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Abstract

Students at Jönköping University are encouraged to start their own businesses in parallel with their studies, and the university offers support as part of its encouragement. Jönköping students currently start up around 50 firms each year. These start-ups account for about 15 per cent of the new firms in the local community and they also bring other benefits to the region. Support for the student businesses is provided by the Business Lab section of Science Park Jönköping. The support system is open and student-driven: it is always available, there is no selection of ideas or people, and its direction and pace are to a large degree determined by the students themselves. In addition, the general business coaches are close to both the student and the business culture, there is no separate ‘coach culture’, and the support system is well integrated into the science park. These success factors are incorporated into a general model of the meeting between two cultures, viewed as a value-creating process that changes character over time.

Keywords

student entrepreneurs student start-ups start-up support business labs pre-incubators science parks

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Entrepreneurial Students

Abstract

Keywords

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References