The proposed integrated project demonstrates the importance of business incubation for entrepreneurship fostering and rural economic development. It shows that existing evaluation tools for business incubators are lacking and that there have been numerous flawed attempts to evaluate incubator performance in the past. Moreover, it shows that there have been systematic and inherent biases against rural incubators in the way evaluation data have been interpreted with regard to rural business incubation programs where successful business formation and development are known to be considerably more difficult than in more urbanized areas. The research produces new and expanded tools and instruments for evaluating the performance of rural business incubators, specifically, quantitative quasi-experimental and input-output measures and qualitative balanced scorecard measures. Major outputs of the integrated project include: 1) An evaluation toolkit for business incubators. The toolkit will include a description of the problems rural incubators face, the methods for addressing these problems, and draft protocols (measurement instruments and instructions on their utilization) for evaluation of rural business incubators. 2) A handbook for policy makers and practitioners in business incubation, entrepreneurship nurturing, and rural development. The policy handbook highlights the challenges and opportunities for rural incubators, develops generalizable, yet tailored policy tools and action plans addressing identified challenges, and provides a strategic focus on the needs of the development of business incubators and quality entrepreneurship in the economically distressed areas. 3) A new curriculum, which emphasizes the interconnection between entrepreneurship and rural development.