Abstract: Governments across the world are keen on encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation. This is driven by the expectation that new and small businesses create jobs and will help in reducing unemployment. Further introduction of new products lead to increased competition in the market.

One important policy decision of the government of India is to encourage setting up of incubation centers across the country that will support and handhold nascent entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial journey. The support provided by the government comes in various forms and the most important one is the grant provided to set up and run incubation centers. Many educational institutions have set up incubation centers and are actively trying to promote entrepreneurship.

This study explores the expectations of students with respect to the incubation centers. Data was collected from students of a course on entrepreneurship using a questionnaire in an open-ended format. Subsequently some of the students were interviewed to identify the key support expected from incubation centers. One of the interesting findings was the importance placed on mentoring support. Based on the findings, suggestions are provided on what academic institutions planning to set up incubation centers should focus on.

Considering the increasing interest in entrepreneurship among students and the support extended by central and states governments to promote entrepreneurship, insights from this study can also be used for policy decisions.

Keywords: Incubators, Startups, Entrepreneurs.