In a phase of low economic growth like the one our country is going through, the issue of innovative start-ups and all the tools that can favor their creation and development assumes a certain importance. In this sense, business incubators are one of the solutions proposed by the economic literature and implemented concretely in many countries to promote new businesses with a high rate of innovation. In very general terms, it can be said that these are bodies whose objective is to stimulate and support entrepreneurship and which seek to combine technology, capital, professionalism and entrepreneurial experience.
The study carried out by the Bank of Italy makes use of a field survey conducted on a large number of Italian incubators and on a sample of companies that have undertaken the incubation process. In Italy incubators are on average small in size and largely depend on political contributions. The services offered to companies are mainly those of a logistical nature and, less frequently, those with a higher added value of tutoring and mentorship and those of networking. According to company evaluations, incubators are a useful but not essential tool for the success of new entrepreneurial initiatives.
A significant number of studies show that the incubation activity would determine positive effects on macro variables (the rate of economic development, the growth of employment and the commercialization of new technologies; see, for example, the works of Al-Mubaraki and Busler of the 2010 and 2011) or micro economics (survival rates of start-ups, growth rates of company turnover, their average size). Other works highlight the importance of the networking activity carried out by the incubator or the availability of physical equipment and other facilities. Studdard (2006) finds positive effects on the reputation of companies.
Some general information relating to all European countries can be taken from the BIC Observatory 2012 developed by EBN, the European network of Business and Innovation Centers (BIC). In particular, in 2011 each BIC received an average of 749 applications, which led to the definition of 65 business plans and the creation of 42 start-ups per BIC. In total, the number of jobs created in 2011 by start-ups belonging to the network amounted to over 12 units. The survival rate of these start-ups is quite high, equal to 91 percent for those in the incubation phase and 90 percent in the three years after leaving the incubators.
The obstacles to the growth of incubated companies are mainly due to the difficulty of "doing business" in Italy, in particular the high taxation and bureaucracy. These are factors on which the incubators' ability to intervene is obviously limited. Financial constraints are relevant for a significant share of companies, but less than 50 per cent, indicating that these constraints do not seem to represent the most critical element for the birth and development of start-ups in Italy; in risk capital financing, the role played by specialized intermediaries (business angels, private equity and others) is relatively limited, but not irrelevant.
