Providing crucial support to the next generation of entrepreneurs and their business ventures, business incubators and accelerators play a pivotal role in the global innovation ecosystem.
UBI Global is dedicated to supporting incubators, accelerators, and startups by mapping innovation
ecosystem organizations, highlighting the achievements of programs and their startups, analyzing the needs,
providing data-driven insights and recommendations, and sharing success stories and best practices.
The World Benchmark Study is designed to help individual business incubators and accelerators in evaluating and improving their own impact and performance, thus becoming more sustainable, effective, and competitive.
The key benefit of participating in the study is to receive an unbiased, data-driven, third-party assessment of your business incubator or accelerator’s absolute impact and relative performance. Many programs also value the actionable insights
and best practices produced by the study. There is also great value in the increased visibility and public recognition of their remarkable efforts and sharing this credible information with potential future client startups, partners, investors, and other stakeholders
.All participants in the World Benchmark Study 2021-2022 receive:
Since 2013, more than 1,100 incubators and accelerators from over 90 countries have participated in our benchmark studies.
Each edition of the study has attracted an average of 500 participants eager to understand their impact and performance and share their stories with the global innovation ecosystem.
Previous iterations of the World Benchmark Study centered on university-linked incubators and accelerators. Through the years, UBI Global’s research team has seen the value in inviting public, private, and corporate programs to participate in the World Benchmark Study, which we will do again for the sixth iteration in 2021-2022. To ensure comparability, all programs are ranked and benchmarked within their respective peer groups.
The UBI Global research team works in close collaboration with industry experts from around the world to update and refine our proprietary research framework for each iteration of the Study to measure the impact and performance of business incubators and accelerators in 3 main categories, divided into 7 subcategories, which utilize 21 key performance indicators (KPIs) to form performance and impact scores. Meet our Research and Advisory Board on this website here.
A program is ranked depending on:
Program type (business incubator, accelerator, or hybrid program) and Program group (university, public, private, or corporate)
Note that the ranking categories and sub-categories vary from study to study, depending on sample size and composition.
Download the previous World Rankings Report, which includes the category list here.
The benchmark survey will be available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin. The results will primarily be given in English.
Yes, but remember that UBI Global’s published rankings only reveal the top 10 to 20% in each category. Our research team never reveals the other positions publicly, not even internally.'
All incubators and accelerators that are ranked below the top-ranked programs are privately informed about their ranking position and receive further information about their relative performance in the study.
However, if you still wish to be excluded, just let us know when completing your survey and we will remove you from contention.
Your data is valuable and its security is of the utmost importance to us at UBI Global. We take data protection and privacy very seriously.
First, we differentiate between profile (or descriptive) data and impact and performance data. Profile data is usually public information available on your website and other public channels. We standardize this data and make it available to the UBI Global community as part of best-practice cases, directories, tools, and other services
We do not publish individual impact and performance data without your program’s explicit written approval. For instance, top-ranked programs sign special terms and conditions agreements allowing us to reveal certain data points for recognition purposes.
This data is released in aggregate or anonymous form when required for insight purposes.Likewise, UBI Global only complies with third-party requests for any kind of individual impact and performance data after informing your program and receiving your explicit written approval to do so.
Click the underlined text to read our full Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
1. Business incubators and accelerators that comply with our definitions (click here)
2. Become a (free) member of the UBI Global Community (click here)
3. Complete a 4-step application process on Global Innovation Studios. A one-time sign in email will guide you through creating a new password for your user account on GISxStudios should you meet criteria 1 and 2.
Individual scorecards will be delivered privately in January 2023 on the GISxStudios portal.
Think of it this way; your program belongs to the UBI Global community but Global Innovation Studios belongs to you. Users of the GIS platform will be able to connect with peers anytime and anywhere. They will be able to benchmark themselves any time, comparing their performance to the programs they choose when they choose to do so. GISxStudios users will create their own experiences, connections, and activities.
Populating your startup data when you sign up to participate in the World Benchmark Study 2021-2022 will serve three purposes. One, data from your startups will be used to provide a clearer picture of startup growth, providing data about the value for client startups achieved by your program, one of the three pillars of the Study. Two, it will give the UBI Global research team a foundation to discover success stories that can be shared with the rest of the community, and finally, your accurate startup data will help us spot global trends and share clear insights with your peer programs.
World Benchmark surveys have been sent out to approved applicants. The Study closes on October 14. Then, UBI Global will conduct interviews for success stories, etc. In January, individual results will be delivered via the Global Innovation Studios portal. On to the Report release in December with the Rankings and Summit taking place in January/February 2023.
Participating in the World Benchmark Study is free, as is being a UBI Global member and signing up for a basic user account on the Global Innovation Studios platform.
The World Incubation Summit is under development. Watch the Global Innovation Studios portal for announcements.
Business incubators and accelerators that are members of UBI Global and participating in the study can receive the latest updates on the Study, the Summit, and other UBI Global information through their Global Innovation Studios account and in the monthly newsletter, UBI Insights. If you aren’t eligible to participate but still want to learn more, please sign up for news using the form below.
