University incubators and entrepreneurial universities: a case study of the process of setting up a university incubator in a developing country

Houssou, Ulvick [ICN Business School, University of Lorraine, France] Schulz, Klaus-Peter [ICN Business School, University of Lorraine, France ] Biga Diambeidou, Mahamadou [UCL] Abihona, Serge [Foundation of the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin]

Abstract: Universities can play a role in promoting frugal innovation by encouraging the valorisation and transfer of research to the socio-economic world as well as the development of skills related to the employability of students. Specifically, through the practices it promotes, an entrepreneurial university can encourage innovations that will benefit vulnerable communities and act in response to their challenges. In a context of weak financial support from public authorities, the University of Abomey-Calavi set up a project to promote entrepreneurship that advances frugal innovation. The present study bases its approach on identifying the actors and factors that favoured the development of its incubation program, five years after its implementation. The same applies to the identification of the frugal innovation practices that it puts in place. The results show, among other things, that the university created a specific organisational framework, with a relatively long incubation period, and mobilising resources from local stakeholders.