Incubation in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

14. Ireland

Abstract

Public sector entities – in particular Enterprise Ireland – are closely involved in Ireland’s incubation system, as operators and funders of some of the countries’ major incubation programmes. Promoting internationalisation is deeply embedded in the startup support system, with programmes explicitly targeting startups with high internationalisation potential and providing dedicated supports to help them to realise this potential. While most Irish incubators are sector agnostic, Bioinnovate at the University of Galway provides an excellent example of how specialised incubators can flourish by tapping into local advantages.

Overview of incubation system

As of 2022, there were an estimated 69 incubators and accelerators in Ireland, employing an estimated 642 people (Social Innovation Monitor, 2022[1]). The total number appears to have grown substantially in recent years, with the majority (58%) having been created after 2013. The majority of Ireland’s incubators are situated in Dublin, the South West and the West of Ireland (Social Innovation Monitor, 2022[1]). The high number of incubators and accelerators in the South West region can be attributed to the multiple incubators and accelerators in Cork, while the West’s strong coverage can be attributed to the influence of Galway.

Enterprise Ireland is the main government agency responsible for promoting startups in Ireland and is directly involved in many incubation initiatives. For example, Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers Programme, which is based in 18 technical universities, aims to support fairly nascent entrepreneurs in developing their business ideas through three programme phases.

Another set of important actors are Dogpatch Labs, Republic of Work, RDI Hub and Portershed. As a publicly-funded consortium, these four private incubators operate the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) – Ireland’s national accelerator programme. The incubators in the consortium also provide a range of other incubation and acceleration supports.

A large amount of incubation also takes place at universities. The university-based incubators are better able to connect with research and technology than other incubators, and thus play an important role in generating Ireland’s pipeline of high impact startups and scaleups. These incubators support the creation and growth of knowledge-intensive businesses by providing key business development supports including mentorship as well as access to the host institution's academic and technological expertise.

Ireland’s four Business Innovation Centres (BICs) – Furthr, AxisBIC (Cork), South East BIC, and WestBIC – also provide a range of incubation supports to Irish startups, including through delivering Enterprise Ireland’s Prep4Seed Investor Readiness programme, which is a 12-week intensive programme supporting cohorts of around 13 startups and culminating in a pitch to angel and venture capital investors.

Overall, Irish incubators place a strong focus on providing mentoring, entrepreneurship training, and management training. This is evidenced by the expansive mentor networks boasted by some of the leading entities involved in the incubation system, such as Enterprise Ireland and Dogpatch Labs. The major incubation programmes are often relatively sector agnostic. For example, Launchbox at Trinity College Dublin, Dogpatch Labs and the NDRC each welcome startups from a broad range of different sectors. There are, however, some notable examples of sector-specialised programmes in Ireland, such as BioInnovate at the University of Galway.

Ireland’s incubation system is characterised by its bottom-up approach and “no wrong door” ethos, whereby entrepreneurs and startups are encouraged to move freely across the system to find appropriate supports. Among the different organisations operating incubation programmes, there is generally a collaborative ethos and a willingness to share resources and experiences. Networking and peer learning generally take place on an informal basis. For example, staff from Enterprise Ireland or leading incubators may visit other organisations in the ecosystem to provide advice or training on an ad-hoc basis.

Major policies for incubation

The government supports the incubation system through five main channels:

• Creating publicly operated incubation programmes. The most prominent example of this is Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers Programme.

• Funding non-governmental entities to operate incubation programmes. The major example of this is the EUR 17.5 million, 5-year contract awarded to the consortium of Dogpatch Labs, PorterShed, Republic of Work and the RDI Hub in December 2020 to operate the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC). Meanwhile, Enterprise Ireland provides funding to numerous incubation entities, including EUR 2 million in funding in 2022 to Ireland’s four Business Innovation Centres (BICs).

• Facilitating access to wider incubation supports. Enterprise Ireland supports Irish startups in making applications for international accelerators, namely the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator.

• Incubation in publicly-supported universities. While the government does not specifically fund university-based incubators themselves, it does fund and support the overall university system through which the incubation programmes are delivered, including through public programmes to support research commercialisation that can build the pipeline of clients for university incubators.

• Signposting to government supports. Enterprise Ireland holds office hours within incubators, whereby a representative advises companies on potential challenges they are facing and relevant supports that are available.

Ireland’s incubation system is closely tied to Enterprise Ireland’s high potential startups (HPSU) support programme, which targets businesses with the potential to develop innovative products or services for sale on international markets and the potential to create 10 jobs and EUR 1 million in sales within 3 years of starting up. The HPSU support itself, while not strictly an incubation programme, provides many of the types of supports that would be found in an incubator, such as mentoring, matchmaking, networking and funding opportunities.

Also involved in the startup system are the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), which are regionally balanced across the country and act as a first point of call for those who want to start a business. While, the LEOs’ mission is to support development of all startups, regardless of their internationalisation, growth or innovation potential, some businesses are signposted from the LEOs towards Enterprise Ireland, such that the LEOs themselves feed the HPSU system. Enterprise Ireland has also developed a series of programmes to help to increase the number of academic spinouts that become HPSU clients, including the Commercialisation Fund, the Business Partners programmes, and the KT Boost programme.

Conclusions and lessons for other countries

Public entities such as Enterprise Ireland provide substantial support across the incubation system. This, coupled with a high degree of political buy-in towards the agenda of stimulating the creation and growth of high potential startups and scaleups in Ireland, has resulted in numerous successful incubation initiatives across the country. While challenges and complexities exist within the system, there is a willingness within government to adapt and innovate, which has supported the design and implementation of more effective policies for incubation and acceleration. Among the different players in the incubation system, there is also a highly collaborative ethos and a willingness to share resources and experiences. Informal networking and peer learning takes place regularly, with for example, staff from Enterprise Ireland or leading incubators visiting other organisations in the ecosystem to provide advice or training on an ad-hoc basis.

The relatively small size of Ireland’s domestic market means that there is a high degree of overlap between the concepts of scaling and internationalisation: few startups will scale without internationalising, and equally few startups will internationalise without scaling. The result is that internationalisation considerations are mainstreamed across many of the supports offered to startups by incubators and accelerators in Ireland. As an example, traditional networking and mentoring supports often take on an international angle in the context of Irish incubation and acceleration programmes. In addition, many incubators and accelerators include internationalisation potential within the core criteria for admission onto their programmes, resulting in a funnelling of support towards startups with global potential. This mainstreaming of internationalisation supports provides lessons for other countries on how to steer an incubation and acceleration system towards strategic goals.

The success of the BioInnovate programme in Galway is also an excellent illustration of how sector-specialised programmes can boost the pipeline of startups and scaleups in the sector. Crucially, however, the success of such programmes is conditional on them being situated in a wider entrepreneurial ecosystem that provides the entrepreneurial experience, pool of mentors, and other enabling resources needed for a specialised incubator or accelerator to flourish. In the case of BioInnovate, this was provided by Galway’s thriving medtech ecosystem, which includes many serial entrepreneurs and multinational companies in the sector.

References

[1] Social Innovation Monitor (2022), Full Report on Incubators and Accelerators in Ireland.