Massimiliano Zanotto is completing a Ph.D. programme at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I am working along with Prof. Teresa O'Hara, Prof. Paolo Landoni and Prof. Paul Liston and the title of my project is "Understanding Incubators and Accelerators: analysis of their social and economic impact on innovation and entrepreneurship.

It is estimated that more than 7000 incubators exist across the globe. Both governments and the private sector are increasingly using incubators as an entrepreneurship development tool for economic and social development, both at a regional and national level.

A tool able to solve both social and business challenges with a dynamic approach. Hence, notwithstanding the growth of research in this domain since the early efforts to provide frameworks that link business incubation with the incubated development process, there is still a need to understand ‘how’ and ‘why’ incubated firms grow in a business incubator environment. Massimiliano's research aims to address these shortcomings, with a particular focus on the social related aspects, that see incubators as one of the main instruments to address and solve impelling social challenges, as they have a positive impact on the development of social start-ups, and they increase their possibility of surviving and of scaling their business. Follow Massimiliano's interesting work @