Business incubator
Research and technology parks, on the other hand, tend to be large-scale projects that house everything from corporate, government, or university labs to very small companies.
In addition, the charter ensures that small businesses receive a "fair proportion" of any government contracts and sales of surplus property.
Many business incubation programs partner with their local SBDC to create a "one-stop shop" for entrepreneurial support.
[5] Within European Union countries, there are different EU and state funded programs that offer support in form of consulting, mentoring, prototype creation, and other services and co-funding for them.
[12] Two years earlier, Massey-Harris had announced the closure of its Batavia farm machinery factory, resulting in a giant vacant building and a local unemployment rate of 18 percent.
[12] Business incubation expanded across the U.S. in the 1980s and spread to the UK and Europe through various related forms (e.g. innovation centres, pépinières d'entreprises, technopoles/science parks).
In 2005 alone, North American incubation programs assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenues of $17 billion.
The first high-tech incubator located in Silicon Valley was Catalyst Technologies started by Nolan Bushnell after he left Atari.
"[15] Since startup companies lack many resources, experience and networks, incubators provide services which helps them get through initial hurdles in starting up a business.
These hurdles include space, funding, legal, accounting, computer services and other prerequisites to running the business.
More than half of all business incubation programs are "mixed-use" projects, meaning they work with clients from a variety of industries.
[19] It is this factor that makes it difficult to compare the success rates of incubated companies against general business survival statistics.
[14] Many incubation programs set graduation requirements by development benchmarks, such as company revenues or staffing levels, rather than time.
Rents and/or client fees account for 59% of incubator revenues, followed by service contracts or grants (18%) and cash operating subsidies (15%).
[14] As part of a major effort to address the ongoing economic crisis of the US, legislation was introduced to "reconstitute Project Socrates".
The updated version of Socrates supports incubators by enabling users with technology-based facts about the marketplace, competitor maneuvers, potential partners, and technology paths to achieve competitive advantage.
Similar to tech/hacker houses in the same area, the founders collaborate to promote one another's success while enjoying the financial benefits of co-living in one of the most expensive regions of the country.
[28] In addition to the financial incentives of co-living, founders share investor recommendations, funding strategies, VC contacts, and other elements critical to a startup company's success in its early days.
The house featured in the film The Social Network was a hacker's den rented by Zuckerberg that ultimately gave rise to a tech supergiant.
