Business incubators and the relationship with the innovation ecosystem in the light of bibliometrics

Abstract

This study analyzed how academic research relates business incubators in the context of the innovation ecosystem and its co-occurrences. The article used the bibliometric review supported by the VOSviewer software. As for the database search, the following repositories were used: Scopus and Web of Science, both accessed in February 2025, with the search string: (ecosystem) AND (“business incubator”), identified in the titles, abstracts, and keywords, from 2013 to 2024, returning 187 articles. No articles addressing this theme were found, thus solidifying a unique and original article. In this way, it was possible to show the evolution of research, the occurrence network involving the main keywords, the journals corroborating the theme, the most cited authors and co-authors and their networks, and the countries that publish the most. Identifying knowledge gaps through the analysis of co-occurrences between authors and works in literature allows guiding future research in the theoretical, practical, and social realms of business incubators. Lastly, the importance of developing far-reaching and in-depth studies and using methods that bring results in the search for developing new studies through context analyses and the relevant connections such research brings.