When a baby is born prematurely, the neonate is placed in an incubator so that it can thrive.  And companies are just like babies in the sense that only a few start-up businesses thrive without the help of incubators.

Google’s Umbono, a high-growth tech start-up incubator, announced the first four teams who will begin the six-month program.  The teams are LocalSort – A service that helps hotels and hospitality businesses provide local information and recommendations to their guests; TaxTim – A digital tax assistant to help South Africans make tax filing season simple; Sampleboard – An online editing program which helps designers create digital mood boards in minutes and thus share conceptual, visual ideas with colleagues and clients in the early stages of a creative project; and Starburst Games – A mobile game company which will be developing collaborative, multi-player games on a unique mobile handset delivery platform.

During the six month period, Umbono will help the teams develop their ideas and get their products off the ground, with the intention of seeing some international success stories being made by the chosen teams.

According to a blog post by Google, “The goal of Umbono is to help develop a vibrant and sustainable internet ecosystem across Africa, and we hope that Umbono will encourage the growth of the developer community and support the South Africa’s already flourishing tech sector. There is a vibrant tech startup movement happening in South Africa, and we’ve received hundreds of applications.”

Google also plans on setting up another incubator in Israel by August 2012, as announced by Google Israel R&D Center director Prof. Yossi Matias.  The incubator will kick off when Google Israel finishes setting up in the Electra Tower in Tel Aviv.

According to Matias, “the incubator will initially host about 20 pre-seed stage start-ups, or 80 people. The start-ups will be hosted for a training period of at least three months. Google is focusing on start-ups developing open code technologies, such as Google’s Android mobile operating system and Chrome browser. It will also house entrepreneurs from Israel’s Arab and haredi (ultra-orthodox) communities, which currently have little exposure in the country’s high-tech industry.”

Flourishing Incubator Market

Many beyond Google see the benefits in setting up incubator programs to drive innovation.  BlueChilli, the digital agency that specialises in software development, websites, digital marketing and Venture Technology investments to internet startups, announced that it will launch two tech startups, one in Melbourne on December and another one on Sydney by January.  BluChilli’s endeavors are backed by start-up fund Future Capital.

“We are impressed by Sebastian (Eckersley-Maslin)’s drive, passion, ingenuity and genuine desire to help BlueChilli’s clients succeed,” stated Domenic Carosa, executive director of Future Capital.  “We believe this attitude is contagious and can only ensure BlueChilli’s success as an incubation engine for Australian internet entrepreneurs. This approach is aligned with Future Capital’s investment objectives and consequently we see enormous synergy between Future Capital and BlueChilli.”

Chandler Innovations, which setup shop only 17 months ago, now offers over 60,000 square feet of office, laboratory and meeting space for start-ups.

“We’re going to be on the larger-size of incubators around the country,” Christine Mackay, Chandler’s economic development director said. “There was such an incredible demand for space. We just don’t have the incubators that some of the established regions have.”