This paper was based on a desk review of the literature relating to best practice in public policy supporting business incubation, supplemented by four national case studies covering Brazil, Ma-laysia, New Zealand and South Africa. These country studies were prepared through engage-ment of stakeholders, site visits and other sources of primary and secondary information collection. In the context of the study, we focused on best practice in policy development, meaning that public bodies should identify clear objectives and goals to be achieved within the resources avail-able and take steps to measure and assess what has actually been achieved, allowing changes to overcome unexpected barriers, as well as to identify and disseminate best practices to improve overall performance.