Start-up creation and development in France and Spain: the role of Business Incubators and Accelerators

This paper wants to analyse the world of Incubators that support startups. In the previous years, the Social Innovation Monitor conducted a survey on the Italian Incubators. Nowadays, the Social Innovation Monitor expanded the study and mapping of European territory on the topic of Incubators thanks to some students in a master’s degree. The Countries presented in this Master Thesis are France and Spain; major European Countries in different fields. The study presented in the following pages starts with a description of the subject and general definitions. These definitions, besides introducing the theme, they aim to clarify for the reader the concept of Incubator since nowadays different definitions and interpretation are given. After that, a specific description of the French and Spanish environment is given that introduces the analyses that have been done in these months. In fact, 284 Incubators have been contacted and 36 of them fully completed the survey in France and 215 Incubators have been contacted in Spain of which 43 fully completed the survey. Finally, the paper will present the conclusion and possible improvement for the future as well as the expected impact that Coronavirus could have.