The evolution of the incubator is retraced from the foundational research in the 1950s and 1960s of Research-on-Research—that explored the R&D process in a number of contexts to derive and test theories of organizational behavior. In this paper, we review the next phase of this evolution, starting with seminal incubation research in the early 1970s and, we reflect on the prolific growth of incubation research and practice, as well as new challenges that lie ahead for the next phase of incubation. The incubation field has expanded to include a wide range of models and a plethora of spin-off terminology that have been used interchangeably, with the emergence of the most recent model—the accelerator. Our historical critical review of the evolution of the incubation field is used to ask: in this current era of technological change, what can we learn from the past? We reflect on this question in an attempt to help direct researchers in their endeavors to contribute to the next generation of incubation research. This paper presents lessons learned from prior research and provides a range of indicative areas for further empirical studies at four levels of analysis.

中文翻译：

---

孵化器的演变：过去、现在和未来

孵化器的演变可追溯至 1950 年代和 1960 年代的研究中的基础研究——在多种背景下探索研发过程以推导出和测试组织行为理论。在本文中，我们回顾了这一演变的下一阶段，从 1970 年代初期开创性的孵化研究开始，我们反思了孵化研究和实践的多产增长，以及下一阶段孵化面临的新挑战. 随着最新模型——加速器的出现，孵化领域已经扩展到包括广泛的模型和大量可互换使用的衍生术语。我们对孵化领域演变的历史批判性回顾被用来问：在当今这个技术变革的时代，我们可以从过去学到什么？我们反思这个问题，试图帮助指导研究人员为下一代孵化研究做出贡献。本文介绍了从先前研究中吸取的经验教训，并为在四个分析层次上的进一步实证研究提供了一系列指示性领域。