University Incubators and the Likelihood of Women Entrepreneurship

The principal question we ask in this study is to what extent structural characteristics in the entrepreneurship eco-system surrounding incubators influence the likelihood that women may engage in the commercialization of university science by becoming incubatees. We embed our arguments in institutional theory and develop hypotheses related to (1) the share of female faculty at the closest university, (2) gender norms in the primary industry of the new venture project, and (3) the prior experience of the incubator in dealing with women incubatees. The empirical data comes from a unique database consisting of over 1400 venture projects in 19 Swedish incubators that are part of the nationally financed incubator program. We select and examine 793 venture projects that made an entry into one of the incubators between 2006 and 2009. The findings provide ample empirical support for its hypotheses. Based on the findings, the paper also address implications for how incubators and universities can build up structural capital to promote the rate of female academic entrepreneurs in the regional and national economy.