Academic business incubators as tools supporting economic growth – the example of Poland

Abstract

The main ain of this essay is to present academic business incubators as tools supporting economic growth. There are presented: short history, general idea and some classifications of business incubators. Moreover, there are mentioned problems with measurement of economic growth and the role of universities in the area of business incubation process. In the essay there are used such analytical methods as trend analysis and Pearson's correlation coefficient calculations. It is proven on the example of Poland that academic business incubators can be portrayed as successful tools supporting economic growth. The tools that can combine traditional role of universities with revisionist one and that can be used to bridge the gap eliminating social and economical exclusion and disparities. That is why they should be taken into consideration as useful tools by every government.