may reside, new innovations and commercialized new technologies. This, of course, benefits the community through a strengthened economy.

George Robertson, President, Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation states, “If we are to retain or capture young talent that needs the freedom to innovate, we need to provide the support infrastructure—real estate, entrepreneurial, technical, financial. If we are to encourage those niche market product developments that major companies are not interested in pursuing, we need to do the same for our support structures. This is why a collaborative community effort to create an incubator/accelerator is important to the future of our community.”

Kosciusko County’s rich history of innovation in life sciences—both the medical device industry and agricultural industry—provides a wealth of resources to entrepreneurs. “A key mission of economic development, and a key focus of OrthoWorx, is the retention and recruitment of young talent,” states Robinson. “The value of incubation and acceleration programs is that they encourage, welcome and assist talent to start businesses in a community. They lessen the risks of starting a business and increase the chances of success and growth.”