Will it Play in Peoria? Empirical Examination of an Entrepreneurship Center's Services

Entrepreneurship centers have become increasingly common in the United States.  Universities use them, in part, as a vehicle to commercialize technology arising from basic research.  Policy makers see them as a means to generate employment through the successful establishment of new businesses.  A center’s usual role is to mitigate risk associated with early entrepreneurial endeavors by providing a variety of services; from help with business plan preparation to intellectual property protection to early stage financing.  This paper empirically examines the effectiveness of services offered by the Heartland Illinois Technology Enterprise Center (HITEC) from 2002 – 2007.  Using a unique data set of 313 of HITEC’s clients during that time period, we relate services sought and services received to entrepreneurial success rates.  Preliminary evidence suggests excessive focus on intellectual property protection is related to start-up failure while focus on early stage financing is related to start-up success.  Our results yield several policy implications.