Another finding was that different types of incubators have different effects. Firms from technology incubators create more jobs than firms from other types. The study was designed to be a preliminary one. Researchers charged the business incubation community with developing standard impact measures and asked incubators to use a tool kit, which they have developed, that will make data collection easy. Adding these measures to incubators' total evaluation process will help them track their growth and effectiveness.
Business incubators are a relatively new concept in economic development.
The concept has grown from 12 programs in 1980 to nearly 600 in North America today.