"Key research objectives of this report were to evaluate the quantifiable value created by impact-focused incubator/accelerator programs and to design and pilot a framework that can be used to objectively compare and benchmark impact incubator/accelerator programs against each other. This analysis builds on ANDE's previous findings and was conceived as a means to evaluate how and where incubators/accelerators are creating tangible value. One of the initial goals of the study was to help programs develop quantifiable evidence they need to make a stronger case for charging incubees and investors for their services and the value they create."

"Spring Impact's new report, generously supported by the Argidius Foundation, shares recommendations on creating effective mentoring programs for micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs). This report is designed to provide immediate support to practitioners, funders and other champions of mentoring by sharing essential good practices to strengthen or build effective programs."

"What is the effect of exposing motivated youth to firm management in practice? To answer this question, we place young professionals for one month in established firms to shadow middle managers. Using random assignment into program participation, we find positive average effects on wage employment, but no average effect on the likelihood of self-employment. Within the treatment group, we match individuals and firms in batches using a deferred-acceptance algorithm. We show how this allows us to identify heterogeneous treatment effects by firm and intern. We find striking heterogeneity in self-employment effects, but almost no heterogeneity in wage employment. Estimates of marginal treatment effects (MTE) are then used to simulate counterfactual mechanism design. We find that some assignment mechanisms substantially outperform random matching in generating employment and income effects. These results demonstrate the importance of treatment heterogeneity for the design of field experiments and the role of matching algorithms in intervention design."

"Understanding the performance of accelerators is important to a wide range of individuals and organizations: participating startups, accelerator managers and staff, investors, partners, donors, funders, and policymakers. Each of these stakeholders may have different priorities and objectives in their efforts to measure accelerators' performance and impact. This brief identifies considerations and potential metrics for evaluating accelerator performance. In addition to metrics related to the accelerator itself, it includes measures that assess the performance of startups, and changes in the regions in which accelerators are located."

"This paper presents the preliminary results of our ongoing study of corrective policy intervention in cluster-based industrial development. At the center of this study is a field experiment that we are conducting in a knitwear cluster in Ha Noi (previously Ha Tay) and a rolled steal cluster in Bac Ninh in Vietnam. In these clusters, we conducted baseline surveys of firms from April to July 2010 and then provided classroom training programs for entrepreneurs in June to August of the same year. The evaluation of the training impacts is expected to reveal whether entrepreneurs in clusters possess basic knowledge of management before the training, what characterizes the entrepreneurs who are more willing and able to absorb new knowledge, whether the training can change entrepreneurs' attitudes toward learning management knowledge, how much entrepreneurs can learn from a short-period training program, and whether the benefit of the training program exceeds its cost, among others."

"Technology entrepreneurship rarely succeeds in isolation; increasingly, it occurs in interconnected networks of business partners and other organizations. For entrepreneurs lacking access to an established business ecosystem, incubators and accelerators provide a possible support mechanism for access to partners and resources. Yet, these relatively recent approaches to supporting entrepreneurship are still evolving. Therefore, it can be challenging for entrepreneurs to assess these mechanisms and to make insightful decisions on whether or not to join an incubator or accelerator, and which incubator or accelerator best meets their needs. In this article, five key factors that entrepreneurs should take into consideration about incubators and accelerators are offered. Insights are drawn from two surveys of managers and users of incubators and accelerators. An understanding of these five key success factors (stage of venture, fit with incubator's mission, selection and graduation policies, services provided, and network of partners) and potential pitfalls will help entrepreneurs confidently enter into a relationship with an incubator or accelerator."

"Business incubators have been mushrooming in the recent past. There have been various studies on the impact of business incubators to the entrepreneurs and their diverse ideas. The major objectives of the study were to determine the factors affecting success of business incubators and identify impact level of those factors. An empirical study was conducted so as to insights and ideas. European business incubator managers interviewed, questionnaires were administered. Primary data was collected through the use of interviews with experts and questionnaires were administered to the entrepreneurs in Europe. Purposeful sampling was used to derive some expert knowledge and random sampling for the entrepreneurs. Data analysis was done using measures of central tendency, correlation analysis to identify the strength of relationship between dependent and independent variables, the ANOVA and regression analysis. The researchers found out that business incubators are of vital relevance during the start-up and growth of business. The present analysis empirically evidenced that three main factors such as availability and access to external financial resources, strong social and business networks, and internal strength including resources and capabilities positively affect and have a strong relationship with the success of business incubators."

"The report describes the profile of acceleration and incubation programs, highlights accelerators with an impact focus, and compares accelerators in Brazil with the rest of the world. The results show that there may be a mismatch between the sectors that are of most interest to impact-oriented accelerators and to impact investors. Accelerators and investors should also think collaboratively about how to address the challenge of funding for early-stage ventures."

"The landscape of entrepreneurial support in India is quickly evolving. This report seeks to add clarity to the profile of accelerators and incubators in India - their structure, objectives, goals, funding, and the financial and non-financial support that they offer."

"We organized business associations for the owner-managers of young Chinese firms to study the effect of business networks on firm performance. We randomized 2,820 firms into small groups whose managers held monthly meetings for one year, and into a "no-meetings" control group. We find the following. (i) The meetings increased firm revenue by 8.1%, and also significantly increased profit, factors, inputs, the number of partners, borrowing, and a management score. (ii) These effects persisted one year after the conclusion of the meetings. (iii) Firms randomized to have better peers exhibited higher growth. We exploit additional interventions to document concrete channels. (iv) Managers shared exogenous business-relevant information, particularly when they were not competitors, showing that the meetings facilitated learning from peers. (v) Managers created more business partnerships in the regular than in other one-time meetings, showing that the meetings improved supplier-client matching."