Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Scotland 2011

GEM is a major research project aimed at describing and analysing entrepreneurial processes within a wide range of countries. GEM has three main objectives: To measure differences in entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations among economies. To uncover factors determining the nature and level of national entrepreneurial activity. To identify policy implications for enhancing entrepreneurship in an economy

Global Entrepreneurship Scotland 2010 Report

GEM is a major research project aimed at describing and analysing entrepreneurial processes within a wide range of countries. GEM has three main objectives: • To measure differences in entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations among economies. • To uncover factors determining the nature and level of national entrepreneurial activity. • To identify policy implications for enhancing entrepreneurship in an economy

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor United Kingdom Monitoring Report 2010

This report compares Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration in the UK with participating G7 countries. It also summarizes entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration across the four nations of the UK and reports on entrepreneurs’ perceptions of the effect of the global recession on their businesses, awareness in the UK of Global Entrepreneurship week, and the incidence of intrapreneurship among employees in the UK

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor United Kingdom 2011 Monitoring Report

In 2011, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research consortium measured entrepreneurial activity of individuals in 54 economies, making it the world’s most authoritative comparative study of entrepreneurial activity in the general adult population. In 2011, 10,573 adults aged 16 to 80 participated in the GEM UK survey. This monitoring report compares Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations in the UK, France, Germany and the United States, and the four home nations of the UK. It also examines the anticipated and actual challenges facing individuals starting a business in the UK. Attitudes of non-entrepreneurial individuals to entrepreneurship were more subdued than in 2010, reflecting uncertainties in the wider economy. • In the UK, 9.8% of working age adults expected to start a business within the next 3 years in 2011, compared with 15.8% in the US. Total early-stage entrepreneurial activity or TEA (the sum of the nascent entrepreneurship rate and the new business owner-manager rate - without double counting) in the UK in 2011 was 7.6%1. The rise in the UK TEA rate, while just not significantly different from the 2010 figure, appears to bring it beyond the historical trend (2002-2010) which was very stable at close to 6%. Despite the apparent rise in entrepreneurial activity in the UK since 2010, the gap with the US widened as a result of a sharp rise in the TEA rate in the US: the UK TEA rate was around twothirds (62%) of the US equivalent rate of 12.3% and above that of France (5.7%) and Germany (5.6%). When surveyed in mid-2011, 4.2% of the adult population in the UK were actively trying to start a business (nascent entrepreneurs), compared with 8.3% in the US. Nascent entrepreneurship rates in the UK, US, France and Germany rose between 2010 and 2011 – in fact, they doubled in the US. When surveyed in 2011, 3.4% of the UK working age adult population were owner-managers of a business that was 3 - 42 months old (new business ownermanagers). This is unchanged on the 2010 estimate of 3.4%, and it compares favourably with the estimate for France (1.7%) and Germany (2.4%) although it is slightly lower than the US (4.3%). In 2011, the proportion of the adult population who owned and managed a business older than 42 months (established business owner-managers) in the UK was 6.5%, similar to 2010 (6.2%). This was similar to Germany (5.6%), higher than in France (2.4%) but lower than in the US where the rate returned to pre-crisis levels at 9.1% after a dip since 2008. The estimated proportion of working age people in the UK who discontinued a business (whether through closure or sale) in the past 12 months rose slightly but not significantly to 1.6% from 1.2%, while they increased slightly to 2.9% in the US. On average, discontinuations by entrepreneurs of businesses in France and Germany were the same in 2011 as in 2010 (around 1.5%). The proportion of UK TEA entrepreneurs reporting new product/market combinations, export propensity and high or medium technology sectoral choices were just as high as in the US although fewer had high growth expectations. Necessity-driven early-stage entrepreneurship in the UK rose significantly in 2011 from 0.7% to 1.3%. In 2011, UK levels of female early-stage entrepreneurship (TEA rate of 5%) were 49% of male early-stage entrepreneurial activity – up from 44% in 2010. This is similar to France but in the US and Germany male and female TEA rates were much closer although they had widened since 2010. The sub-national distribution of TEA rates in 2011 was Scotland: 6.2%, Northern Ireland: 7.1%, England: 7.7% and Wales: 8.1%.These differences across the home nations were not statistically significant

The new concept of nano-device spectroscopy based on Rabi-Bloch oscillations for THz-frequency range

We considered one-dimensional quantum chains of two-level Fermi particles coupled via the tunneling driven both by ac and dc fields in the regimes of strong and ultrastrong coupling. The frequency of ac field is matched with the frequency of the quantum transition. Based on the fundamental principles of electrodynamics and quantum theory, we developed a general model of quantum dynamics for such interactions. We showed that the joint action of ac and dc fields leads to the strong mutual influence of Rabi- and Bloch oscillations one to another. We focused on the regime of ultrastrong coupling, for which Bloch- and Rabi-frequencies are a significant values of the frequency of interband transition. The Hamiltonian was solved numerically with account of anti-resonant terms. It manifests by the appearance of great number of narrow high-amplitude resonant lines in the spectra of tunneling current and dipole moment. We proposed the new concept of THz spectroscopy promising for different applications in future nanoelectronics and nano-photonics.Comment: 26 pages, 20 figure

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor : United Kingdom 2009 Monitoring Report

This monitoring report compares Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) measures of entrepreneurial attitudes and activity in the UK and participating G7 and BRIC countries. It also summarises entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations within Government Official Regions of the UK. It presents analysis on how the UK compares in terms of social entrepreneurial activity. It examines the views of entrepreneurs on the impact of the global recession on their own businesses. Finally, it reports expert views on the environment for entrepreneurship in the UK

Mixed Signals: Why investors may misjudge first time high technology founders

This paper seeks to explain an unexpected result of a previous quantitative study which suggested sub-optimal evaluation by investors of the human capital of first time high tech venture founders. A literature review revealed two possible reasons for this finding: biases/heuristics and signaling. Six investors across three countries (one venture capitalist and one business angel each from the US, UK and Israel) with experience in investing in early stage high technology ventures were interviewed using an identical semi-structured interview protocol. This research design is appropriate for research that seeks to reflect back unexpected findings of previous quantitative research on the subjects of research. Interviewees were first asked to state their own investment criteria, and then presented with the results of the quantitative study and asked for their views. Previous research suggesting a gap between in-use and espoused criteria, and extensive use of gut feeling in decision-making, was supported. Interviewees focused on harvest potential and de-emphasised measures of founder technology capability that predicted early survival and growth in the earlier study. The paper concludes by suggesting how investors might improve funding decisions in high tech ventures led by first-time entrepreneurs, noting the study's limitations and making recommendations for further research