The Effects of Knowledge Spillovers, Incubators and Accelerator Programmes on the Product Innovation of High-Tech Start-Ups: A Mixed Methods Approach

The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KTSE) focuses on exploring how entrepreneurs use uncommercialised knowledge spillovers into funding a new venture. This phenomenon explores the role of geographical proximity on the exploration of entrepreneurial opportunities that result in the creation of start-ups that promote the evaluation of the economic growth in regions. However, the definition of knowledge spillovers and the mechanisms measurements to evaluate high-tech entrepreneurs during the first years of operation continues to be an elusive research area in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. This doctoral thesis seeks to shed light on the effects of knowledge spillovers, incubators, and accelerators on high-tech start-ups performance and survival. Knowledge Spillovers research focuses on the effects of economics and the characteristics of countries on start-ups. However, there is a clear gap in stating a definition of knowledge spillovers and taxonomy with other disciplines. Research so far assumes that entrepreneurs automatically absorb knowledge spillovers. This work takes a different approach by identifying the processes, mechanisms and companies that facilitate using knowledge spillovers towards innovation. The doctoral research focused on obtaining primary data from entrepreneurs at the individual level. The study conducted a sequential mixed method exploratory design to empirically develop a model that identifies the types of knowledge spillovers used by companies at the seed and growth stages. A qualitative phase conducted a multiple-case study approach involving 32 semi-structured interviews with chief executive officers and co-founders of high-tech start-ups that attended incubator and accelerator programmes in Greater London, United Kingdom. The resultant conceptual model identified the start-up's strategic decisions to form alliances and partnerships through accelerator programmes, incubators and networking events. The results also suggest that entrepreneurs are likely to allocate Research and Development (R&D) budgets to hire human capital and invest in training to implement information technologies that allow them to overcome geographical proximity and engage in product innovation. The qualitative phase's objective was to identify the mechanisms, processes, definitions of knowledge spillovers, and to guide factor analysis to generalise the findings. The qualitative findings guided the development of incoming and network knowledge spillovers formative constructs that evaluate alliances with organisations and information sources. The results led to quantitative models' development to evaluate the start-up's absorptive capacity and product innovation. The quantitative phase conducted a validation and generalisation of the qualitative model using factor analysis from a sample of 556 founders of high and medium-tech start-ups operating in the United Kingdom. The findings highlighted that tacit and explicit knowledge spillovers positively affect the company's creation during the process of potential absorptive capacity. The results suggested that the entrepreneur valuation of the business idea based on their experience, or by conducting market research through interviews, surveys, and asking experts in the field. The entrepreneurial journey is supported by incubators or accelerator programmes through networking events and the provision of headquarters. The activities undertaken in these programmes provide access to investment from venture capitalists, and headquarters for start-ups to run their operations. This process leads to the development of alliances and partnerships that enable access to knowledge spillovers. Entrepreneurs wound to take the managerial decisions to hire highly skilled human capital and incorporate technological tools and conduct R&D. Furthermore, the model three variant of KST-QNCM proves that the founder's start-ups type of industry's background and academic qualifications influence start-ups operations and objectives. The research's main contribution to knowledge is the developed Knowledge Spillovers model of High-Tech Start-ups (KMS-HTS). The model states propositions and the statistical effects from constructs and variables during the phases of identifying the business idea and creation of the company, establishment and development, and scaling up and the company's future. The model provides a clear description of entrepreneurs' processes and mechanisms to implement knowledge spillovers towards innovation. The model also provides a taxonomy and sources of knowledge under the classification of network and incoming knowledge spillovers that can be implemented in disciplines not linked to economic and econometric models. The thesis provides strong empirical evidence on different approaches taken by entrepreneurs based on the type of industry. The model revealed that high-technology start-ups follow a unidirectional process of absorption and implementation of knowledge spillovers to develop new products through exploratory innovation. Thus, high-tech start-ups become potential sources of knowledge spillovers for entrepreneurs and companies through R&D that generate research outputs, patents, and academic publications. On the other hand, Medium-high technology and knowledge-intensive companies aim to engage in a product development cycle focused on developing a product prototype from existing technology to participate in local and international markets. Under this category, companies can engage in exploratory or exploitative innovation by using information technologies to acquire additional knowledge spillovers

Hierarchical Role-Based Access Control with Homomorphic Encryption for Database as a Service

Database as a service provides services for accessing and managing customers data which provides ease of access, and the cost is less for these services. There is a possibility that the DBaaS service provider may not be trusted, and data may be stored on untrusted server. The access control mechanism can restrict users from unauthorized access, but in cloud environment access control policies are more flexible. However, an attacker can gather sensitive information for a malicious purpose by abusing the privileges as another user and so database security is compromised. The other problems associated with the DBaaS are to manage role hierarchy and secure session management for query transaction in the database. In this paper, a role-based access control for the multitenant database with role hierarchy is proposed. The query is granted with least access privileges, and a session key is used for session management. The proposed work protects data from privilege escalation and SQL injection. It uses the partial homomorphic encryption (Paillier Encryption) for the encrypting the sensitive data. If a query is to perform any operation on sensitive data, then extra permissions are required for accessing sensitive data. Data confidentiality and integrity are achieved using the role-based access control with partial homomorphic encryption.Comment: 11 Pages,4 figures, Proceedings of International Conference on ICT for Sustainable Developmen

Liberalismo y división provincial

La división provincial decretada por Javier de Burgos en 30 de noviembre de 1833 que, con ligeras modificaciones, continúa vigente en la actualidad, ha sido enjuiciada negativamente por la casi totalidad de quienes se han ocupado de ella, en particular por administrativistas y geógrafos. La acusación más repetida, convertida en un lugar común político, es la de que fue una división artificial, realizada poco menos que a partir de cero, sin tener en cuenta la geografía ni la historia. Las investigaciones históricas llegan a conclusiones diferentes. Han demostrado, en primer lugar, que la obra de Javier de Burgos no fue una decisión repentina ni de ejecución expeditiva, sino el resultado de un proceso que, sobre la base de la división provincial del Antiguo Régimen, arranca de las Cortes de Cádiz y, pasando por las del Trienio Constitucional, culmina en el citado decreto de 1833. En segundo lugar, que el proceso fue meditado, discutido, razonado y coherente con los objetivos político-administrativos propuestos: definir el marco territorial de las nuevas instituciones, la dimensión espacial del nuevo Estado. En este trabajo nos proponemos ampliar aquellas investigaciones con la aportación de fuentes inéditas, no utilizadas hasta ahora, y analizar la relación existente entre la implantación del régimen liberal y la utilización de la división provincial como uno de los instrumentos para conseguirla, mostrando la lógica interna del proceso, independiente­mente de cuál sea el juicio que merezcan los objetivos políticos a que sirvió

Magneto-elastic waves in crystals of magnetic molecules

We study magneto-elastic effects in crystals of magnetic molecules. Coupled equations of motion for spins and sound are derived and the possibility of strong resonant magneto-acoustic coupling is demonstrated. Dispersion laws for interacting linear sound and spin excitations are obtained for bulk and surface acoustic waves. We show that ultrasound can generate inverse population of spin levels. Alternatively, the decay of the inverse population of spin levels can generate ultrasound. Possibility of solitary waves of the magnetization accompanied by the elastic twists is demonstrated.Comment: 8 PR pages, 3 figure

Elementos descriptivos de la fonética del saboyano.

Sin resume

A Taxonomy of Knowledge Spillovers for High-Tech Start-ups Development

Entrepreneurship is considered of utmost importance for national economic and industrial growth. A leading theory related to economic development is the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE), which aims to uncover the effects that economic agents have on the creation of new companies. By following the KSTE process, companies can commercialize and implement newly acquired knowledge in the market more quickly. Typically, economic growth evaluation is conducted at the country or regional level through global monitoring indexes, assessment on the generation of patents, and identification of the number of companies created. However, since knowledge is sometimes unattached to a physical document or item, it remains necessary to clarify a taxonomy and flow of knowledge spillovers at the individual level for start-ups in their first three to five years of development from the time that the company is funded. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss possible strategies for evaluating the effects of knowledge spillovers on start-ups in high-tech sections which, in turn, will aid the decision-making process of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)

The Effects of Knowledge Spillovers and Accelerator Programs on the Product Innovation of High-Tech Start-Ups: A Multiple Case Study

The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE) explores the effects that new knowledge and proximity have on the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities and the resultant creation of start-ups. This paper aims to identify the types of knowledge spillovers that affect entrepreneurs in the early stages of start-up development. A conceptual model is proposed, using a multi-case study approach involving High-Tech start-ups that have attended accelerator and incubator programmes in Greater London, United Kingdom (UK). The research involved 32 semistructured interviews with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and co-founders of start-up companies. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurs are influenced by various forms of knowledge spillover which assist in determining the strategic decision of the company, in terms of formation, including partnerships or alliances, allocation of Research and Development (R&D) budgets, and engagement in product innovation. Further observations confirm that High-tech start-ups focus on a fast pace of constant product innovation to cover identified gaps in the market. One significant finding is that start-ups use various technological platforms to access knowledge spillovers which challenges the ideas of geographical proximity present in existing KSTE understanding

A Taxonomy of Knowledge Spillovers for High-Tech Start-ups Development

Entrepreneurship is considered of utmost importance for national economic and industrial growth. A leading theory related to economic development is the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE), which aims to uncover the effects that economic agents have on the creation of new companies. By following the KSTE process, companies can commercialize and implement newly acquired knowledge in the market more quickly. Typically, economic growth evaluation is conducted at the country or regional level through global monitoring indexes, assessment on the generation of patents, and identification of the number of companies created. However, since knowledge is sometimes unattached to a physical document or item, it remains necessary to clarify a taxonomy and flow of knowledge spillovers at the individual level for start-ups in their first three to five years of development from the time that the company is funded. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss possible strategies for evaluating the effects of knowledge spillovers on start-ups in high-tech sections which, in turn, will aid the decision-making process of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)