Who is conducting this survey?

This study is being conducted by Nesta, the UK’s Innovation Foundation, on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In the last 10 years, we have conducted extensive research on how startups can be best supported in the UK. Part of this work has focussed on understanding the role of business accelerators and incubators (see here). Our latest report, published in April 2017, mapped all accelerator and incubator activity in the UK.

What is the purpose of this project?

The purpose of this project is to assess the impact of accelerators and incubators on participating ventures as well as on the broader business ecosystem. We are specifically interested in understanding the types of services accelerator or incubator programmes offer, which ones make the greatest difference in ventures, and their role in the wider ecosystem.

The survey will serve as the main source of data for a publically available report which we will be published in September 2018.

Why should I answer this survey?

This research aims to contribute to shaping UK policy related to entrepreneurship, and to help improve the service offered to startups in the future.

I applied to an accelerator or incubator, but was not successful with my application. Can I still fill out the survey?

Yes, we are looking for applicants as well as participants to fill out this survey. Gathering responses from a combination of both will strengthen our findings as to the impacts that accelerators and incubators have.

I no longer work for the venture, can I pass it on to someone else?

Yes, please feel free to forward it to someone currently working in your old organisation.

I have been through multiple programmes, which do I answer for?

Please answer for the programme which has requested you to fill out this survey. The name of this programme is mentioned at the beginning of the survey.

What is meant by accelerator or incubator?

We are using the terms 'accelerator' and 'incubator' as broad categories to describe a range of different types of venture support (see diagram below). We realise that there are many more categories than just these two, but this binary categorisation helps us to define the scope of this project.

The following are characteristic features of incubators and accelerators.

Will my data be kept confidential?

Your personal information will only be shared with those who we are working with us to run this programme, these being the London School of Economics, the Open University and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The findings from this survey will be published in an aggregated form. Please read here for more information about our data privacy terms.

Do you offer a printable or paper copy of the survey questionnaire?

We do not. The questions that we pose to participants in the survey are tailored to their individual experiences. Whereas an active and responsive online questionnaire design allows for this type of customisation, a traditional paper questionnaire does not. For this reason, we can provide only an online questionnaire, and we encourage you to complete the survey via the link provided in the email you received. Further questions about questionnaire access or technical difficulties can be addressed to [email protected].