The Incubation Experience on takeoff of Fast-growing Innovative Start-ups.

The paper examines the effects of incubation experience on the highand fast growth of technology-based start-ups and, thus, the possibility tobecome gazelles. Although it has been widely discussed in literature, the topicof start-ups’ growth is still attractive for its implication in defining long-runsurvival strategies. Moreover, the increase of academic incubators calls for adeeper understanding of their leading role in scouting and sustaining newventures’ business development with high growth potential. Starting from anexploratory analysis on Italian innovative start-ups, we examine the 83 finaliststo the “Start-up of the year” Competition 2007-2014, promoted by PNICube.The research provides an overview about these start-ups’ profile, the measuresof growth and their performances over time. Besides, the results show the mostactive incubators in supporting the incubated initiatives in jumping from thestatus of start-up to the one of young and dynamic company.