A recent post on The New York Times' small business blog reviewed assessments of business incubators and accelerators and their impact on economic development. One academic study mentioned in the article examined 20,000 businesses that had been incubated at some point during the last 20 years and found that those companies had a lower success rate than comparable companies that hadn't been incubated. Another report cited by the article showed that business incubators and accelerators are more successful at launching nonprofits than businesses. Supporters of incubators, however, explain that the metrics for success are not agreed upon, that startups can be bought and sold several times (which can muddy the company's ties to the incubator), and that goals like creating "jobs and fostering the entrepreneurial climate in the community" are achieved through nonprofit development as well as through business growth. For more, read the full blog post.
New York Times post assesses the impact of business incubators
