This article systematically reviews the literature
on business incubators and business incubation. Focusing on
the primary research orientations—i.e. studies centering on
incubator development, incubator configurations, incubatee
development, incubator-incubation impacts, and theorizing
about incubators-incubation—problems with extant research
are analyzed and opportunities for future research are
identified. From our review, it is clear that research has just
begun to scratch the surface of the incubator-incubation
phenomenon. While much attention has been devoted to the
description of incubator facilities, less attention has been
focused on the incubatees, the innovations they seek to
diffuse, and the incubation outcomes that have been achieved.
As interest in the incubator-incubation concept continues to
grow, new research efforts should focus not only on these
under-researched units of analysis, but also on the incubation
process itself.