Adaptation, Evolution, and Key Performance Factors of Canadian Business Incubators and the Impacts of Covid-19

Canada, with its vast land and diverse population, has been developing its own entrepreneurial ecosystem and some business incubators and accelerators (BIs) have been attracting international attention. Boundaries between incubators and accelerators and among the types of BIs have been blurring. All three levels of governments are playing a leading role in the BI realm, but they are increasingly partnering with the private sector. The world of BIs in Canada is becoming less dichotomous; it is not either public or private, for profit or non-profit, or regional or international. The three most important performance factors for BIs are mentoring and coaching, building internal community, and offering external networks to the clients. COVID-19 created havoc among the entrepreneurial stakeholders, but most including BIs regained their strength by the second year of the pandemic. The ecosystem players adopted virtual platforms quickly, which will be the lasting impact of the pandemic.