Business accelerators and start up incubators have been a major funding initiative of the Canadian government through multiple recent administrations. On the private sector side, too, multiple entities and a number of corporations have also been undertaking their own incubators. However, for every major success there are even more stall outs, disappointments, and flops.

Within federal structures, such as the recently concluded Canadian Incubator and Accelerator Program (CAIP), a certain amount of this can be absorbed without unsettling the “parent company” in play. For individual corporations undertaking an incubator, steep losses are a dangerous risk. As a result, some of the ....