Innovation, Business Incubation and Skill Development in Startup Ecosystem: A Scientometric Review of Global Research

The success of startups often hinges on three interrelated elements: innovation, business incubation, and skill development. These pillars collectively shape a vibrant startup ecosystem, enabling entrepreneurs to transform ideas into viable businesses. Therefore, the purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to examine the interrelationship of mentioned three fundamental elements. The study has used a scientometric analysis for identifying global trend, themes, and conceptual structures concerning innovation, incubation, and skill development within startup ecosystem from 1992 to 2023 using techniques like clustering and networking analyses. The study's network structure and thematic map were created by analyzing 214 bibliographic documents extracted from the SCOPUS database. The findings of the study suggest that the keywords circular economy, open innovation, small businesses, and creativity are gaining momentum as research hotspots, indicating a dynamic and evolving research landscape. This shift shows a deeper reconsideration of how businesses cannot just survive but really excel by aligning with incubation efforts, circular economy, entrepreneurial skills, working in open innovation with external partners, and encouraging creative ideas. The mix of central themes like innovation, business development skills, startups, and business incubation with newer focusses like the circular economy and open innovation points to a future where traditional business practices are increasingly combined with forward-thinking, responsible approaches. This combination highlights new directions for both research and practical business strategies, aiming for a more sustainable and collaborative entrepreneurial landscape.