Assessments and evaluations of incubators has been a topic of discussion for as long as incubators have been in existence due to the fact that there has not been an agreement on how to determine good performance. This paper demonstrates the use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) when studying performance of incubators. More specifically, it does so within the four dimensions of cooperation with universities, business networks, external funding and competence development on a sample of 16 Swedish incubators. We show that DEA enables us to measure non-numerical dimensions, and to simultaneously take into account the efforts made by both the incubator and the outcomes. Moreover, DEA provides benchmarks and, based on a model that divides the incubators into four different groups, illustrates the difference between the benchmark and the incubators' current situation.

This paper explores incubator facilitation of technology transfer for their New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs). Empirical evidence gathered from six interviews with incubator managers, together with a survey of 131 NTBFs in incubators in Sweden, in 2005, and the findings made in a survey of 273 NTBFs situated inside-and-outside Science Parks in 1999, are used for the exploration. It is suggested that incubators do facilitate technology transfer for their NTBFs. It is further suggested that the development towards increased ability to facilitate technology transfer will continue as a results of the efforts made on the incubator and systemic level.