Business Incubators and Sustainability: A Literature Review

Abstract

Incubators are models to support entrepreneurship, being central to economic growth and as catalysts for the formation of new business. Incubators have a practical relevance as an effective mechanism to support small business development. In relation to the sustainability, however, few authors have explored the notion of incubation for sustainability to meet global development agendas. The incubator-sustainability relationship in practice can support sustainable development through new companies and incubators profiled on sustainable. Few attentions have been given to the engagement of incubators in activities aimed at sustainable development. In this sense, the present study aims to investigate the application of the term sustainability in studies on business incubators. For this a literature review study was conducted, based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and bibliometric techniques. This review identifies links between incubators and sustainability and observes differences in the application of the notion of sustainability. From the analysis updated terms emerges related to sustainability may represent trends and new areas of interest. The findings of the review highlight that knowledge is expanding and still need to be deepened for strengthen the role of incubators in sustainable development. As limitations, we can highlight the lack of clear definition of concepts and a research agenda on the topic. At the end, it is suggested that future work may expand the research on incubators and sustainability.