Business incubators are organisations that support the growth of small companies, including start-ups, by providing various resources and services. The aims of this article were to assess the characteristics of business incubators in non-hub cities located in Georgia and South Carolina and to describe the major differences between incubators located in non-hub and hub cities. We surveyed 5 non-hub incubators and visited and analysed qualitatively 10 incubators, 5 in hub cities and 5 in non-hub cities. Results showed that incubators in non-hub cities have less focus and less access to funding capital compared with incubators in hub cities. The implementation of a mesh network among incubators in non-hub cities may help sharing resources, know-how, talents and investments with the goal of being able to compete with incubators in hub cities. While currently incubators in non-hub cities cannot offer the same services to their members, they can still play an important role in giving the people in their communities an opportunity to start a new business, find jobs and increase their income. Business incubators in non-hub cities can ultimately positively impact the overall quality of life of the population they serve. Finally, we proposed that a focus on public health innovation may help incubators in non-hub cities to be successful.

企业孵化器是通过提供各种资源和服务来支持包括初创公司在内的小公司成长的组织。本文的目的是评估位于佐治亚州和南卡罗来纳州非中心城市的企业孵化器的特征，并描述位于非中心城市和中心城市的孵化器之间的主要差异。我们调查了5个非中心孵化器，并定性访问和分析了10个孵化器，其中5个位于中心城市，另外5个位于非中心城市。结果表明，与中心城市的孵化器相比，非中心城市的孵化器关注的重点更少，获得资金的渠道也较少。在非中心城市的孵化器之间实施网状网络可能有助于共享资源，专业知识，人才和投资，以期能够与中心城市的孵化器竞争。尽管目前非中心城市的孵化器无法向其成员提供相同的服务，但它们仍可以发挥重要作用，使社区中的人们有机会开展新业务，找到工作并增加收入。非中心城市的企业孵化器最终可以对他们服务的人口的整体生活质量产生积极影响。最后，我们建议关注公共卫生创新可以帮助非集散城市的孵化器取得成功。非中心城市的企业孵化器最终可以对他们服务的人口的整体生活质量产生积极影响。最后，我们建议关注公共卫生创新可以帮助非集散城市的孵化器取得成功。非中心城市的企业孵化器最终可以对他们服务的人口的整体生活质量产生积极影响。最后，我们建议关注公共卫生创新可以帮助非集散城市的孵化器取得成功。