Do university Incubators Stimulate Innovation of University Spin-offs? An Analysis of Italian Firms

The paper aims to study the impact of university incubators on the innovation of university spin-offs. In particular, and starting from the existing theoretical arguments and empirical evidences, it was hypothesized that incubation facilities promoted and located within the university may potentially act as effective mechanism in order to bridge the gap between the resources possessed by researchers and financial, administrative and managerial resources needed to growth and innovative. Based on a sample of 621 Italian university spin-offs over the period 2004-2012, the results suggest that incubations services of university have and effective and pivotal role in stimulating the innovative activities in university ventures. The papers contribute to the literature debate about the fostering mechanisms at different level of analyses of university entrepreneurship, in particular for those focusing on the innovation dynamics of the university spin-offs.