Feasibility Study for Startup Accelerator Ignition Program

该项目旨在将现有创业加速器的知识和经验转移到不同地区、不同技术重点的新成立的创业加速器中。创业加速器已被证明可以增强早期的企业，使它们更可行、更有利可图、更快。美国各地的科技中心都在制定战略，希望成为各自行业的“硅谷”，而创业加速器往往是实现这一雄心的核心。创业加速器还通过在国内开发关键技术，减少对海外供应链的依赖，为国防做出贡献。然而，初创公司往往难以筹集到足够的资金来实现商业化。创业加速器通过提供相关的业务发展培训和资金支持来解决这个问题。毕业生在吸引投资者、发展伙伴和资助提供者方面更成功。也就是说，新启动的加速器面临着自身的挑战，需要从零开始创建课程和最佳实践。研究人员将根据现有加速器的经验，研究一个集中的培训和课程中心，是否可以在不同地区以不同的技术重点加快新的创业加速器的发展。培训将优先考虑多样性、公平性和包容性，指导选拔过程。鼓励对科学、技术、工程和数学的兴趣的学术推广也将受到鼓励。有希望的结果将导致更多参与者中心和数据的更大规模的进一步研究。该项目旨在满足三个技术目标：确定创业加速器应该包含的有效特征，确定与创业加速器项目毕业相关的技术初创企业的特征。确定NENY加速器是否比没有此特定课程的普通加速器表现更好。培训的有效性将由行业和市场专家通过自我评估和外部评分来衡量。为了尽量减少确认偏差，项目团队将执行一个流程，选择一组早期企业作为创业加速器的参与者；其他人作为对照组，不接受培训。在六个月的实验期间，对照组的公司在完成所需的调查后将获得一笔津贴。研究人员将比较参与者和控制公司的得分，以确定相对的表现差异。研究人员将通过将新加速器与几乎同时建立的其他区域技术加速器进行比较来评估其性能。研究人员将与行业专家合作建立比较标准。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to transfer knowledge and experience from an existing startup accelerator to a newly formed one in a different region with a different technology focus. Startup accelerators are proven to enhance early-stage businesses, making them more viable, profitable, and faster. Technology hubs around the United States are strategizing to become the "Silicon Valley" of their industry, and a startup accelerator is often central to that ambition. Startup accelerators also contribute to national defense by developing critical technology domestically, reducing dependence on overseas supply chains. However, startups often struggle to raise sufficient funds to reach commercialization. Startup accelerators address this issue by offering relevant business development training and financial support. Graduates are more successful at attracting investors, development partners, and grant providers. That said, a newly-launched accelerator faces its own challenges, needing to create a curriculum and best practices from scratch. The researchers will examine whether a centralized training and curriculum hub, based on an existing accelerator's experience, could expedite the development of a new startup accelerator in a different region with a different technology focus. The training will prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, guiding the selection process. Academic outreach to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering, and math will also be encouraged. Promising results will lead to further research on a larger scale with more participant hubs and data.The project seeks to meet three technical objectives: identify features that a startup accelerator should include to be effective, identify features of a technology startup business that correlate with graduating a startup accelerator program. Determine whether the NENY accelerator performed better than average accelerator without this particular curriculum. The effectiveness of the training will be measured using a rubric of self-assessment and external scoring by industry and market experts. To minimize confirmation bias, the project team will implement a process for selecting one group of early-stage businesses to be participants in the startup accelerator; the others serve as controls who do not receive the training. Companies in the control group will receive a stipend upon completing the surveys required throughout the six-month duration of the experiments. The researchers will compare the scores of the participant and control companies to identify relative performance differences. The researchers will evaluate the performance of the new accelerator by comparing it with other regional technology accelerators founded near the same time. Researchers will establish criteria for comparison in cooperation with industry experts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.