Twelve years ago, the Technological Incubator of Popular Cooperatives (ITCP) was conceived as a center of technology that would make knowledge and resources accumulated in public universities available to all. The objectives of the organization were to start and develop workers’ cooperatives and employment alternatives that improve the income of socially and economically vulnerable groups.

Since the year 2005, ITCP has found a new challenge supporting incubators of popular cooperatives to act in different regions of Brazil. This paper presents the basis of the methodology proposed by the incubator. The objective of the paper is to feature general guidelines related with the process of incubation of popular coperatives, so that they can be analyzed and discussed by different institutions.

The paper presents:

• Incubation objectives: the social role of popular cooperatives and how to design related projects.
• Tools for planning.
• Main areas of action.
• Timing for the incubation process.