At a time when Congress and President Obama are considering investing $850 billion to create jobs, a recent study shows that business incubators need to be part of the job creation equation.
A study conducted for the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) concluded that business incubators are the most effective means of creating jobs—more effective than roads and bridges, industrial parks, commercial buildings and sewer and water projects. Business incubators produce the greatest number of jobs per $10,000 in EDA investment. Incubators produce between 46.3 and 69.4 jobs per $10,000 in federal investment, or more than four to seven times as many jobs as any other type of EDA-funded project. In a recurring theme throughout the study, the authors of the study note that “EDA’s strategic focus on innovation and entrepreneurship makes sense, in that investments in business incubators generate significantly greater impacts in the communities in which they are made than do other project types.”
Check out the press release by the National Business Incubator Association: http://www.nbia.org/resource_library/works/files/EDA_study_PR_FINAL.pdf.
Read the full study: http://www.eda.gov/PDF/EDAConsImpactStudyVolume1FINAL.pdf.