Trento Centre: entrepreneurship and SMEs

Supporting entrepreneurship and SME development locally

Entrepreneurs and SMEs face challenges in terms of access to financing, integrating global value chains and penetrating foreign markets in a context of slow recovery from the economic crisis.

To address these issues, entrepreneurs and managers need to continually upgrade their production processes, work organisation, and management and workforce skills. Many of these challenges can be addressed through tailored and effective business support infrastructure.

Getting the design, governance and implementation of support services right is thus of crucial importance in addressing market failures and unleashing entrepreneurs’ and SMEs’ potential.

2017-2018 Focus

Delivering effective business development services at the local level

This activity will build capacities in adapting the business service infrastructure to the changing needs of businesses to optimise outcomes in terms of enterprise creation, expansion and productivity improvement. It will analyse the role of local authorities, public sector services, such as business development centres, and business-led organisations such as chambers of commerce, in providing services that are addressing the key issues and obstacles to the development of local enterprises.

The activity will contribute to the overall programme of work of the OECD on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, including the activities undertaken by the Working party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, the development of an OECD Strategy for SMEs, and the OECD Ministerial meeting on SMEs scheduled in February 2018.

One seminar will involve practitioners from various countries and address the following key dimensions of successful support provision: i) the range and modes of services; ii) accessibility to SMEs and entrepreneurs; iii) management skills training; and iv) local governance mechanisms.