The Accelerating Model for Academic Agricultural Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Growth from the Viewpoints of Startups Experts

The importance of startups in the field of agriculture is more evident than ever. Nevertheless, in order for this important matter to be realized, providing the environment and conditions or ecosystem for startups is essential. Considering the lack of experience of the agriculture sector of Iran for creating such ecosystems, it is necessary to build on the experiences of pioneering entrepreneurial sectors and identify the components of agricultural startup ecosystems. This paper aims to present the accelerating model for academic entrepreneurial ecosystem growth based on Isenberg’s model, with an emphasis on the agricultural higher education from the viewpoints of startups experts. This applied research was carried out using survey method. The statistical population of the study consisted of 1800 startup experts in Iran. Using the Cochran formula, a sample comprising 286 individuals was selected by simple random sampling. To assess the validity of the research tool a divergent validity method was utilized, the amount of which for the constructs under study was above AVE ≥ 0.5 and acceptable. In order to determine the reliability, the combined reliability method was used, the amount of which for the constructs under study was above CR ≥ 0.6 and acceptable. The amount of the ordinal theta coefficient for the constructs was calculated to be above θ ≥ 0.7. In order to analyze the data, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used. Then according to the measurement model, the factors of the accelerating model for academic entrepreneurial ecosystem growth include enhancing the private sector, supporting productive entrepreneurship, developing entrepreneurship culture, entrepreneurial thinking, paying attention the role of consultants, providing the physical space, the ecosystem of training agricultural business skills, network building, the political image of the country’s market, and access to financial resources.