Abstract:Innovation activities are systematic, the innovation performance of incubators is affected by internal and external environmental factors, and the influencing factors are interdependent and complex. However, current research is biased towards the exploration of a single factor, and it is impossible to explain the complex mechanism such as the interdependence of multiple factors. Based on the configuration point of view, this paper takes 2920 incubators across China as a sample and uses the fsQCA method to explore the complex impact mechanism of seven conditions in the three categories of organizational support, institutional environment and market environment on incubator innovation performance. It is found that the innovation performance of incubators is closely related to the system and market environment in which it operates, and the subject-environment balanced-driven collaborative innovation strategy is the main path to achieve high innovation performance; the innovation performance of incubators has the characteristics of multiple concurrency, the institutional environment, market environment, and organizational support behavior cannot alone constitute the necessary conditions for high innovation performance; and the synergy of multiple factors has the same effect on the innovation performance of incubators, among which, government subsidies have not played a key role, a sound intellectual property protection system plays an important role in most pathways, and spatial agglomeration of incubators affects incubator innovation performance under specific conditions. Based on the research conclusions, for the government and technology business incubator managers, from both institutional and market environment considerations, some suggestions are provided to improve the innovation performance of incubators.