High mortality rate and an environment in constant change set up a context in which the search for innovation becomes essential to business’ longevity. Incubation has been proposed as an alternative to start-up companies, giving support for their development. Seeking to explore which characteristics enable a firm’s development through incubation, a multiple case studies were performed. Interviews were carried out with two Incubated, and three Graduated companies. Results indicate that the incubation process is important to strengthening of the firm. This was observed when innovative strategies employed by companies were analyzed. Was founded an evolution from Incubated to Graduated. During the incubation process, the companies showed a greater focus on strengthening their knowledge bases, seeking to establish qualification relationships and invest in an innovation strategy based on better human resources allocation while the Graduated ones attempt to achieve further innovation by structuring and coupling their own commercial and R&D departments.