Introduction: Helping birds to fly: Introducing start-up incubation ecosystems

The establishment and growth of innovative firms are generally viewed as central to a country's or region's economic viability. However, prior research has provided limited evidence as to why some regions and countries are more successful in this regard than others. Introducing the notion of Start-up Incubation Ecosystem (SUPIE), the handbook draws attention to the importance of the environments in which these firms are started, and the support they receive along the way. In putting together this handbook, we provide a concerted effort to provide empirical evidence and conceptual considerations about how innovative new firms interact with and are influenced by their environments, and why some firms and SUPIEs are more successful than others.