We live in a time in which paradigms can alter so quickly that in the event that you blink, you will miss it. And let's be honest. Shift happens.

Let's begin with some history. For people who are supplying 'business incubation,' and people receiving it, here's how it all started. The Barbie Doll had only made her debut. The U.S. market was in an all-time high. And yet in Batavia, New York, a conspicuous, warehouse-sized construction stood entirely empty.

Formerly a Massey-Ferguson plant of 850,000 square feet-the facility closed its doors in '56, driving local unemployment up to over 20%. A nearby family, the Mancusos, bought the building, then elected family member Joe Mancuso, owner of a local hardware store, to turn-things-around. After trying really hard, he said that finding one big tenant for the whole space was just "crazy." So, he sliced it up into smaller spaces.

Joe also provided tenants with counseling and assistance on raising funds as part of the package.

"We were outside on the road a great deal of the moment, attempting to interest investors and attract companies to the middle," he once told the NBIA Review, "so, in a joking manner, because of all of the chickens, we started calling it 'The Incubator.'" The Business Incubator was born.

Now, many would like to believe that the "incubator" was the result of revolutionary thinking from the Wharton School of Business or maybe MIT. Nope. It was simply one family's clever solution to entice not-so-big-tenants to move into an oh-so-big-building. But yes...it did steal its moniker from the raising of chickens.

The Business Incubator has since become the hallmark for growing business startups.

Later, in 2005, an innovative workplace-concept with a less catchy name was born. Brad Neuberg opened the first "coworking space" in San Francisco. In expressing the idea, he borrowed the term, "coworking," first used by Bernie DeKoven back in 1999 to describe "working collaboratively" in an online space. Except, what Brad added was real space, brick and mortar and the personal interaction so necessary for developing human trust.

'Coworking zones' as 'fourth locations'

Coincidentally, today it is not at all uncommon for those working in a coworking space to do just that: actually communicate and collaborate on a daily basis with others in the many coworking spaces, online, across the globe. Heck. It's how this article was written.

Coworking has since ascended from a single phenomenon to a full-fledged movement. From 2010 to 2011 the number of coworking spaces jumped worldwide by 100%. If coworking were a virus, it's now gone pandemic. Fifty percent of that growth was in the U.S.

Paraphrasing from Wikipedia: coworking is a style of work which involves independent professionals sharing a work environment; usually in a "coworking space." The concept has become increasingly attractive to work-from-home professionals, startups (high-tech and otherwise), entrepreneurs and independent contractors--all faced with working in relative isolation.

So, is coworking the new incubator? Yes and no. Perhaps, if the definition of "incubation" has changed. How could it not? The 1959 automobile survived the growing pains of high fins and too much chrome and thankfully has now evolved into something entirely different. The Barbie Doll underwent her stylish makeovers. And remember, the PC wasn't even around when the "Incubator of '59" was born.

Not every coworking facility needs to become an incubator. But it might be an ideal match for a lot of the nomadic workers - and also the "frugal startup" specifically. Many business incubators themselves are already benefiting from this mega-trend, and hybrids are starting to emerge. As witnessed here, perhaps the "startup" itself ought to be redefined. Why not?

Isn't any solo entrepreneur starting a new business a startup? Our cafes are filled with these. Katie Couric on CBS requested Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, "When you look around a Starbucks, what do you see?"

"I see a deep sense of community," Schultz replied. "We've intended, from day one, to really kind of build a third place between home and work."

Nevertheless, neither Katie nor even Howard might have predicted a radical "fourth place." A brand new measurement called (wait for it...) "The Coworking Zone."

"Coworking will never wholly replace the business incubator"

Jeremy Neuner is co-founder & (r)evolutionary-in-chief in NextSpace, a coworking Business in California, with four thriving 'spaces' at Santa Cruz, San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In an interview for this article, he explained:

"Coworking will never wholly replace the business incubator. And yet, incubators per se are facing new challenges present day, as many of them exist solely due to public monies. And during this economy it's becoming harder to prove quantifiable results with money-in, sustainable growth or job creation coming-out. Whereas coworking redefines job creation. The independent professional has indeed created a job: their own. Later? If expansion looks like 1 to 4 more positions, those, too, are jobs."

Neuner goes on to point out: "...Individuals coworking have concluded that 'lifetime employment' has simply gone away. So now they work at a job and future of their own making. You know? There's this myth that those in coworking spaces are less driven than the individuals in, say, an incubator. But, I've never seen a more dedicated, harder-working group of people than those in (our) coworking spaces. It is inspiring."

So whether sustainable growth manifests throughout the rigors of incubation or through the community vibe of coworking - guts is still likely to be crucial. Because, there's no room for the faint-of-heart in the current innovation economy. And it's surely no place for chickens.