The design of startup incubators in Europe: a qualitative analysis

Talking about startups and innovation is not possible without referring to incubators, that constitute one of the solutions proposed by the economic literature as they aim to stimulate and support entrepreneurship, especially with a high rate of innovation, in an attempt to combine technology, capital and professionalism. It has been largely proved by different authors how positive and beneficial is the incubators’ effect on society, for enterprise growth and technological progression as well. The purpose of this thesis work is to investigate the main features and services offered by European incubators and map, analyze and compare them, in order to design the incubators’ landscape in the main European countries. This analysis was made in collaboration with the Social Innovation Monitor (SIM), a team of researchers, professors and several partners sharing the same interest and passion in entrepreneurship and innovation topics.