Abstract: Business incubator is an important platform to promote the development of start-ups and transformation of innovation.It is also one of the strategic measures for the construction of "Global Science and Business incubator is an important platform to promote the development of start-ups and transformation of innovation.It is also one of the strategic measures for the construction of "Global Science and Technology Innovation Center" in Shanghai.The paper explores the distribution of business incubators in Shanghai based on the detailed information of publicly listed incubators by using ArcGIS, and analyses the influencing factors of the distribution of incubators by regarding district as the basic unit.The results show that,business incubators in Shanghai have undergone different stages of development:government-orientation,college-orientation, private enterprise-orientation,and display an obvious polycentric pattern. Most business incubators are agglomerated in central areas of the city,mainly in Pudong,Yangpu and Minhang district.There have been several clusters of business incubators,including Wujiaochang,Zhangjiang High-Tech Park and Caohejing Development District in the core area of Shanghai.The agglomeration characteristic of incubators shows a decreasing trend from the city center to the periphery area. Based on multiple stepwise regression analysis,the result of econometric model indicates that scientific research strength and industrial foundation affect the location of the incubators obviously.