## 3 Research Methodology
### Empirical Context and Source of Data  
The data provided for this research were supplied by an accelerator that focuses on start-ups working on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, named IoT Tribe. It is a London-headquareted accelerator operating in Europe and Singapore whose mission is to \"accelerate the adoption of disruptive technologies globally and connect the wider technology ecosystem\".  
The company was created in 2017 as a result of an EU-funded innovation action that sought to build a European entrepreneurship ecosystem (Startup Scaleup, 2017) around four established regional ecosystems, Cloud Incubator HUB in Spain, Ryan Academy in Ireland, Crosspring in the Netherlands and Open Club Coffee in Lithuania, together with the then largest social network for Start-ups in the European Union (F6S). The aim was to provide a broad range of services to European start-ups that wanted to launch and grow companies focused on IoT technologies.  
The experience and knowledge gained through the Startup Scaleup accelerator, which supported 120 IoT start-ups, was the basis for the launch of IoT Tribe's first commercial accelerator programme in 2018, supported by the Innovate UK programme and Barnsley's Digital Media Centre. IoT Tribe has since delivered a total of eleven accelerators programmes, in addition to other initiatives.  
This study has taken the data gathered from four of these programmes, two Industrial technology accelerators delivered in 2018 and 2019 (Industrial Tech I and Industrial Tech II, respectively) and two Space technology accelerators, delivered in 2020 and 2021 (Space Tech I and Space Tech II). The anonymised data of the participating start-ups are provided in Appendix B. These programmes were selected because they provide reliable data on activities held before and during the pandemic. Although there are slight variations in the way the four accelerator programmes were conducted, they were all equity- and founder fee-free and all followed a common three-stage format: (1) cohort search and selection, (2) implementation of the acceleration programme, and (3) consolidation and follow-up of the start-ups.  
The start-up selection process was also common to all acceleration programmes. It lasted three months, starting with the opening of the application period, announced through general social networks (i.e., LinkedIn and Twitter), start-up-specific social networks and other global digital media (blogs, general and entrepreneurial press). The outreach aimed to attract start-ups that were at the right stage of development (early-stage and pre-scale) with products and services based on the technologies relevant to the programme, rather than mass market recruitment.  
The criteria used for the selection of the start-ups were the following: (1) start-ups with at least two founders; (2) with some evidence of product market-fit; (3) commitment to participate actively in the programme; and (4) founding team with the ambition and the will to succeed at a global level. Cohort diversity in terms of gender, age, and market were considerations for the final selection to ensure complementarity, rather than direct competition, and facilitate enriching exchanges of experiences and opinions through peer support. In order to understand the context of the IoT Tribe accelerator, some data relating to the four programmes are shown in Table 4.