Benefit of business incubators when stimulating the development of small and medium enterprises

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama viena iš smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo paramos formų – verslo inkubatoriai, kurių užsienio šalių pažangi patirtis ir teikiamos naudos, skatinant smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo sektoriaus plėtrų, rodo, jog verslo inkubatoriai yra tas potencialas, kuris skatina verslumo ugdymą, naujovių atsiradimą ir jų diegimą, naujų darbo vietų kūrimą ir pridėtinės vertės didinimą. Pagrindinis dėmesys sutelktas verslo inkubatorių ir jų inkubavimo procesui bei jų veiklos organizavimo ypatumams išryškinti. Numatomos galimos jų veiklos gerinimo kryptys, skatinančios smulkaus bei vidutinio verslo įmonių verslumo augimą, sudarančios galimybę veikti dinamiškoje ir integruotoje rinkoje.Objective of this article is to analyze the concept of business incubators and their benefits for small and medium enterprises (SME). Business incubators are a part of the support program for SME. The main goal of business incubators is to develop successful firms which will leave the incubator when being financially viable and freestanding within a reasonable delay. There is no uniform definition of the business incubator; definitions largely vary in different countries. The most common definition emphasizes three positions: the business incubator as a physical place where new companies have access to a business support system; the business incubator as an effective mechanism for commercialization innovations and new technologies, and the business incubator as one of the instruments of economic development. The business incubation process is also an important part of research interest areas. Nevertheless, the business incubation process involves the selection criteria of a company, business incubators services such as consulting, seminars, office lease, etc. and the criteria for a company to leave. A research on the work of business incubators is difficult because there is no universal methodology how to do this. There are 6 business incubators in Lithuania. The most common criteria to assess their activity are to evaluate how many firms were incubated and how many jobs were created. However, this approach is not valid because there is no method to determine success of the activity of business incubators. The most important issue is that there is no information on these incubated firms which are currently operating independently. Thus there is no viable opportunity to assess their current success and to evaluate their contribution to the local economy