The Art and Impact of Physical and Virtual Enterprise Incubators: The Greek Paradigm

This article presents a compilation of the basic concepts and issues involved in the art of designing and operating enterprise/business incubators (BINCs). These include the definition, the models, the starting process, the good practices, the assessment, the impacts, and the business sectors of BINCs. Then, the current status of the BINC activity in Greece is discussed and a virtual/electronic BINC developed for Greek social economy enterprises within the framework of the DYEKO EQUAL project is briefly outlined. The article concludes with some empirical observations concerning the Greek BINCs, and some suggestions for their further expansion and improvement.