Government-supported incubators in the Helsinki region, Finland: Infrastructure, results, and best practices

The principal research question of this study is to determine if the proactive approach taken by the governments, as exemplified by the encouragement and funding of 16 incubators in the Helsinki area of Finland, represents a viable method for accelerating economic growth, job creation and entrepreneurship in a region. Field research by the author from 1996 to 2002 yields a strong positive answer. The answer to the related research questions, whether a similar approach is viable in other countries, specifically the United States, Russia and the Baltics, is less definite, because of the different cultural dimensions. Nonetheless, other countries could profit by utilizing the best Finnish practices for incubator management as benchmarks for performance rather than as templates for duplication. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.