THE ROLE OF DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES FOR THE ENTREPRENEURIAL

National and local “economic development programs” – programs that provide assistance to individual businesses with tax or financial subsidies, or special public services, in order to increase local jobs or improve local businesses’ competitiveness – have become prominent and controversial. The paper illustrates the basic principles of development agencies that are not invariable and specific structures, rather “ideal- typical” structures that assume particular aspects only referring to a variety of local society answers’. In this sense, a tool as the enterprise incubator could foster the growth of entrepreneurs in regional contexts with a low level of entrepreneurial attitude. The definition of a model of incubator, through the analysis of a specific case study, the Israeli technological incubators, whose outline conditions, resources, vocations, obligations and their incidence on policies of entrepreneurships promotion in Israel are identified, help us to outline factors of success, direct and induced effects on regional contexts, possible new relations introduced among actors, also in a new informational economy perspective. The local context characters, both at human and social capital level and at institutional and infrastructure levels, become decisive factors for productive choices, overtaking sometimes the national level to link directly to global networks. In this way, it seems inevitable a transformation of both the aims and the organisation in a changing context. The role of development agencies has moved from promoting the local demand to structure involved in elaborating solutions in the socio-economic field.SMEs innovativeness; entrepreneurial promotion; incubator; Israel

Between vision and reality: promoting innovation through technoparks in Kazakhstan

A common motivation for the technopark movement is the belief that technoparks promote innovation and economic growth at regional and/or national levels. The paper analyses the role of technoparks as instruments of innovation promotion in Kazakhstan using data from a firm survey and interviews. Our results suggest that, unlike what is assumed in the innovation policy literature, technoparks do not house firms dealing with the commercialisation of innovations that are ready for introduction to the market. Technopark firms are no more innovative than other firms. They are oriented largely towards the local market, and operate in traditional sectors; the frequency and intensity of their external links are more developed than are their internal links. The key motivations for relocating to a technopark seem to be lower rents and the possibility of accessing finance. Overall, Kazakh technoparks seem to be successful in terms of facilitating business incubation, but much les so in terms of innovation promotion and diversification of the economy. Currently, Kazakh industry does not make any demands for local R&D, and its sources of competitiveness lie in non-R&D activities. This suggests that innovation policy should focus on assisting companies to upgrade their technological capabilities to the level that they can articulate their R&D demands. Focusing on technoparks as the main mechanism to improve competitiveness and diversify the economy is an ineffective and uncertain a policy option at this stage of the country's economic development. However, there seems to be significant scope for supporting business incubation. These conclusions are of relevance to other emerging economies

Oregon Capital Scan: A Line is Drawn

This report was written with the primary intention of helping to educate entrepreneurs and growth company leaders with respect to the variety and scale of capital sources currently available in the State. It is not uncommon for those seeking to enter the capital markets as an entrepreneur to possess a limited understanding of where capital can be found. This knowledge gap leads to a level of perceived risk uncertainty that inhibits company formation and growth. This report is not intended to instruct entrepreneurs in the skills required to secure funding, rather it is intended as a catalog of source data to enlighten as to the many different types of capital available. This report is also intended for policy makers and those who work to support the development of a thriving growth company ecosystem in the State. This includes the sponsors of this report who seek to find new ways to bring together education and resources to enhance the ability of those who choose to build their companies in Oregon. This report can serve as a baseline of quantitative data that may help everyone to better understand where we are as a State now, with respect to the key ingredient of growth capital, and help us measure our progress and improvements over time

Entrepreneurship, innovation and the triple helix model: evidence from Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire

This paper focuses on how regions become entrepreneurial and the extent to which the actors in the triple helix model are dominant at particular stages in development. It uses the case studies of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire in the UK to explore this theme. Both can now be described as ‘regional triple helix spaces’ (Etzkowitz 2008), and form two points of the Golden Triangle of Oxford, Cambridge and London universities. As entrepreneurial regions, however, they differ in a number of respects. This is not surprising given their differing geo-historical contexts. However, by comparing the two similar counties but which have their own distinctive features we are able to explore different dynamics which lead to the inception, implementation, consolidation and renewal (Etzkowitz and Klofsten 2005) of regions characterised by very high levels of technology-based entrepreneurship

The Growth of Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurship in India, 1991-2007

There is enough consensus to show that India's economic performance since 1991 is a direct result of the economic liberalization measures that have been put in place. One of the outcomes of this improved performance is the growth of innovations in the country. This was accompanied by or caused by the emergence of a number of technology-based enterprises. This paper takes a critical look at the available quantitative evidence on the growth of knowledge or technologybased entrepreneurship. It then looks at five facilitating factors for the emergence of this phenomenon in terms of the existence of increased market opportunities, availability of financial support schemes in the form of venture capital funds, existence and enlargement of a number of government programmes, a number of private sector initiatives and education, and training leading to the supply of technically trained personnel. The paper concludes with certain policy suggestions for the continued sustenance of this activity.knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship, knowledge process, outsourcing venture capital, angel financing, business incubators

The Importance of Business Plan Proficiency to Business School Graduates

Small businesses are one of the largest groups of employers in the United States. Success of these businesses is, therefore, very important to the economy at large. Entrepreneurs who write business plans, in general, receive more funding from third parties such as banks and venture capital firms and are more likely to be successful. Entrepreneurs who receive a business education and have the support of a mentor are also more likely to be successful in the long term. Incorporating business planning, and activities such as business plan competitions and building incubators on campus, enhance classroom learning

An Arrested Virtuous Circle? Higher Education And High-Tech Industries In India

We provide a brief but comprehensive overview of linkages between higher education and the high tech sector and study the major linkages in India. We find that the links outside of the labor market are weak. This is attributed to a regulatory structure that separates research from the university and discourages good faculty from joining, which erodes the quality of the intellectual capital necessary to generate new knowledge. In the labor market, we find a robust link between higher education and high-tech industry, but despite a strong private sector supply response to the growth of the high-tech industry, the quality leaves much to be desired. Poor university governance may be limiting both labor market and non-labor market linkages. Industry efforts to improve the quality of graduates are promising but over reliance on industry risks compromising workforce flexibility. Addressing the governance failures in higher education is necessary to strengthen the links between higher education and high tech industry.

Productive Development Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Case of Mexico

While Mexico has potential to grow rapidly, its economic growth has remained low for the past three decades. There is no consensus on the country’s development path or on how to achieve specific goals. Since the policy debate remains ideological and lacks pragmatism, productive development policies (PDPs) are often uncoordinated, redundant or even incongruent with each other. It is therefore important to understand the process whereby PDPs are designed and the institutional setting in which they are are implemented. This paper consequently examines whether PDPs respond to market failures and/or government failures. When PDPs are not designed to address specific market failures they can produce unwanted results or prove completely ineffective. When PDPs do address government failures, it is important to determine the reasons why the failure cannot be corrected in the first place and whether PDPs will be effective at addressing the problem in a second-best manner.Industrial Policy, Institutions, Policymaking, Mexico