The Role of the Academic Incubator as an Acceleration Tool to Foster Entrepreneurship and Academic-Industry Connections

Academic incubators are innovative ecosystems that foster strategic partnerships between academia - industry. By providing resources, infrastructure, mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to academic research and expertise, academic incubators help bridge the gap between research and commercialization, fostering innovation and contributing to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The main purpose of this paper is to show the role of the academic incubator to foster entrepreneurship and academia-industry connections. This study presents a conceptual framework of an academic incubator by describing the key components, processes, and relationships that characterize it. It presents a structured approach to understanding how these entities operate together and contribute to fostering entrepreneurship and enhancing academic-industry connections. The paper describes the main mechanisms to develop a successful academic incubator. In addition, it describes the impact of an academic incubator to foster entrepreneurship and academic-industry connections in various dimensions, as well as the challenges and limitations faced by academic incubators. This paper presents a noble contribution to the development of academic incubators, as well as to understanding their impact in the development of innovative ideas, startups, foster entrepreneurship and Academia-Industry connections. Received: 2 August 2024 / Accepted: 13 November 2024 / Published: 3 December 2024