1. 1 of 5 Collaboration Case Study: Cisco
CASE STUDY: CISCOHelping Cisco understand the U.S. Social Incubation landscape
PROJECT NEEDS
Cisco Corporate Affairs is committed to creating long-term impact globally. Part of that endeavor revolves
around entrepreneurship support, skill development and job creation. As the number of social incubation
programs increased in the global incubation sector, Cisco recognized the need to help programs improve
and help others start. With that in mind, Cisco reached out to UBI Global, a thought leader in performance
analysis of business incubation around the world, with these 3 aims specifically for the US:
Benchmarking can help understand best practices
across social incubators and, in turn, incite them
to improve and create more jobs. Establishing a
benchmark also enables the surfacing and sharing
of data-driven best practices in order to catalyze a
network of incubators for social innovation.
MAP THE SOCIAL INCUBATION ECOSYSTEMS IN THE U.S. – UBI Global would present a social
incubation landscape: number of social incubators in the U.S., their focus and structure
IDENTIFY THE TOP PERFORMING SOCIAL INCUBATORS – UBI Global would analyze data collected
from key social incubators and assess their performance to identify the top social incubators
HIGHLIGHT THE TOP SOCIAL INCUBATORS AND THEIR BEST PRACTICES – Highlight the top
incubators at the Social Capital Markets Conference 2015 and share their best practices & knowledge
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WHY BENCHMARK?
In 2015, UBI Global developed a social benchmark in partnership with
Cisco Corporate Affairs. The main goal of this benchmark was to better
understand and measure the success of social incubators using over
40 key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate success factors such
as the value generated for the participating startups as well as the
economic and social impact.
UBI Global is thought leader in performance analysis of business incubation around the
world. We help business incubators and business accelerators become more efficient and
competitive through a comprehensive benchmark

2. 2 of 5 Collaboration Case Study: Cisco
PROJECT OUTCOMES
1. A NEW FRAMEWORK
UBI Global research team pioneered a new research
framework designed specifically to assess social
incubators.
2. BENCHMARK OF SOCIAL INCUBATORS
Over 50 social incubators in the U.S. were identified
- in-depth performance data collected and analyzed
from at least 20 of them to generate insights.
3. RECOGNITION EVENT
Recognition of the best performers in the Social
Innovation space and presentation of the best
practices on social innovation at SOCAP 2015.
4. BEST PRACTICES REPORT
All the key insights from the benchmark were
compiled into a best practices report in order to
provide an overview of social incubation landscape in
the U.S. and in-depth case studies of selected social
incubators.
PROJECT BUDGET
KEY FIGURES
DURATION
DELIVERY
$ 250 000
9 Months
1. A NEW FRAMEWORK
Economic
Impact
Social
Impact
ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL IMPACT
VALUE FOR
CLIENTS
Competence
Development
Access to
Funds
Access to
Network
MEASURING SOCIAL INCUBATOR PERFORMANCE
In order to create a new framework, UBI Global research team conducted extensive desk research
combined with discussions with industry experts. Together, UBI Global and Cisco co-created a pioneering
research framework. It measures the social and economic impact of the social incubator and its client
startups – but it also assesses the value provided by the social incubator to its client startups.
This framework will help social incubation programs, their support
organizations and governments to understand the relevant performance
indicators in a systematic manner Cisco Corporate Affairs Team
On time,
On budget

3. 3 of 5 Collaboration Case Study: Cisco
Research design
January 2015
Kickoff meeting held
to define benchmark
objectives, measures
and metrics
2. BENCHMARK OF SOCIAL INCUBATORS
Data collection
February - March 2015
UBI Global activated
a dedicated team to
map and collect data
from social incubators
in the U.S. 40+ social
incubators were
assessed: 24 of them
provided in-depth
performance data
Analysis
April - May 2015
As the data was
gathered, early insights
were shared regularly
with the Cisco team.
Performance analysis
conducted of the
participant incubators
Insights
June - July 2015
After the analysis of
participating social
incubators performance
data, the results were
compiled and the most
relevant insights were
identified
Top list
October 2015
Based on the insights
workshop held with
Cisco, top performing
social incubators were
identified. A detailed
case study was also
written on all top-
performing incubators
3. RECOGNITION EVENT: SOCAP 2015
HIGHLIGHTING THE TOP INCUBATORS AT THE SOCIAL CAPITAL MARKETS CONFERENCE
2015 AND SHARING BEST PRACTICES
More than 2500 participants attended SOCAP15 (Social Capital Markets), the world’s leading conference
on impact investing and social enterprise. Together with Cisco Corporate Affairs, UBI Global presented
the framework developed to measure incubation performance on social innovation. Furthermore, 6 social
incubators standouts were given the ‘High Impact Social Incubators in the U.S. 2015’ award.
UBI Global and Cisco representatives conducting a workshop. SOCAP 2015 main hall.
Client involvement:
UBI Global and the Cisco
team worked jointly to
take key decisions
Client involvement:
UBI Global took lead on
this step and kept Cisco
informed about the data
collection status
Client involvement:
UBI Global research
team took charge of this
step and involved Cisco
team for key decisions
Client involvement:
UBI Global took the
lead in compiling and
curating key insights,
which were presented to
Cisco during a workshop
Client involvement:
UBI Global played an
active role at this step
and consulted Cisco
team along the process

4. 4 of 5 Collaboration Case Study: Cisco
The main goal of this social benchmark was to better understand and
measure the success of social incubators. Over 40 key performance
indicators (KPIs) were used to measure success factors such as the
value generated for the participating startups as well as the economic
and social impact.
These best practices included in this report would not only help
the participant incubators, but everyone associated somehow to
the social incubation ecosystem: from governments, supporting
organizations to investors, coaches and incubator managers.
PROJECT OUTPUT - THE SOCIAL BENCHMARK REPORT 2015
Download the report for free @ ubi-global.com/social
4.BEST PRACTICES REPORT
PARTNERSHIP EVALUATION
Amanda Cumberland
Research Lead
Cisco Corporate Affairs
UBI Global provided us great insights and
helped us understand the social incubation
landscape in the U.S. The best part they did it on
time, on budget and as per our specifications
In short, the benchmark was incredibly useful in guiding us
toward the right direction. We’re a reasonably new organization
with plenty to learn, and having numbers to back up what we
need and don’t need is vital to future growth
Social incubators that participated in the benchmark were extremely satisfied with the experience:
86%85% 87%86%
86% of the participants have
shown interest to participate in
the benchmark again next year
85% were fully satisfied with the
overall benchmark process
87% of them would recommend
the benchmark to their peers
and colleagues
86% of participants were
satisfied with the quality of
the results
PARTICIPATING INCUBATOR FEEDBACK
Kevin Liu
CEO - Princeton Social Innovation

5. 5 of 5 Collaboration Case Study: Cisco
UBI GLOBALUBI Global is a thought leader in performance analysis of business incubation globally
Based in Stockholm, Sweden, we help university managed and
affiliated business incubators and business accelerators become
more efficient and competitive through a comprehensive benchmark
including more than 500 incubation programs in over 70 countries.
http://ubi-global.com
The UBI Global methodology
offers detailed comparative
performance information on
the world’s top performing
university business incubators
and accelerators. A broad range
of performance indicators
is measured using a unique
research framework, supported
by an established & trusted
methodology developed by
researchers, practitioners and
industry experts.
We strive to offer research & network services tailored to suit your needs.
Please contact us to discuss about the different ways we can help your company
with data supported projects & insights.
ABOUT US
OUR SERVICES
OUR NETWORK
Business
Incubators &
Accelerators
Startups
(indirect)
Key Actors from the
Global Incubation
Ecosystem
Government
Agencies and
Corporations
Countries
represented
GET IN TOUCH
GET A FREE QUOTE
www.ubi-global.com info@ubi-global.com
• The benchmark provides a
solid platform to connect with
relevant actors such as:
• Peers
• Partners
• Incubators
• Investors
• Startups
• Entrepreneurs
• The benchmarking process can
be customized according to the
company’s goals
• Brings data driven and
systematic method to approach
the company’s vision
• Provides data accurate
foundations for new projects
and initiatives
• Supports CSR goals
• Helps increase brand
recognition across the
incubation landscape
800+ 10.000+ 5.000+ 30+ 70+
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