Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. The first of these arrangements dates to 1959, with many of the earliest configurations originating at universities.
Incubators help new people with fresh ideas make their mark.
Many investors expect to make money as fast as the technology they back can calculate or communicate. It's helpful to remember why the incubator became popular outside the realms of academia in the first place. Many venture capital companies with portfolios of 50 dot-com companies or more found that each needed administration, Web development, human resource management and office space. Such functions consumed time and took energy away from the core business, prompting many investors to provide the supplementary services themselves with hopes that they would save each start-up plenty of time and money in the long run. The organism Few incubators fit the organism model better than Chicago's own Divine Interventures.