A business incubator is a place where business professionals are offered an organized
resource rich environment and support services dedicated to start-ups, to strengthen their
development. These structures, which emerged during the 1970s in the US and Europe. have
propagated amoebically throughout the whole world, to the extent that they can now be
counted in thousands. In its most literal sense, a business incubator is a building that houses
tenant companies that are in their initial phases. However, a business incubator is more than
just a building. Their goal is to assist in the development of new entrepreneurial
organisations. By doing this, business incubators are able to help these new companies
survive and grow during a period in which they are most at risk for failure. The overall goal
of any business incubator is to produce companies that are "successful." More specifically,
the goal is for these companies to be able to "graduate" or leave the incubator in a financially
stable state and be able to operate on their own upon graduation. Incubators are seen as a
policy mechanism that enhances business development (Hannon and Chplin, 2001 a, b)
particularly for start-up businesses, including those linked to universities (Jones-Evans and
Klofsten, 1997). As a broad approach to enterprise development, incubators are generally
considered as a positive and effective means of public intervention. Businesses generally
report satisfaction from services and increases in turnover higher than non-incubated
businesses (Nahavandi and Chesteen, 1988).