IN 1956, a hardware store manager named Joseph Mancuso converted an abandoned 850,000-square-foot manufacturing complex in Batavia, N.Y., into a new kind of facility he called the Batavia Industrial Center.

Not only would tenants receive office space, they would gain access to other entrepreneurs and experts willing to dole out business advice. Several businesses soon came calling, including a winery, a charitable organization and a chicken processor. It was Mr. Mancuso who, after seeing newly hatched chicks running around the facility, began calling it an “incubator.”

Today, there are about 1,200 business incubators in the United States. Most cater to a variety of businesses, according to Linda Knopp, director of policy analysis and research at the National Business Incubation Association.