Not all incubators are created equal--and with more of them out there, you need to choose where you apply wisely. The age of the accelerator is officially upon us . Here is but a glimpse into the proliferation of start-up programs in the U.S. and Europe as reported by U.K. research firm NESTA: Since 2005 there has been year-on-year growth in the number of companies taking this route through their early-stages. Y Combinator has taken on more and more companies each year, but the main driver of growth has been that new programs have been created. Techstars now operates in four U.S. cities and is growing a global network of peers. In Europe, the number of programmes has risen from just one in 2007 to over 10 in 2011. Simply put: there are a ton of incubators and accelerators to which you can apply. But not surprisingly, as the quantity of programs has gone up, the quality of the aggregate has arguably gone down.…