@inproceedings{Deimel2017, author = {Klaus Deimel}, title = {Universities Third Mission and Business Incubation: Cooperation Between Universities and Business Incubators Demonstrated with the Example “Digital Hub Region Bonn”}, series = {Munyoki, Bode (Eds.): Universities, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Africa - Conference Proceedings 2017. Nairobi, Kenya, 19. July 2017}, isbn = {978-3-96043-060-5}, doi = {10.18418/978-3-96043-060-5\_73}, url = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:1044-opus-34192}, pages = {73 -- 80}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) should, on the one hand, provide theoretical and practical knowledge to students and, on the other hand, make valuable contributions to theoretical knowledge and provide new insights by means of research. However, HEIs have to face changing and increasing demands with respect to what they are expected to achieve. Education and research issues are no longer enough, what matters today is the so called “third mission”. A specific example for implementing a third mission is the cooperation between HEIs and business incubators. With this in mind, a local consortium consisting of regional HEIs, e.g. Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, as well as public and private institutions and partners initiated and established an incubator hub for the region Bonn/Rhein-Sieg in 2016, called “Digital Hub Region Bonn”. This conference contribution reports on our experience with regards to this cooperation approach resulting from the above- mentioned case. Furthermore the pros and cons as well as some issues of this kind of cooperation will be discussed. Last but not least this paper initiates the opportunity to share and compare the experiences of other university business incubators in Africa as well as in Germany. As we will describe, the financial investment of HEIs in a joint-incubator with other public as well as private partners offers substantial benefits, such as mutual know-how transfer from HEIs to the economy and vice versa. This strengthens entrepreneurial mindsets and activities and contributes to the development and growth of the local economy. Consequently, this cooperation sometimes creates challenges at various levels, for example due to differing interests between HEIs and business partners. This conference contribution offers approaches to solve these issues and to support private public partnership in business incubation.}, language = {en} }