Each of the programs listed are geared toward very early-stage companies and provide many different types of support functions. Each program (I believe) offers grants or loans, office space, and mentorship. At its current state, the Techarb is more of a conventional incubator with outside entities providing financial and mentorship functions, however it is intended to be grown into a full accelerator in the near future by U-M (it was created only a few months ago and just getting off the ground). I'm less familiar with the SmartStart's program (I only visited once), however I believe it offers a full range of early-stage startup assistance.
I would quite enjoy seeing additional data.. founding of new 'accelerators' over time, number of companies funded, companies/year, etc. Primarily when they were founded. Last I checked, I found only 3.
Would also be fun to see an evolution tree starting from YC. It's too soon for weak variations to have died off yet, but I reckon we could check back in a decade..
That's toughie. Is a success counted when the first company does well, or if the entrepreneur goes on to make a ton of amazing companies, giving some stock to the accelerator and/or having them involved in the process?
Compiling further detailed information on the programs would certainly be interesting and I'm sure that prospective applicants would find it helpful. Given the different models used by the programs, it would be an interesting endeavor to try to consolidate and compare the details.
We need a TheFunded for incubators and accelerators. A site that allows founders to rate these programs and their interactions with them similar to what http://www.thefunded.com/ does for venture capitalists.
My apologies, I searched for YCombinator not "Y Combinator" and didn't find it. I see it now. With so many incubators it's a natural and useful extension for TheFunded.
Not sure about Start@Spark or Highland's program, but I think you'll find a lot of folks familiar with TechStars on HN. Having just announced the third program in Seattle, they're also rapidly increasing the number of companies that they assist annually.
I've interacted with each of these program on some level and can provide more information later if desired.