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A business incubator in business speak is a company that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management training or office space. Business incubators differ from research and technology parks in their dedication to startup and early-stage companies. 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. Most research and technology parks do not offer business assistance services, which are the hallmark of a business incubation program. However, many research and technology parks house incubation programs. Incubators also differ from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Development Centers (and similar business support programs) in that they serve only selected clients. SBDCs are required by law to offer general business assistance to any company that contacts them for help. In addition, SBDCs work with any small business at any stage of development, not only startup companies. Many business incubation programs partner with their local SBDC to create a "one-stop shop" for entrepreneurial support. 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. TecHub is one of examples for IT companies and ideas. 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 incubation process== Among the most common incubator services are:〔 * Help with business basics * Networking activities * Marketing assistance * High-speed Internet access * Help with accounting/financial management * Access to bank loans, loan funds and guarantee programs * Help with presentation skills * Links to higher education resources * Links to strategic partners * Access to angel investors or venture capital * Comprehensive business training programs * Advisory boards and mentors * Management team identification * Help with business etiquette * Technology commercialization assistance * Help with regulatory compliance * Intellectual property management Unlike many business assistance programs, business incubators do not serve any and all companies. Entrepreneurs who wish to enter a business incubation program must apply for admission. Acceptance criteria vary from program to program, but in general only those with feasible business ideas and a workable business plan are admitted. It is this factor that makes it difficult to compare the success rates of incubated companies against general business survival statistics.〔Meredith Erlewine, "Comparing Stats on Firm Survival." In ''Measuring Your Business Incubator's Economic Impact: A Toolkit.'' Athens, Ohio: National Business Incubation Association, 2007.〕 Although most incubators offer their clients office space and shared administrative services, the heart of a true business incubation program is the services it provides to startup companies. More than half of incubation programs surveyed by the National Business Incubation Association〔http://www.nbia.org/about_nbia/〕 in 2006 reported that they also served affiliate or virtual clients.〔 These companies do not reside in the incubator facility. Affiliate clients may be home-based businesses or early-stage companies that have their own premises but can benefit from incubator services. Virtual clients may be too remote from an incubation facility to participate on site, and so receive counseling and other assistance electronically. The amount of time a company spends in an incubation program can vary widely depending on a number of factors, including the type of business and the entrepreneur's level of business expertise. Life science and other firms with long research and development cycles require more time in an incubation program than manufacturing or service companies that can immediately produce and bring a product or service to market. On average, incubator clients spend 33 months in a program.〔 Many incubation programs set graduation requirements by development benchmarks, such as company revenues or staffing levels, rather than time. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Business incubator」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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