This report has been prepared by the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) under the direction of Lamia Kamal-Chaoui. It forms part of the programme of work on ‘fostering startups and scaleups’ of the OECD Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (CSMEE), supported by the CFE SME and Entrepreneurship Division (SMEE) led by Lucia Cusmano, Head of Division. The report drafting and analysis were directed by Dr. Jonathan Potter, Head of the Entrepreneurship Policy and Analysis Unit, CFE.
The report was drafted by an OECD Secretariat team involving Pablo Shah, Roberto Crotti, Angeliki Spiliopoulou, Jian Bang, Marta Lasheras Sancho, Minsuk Kim and Jonathan Potter. Expert written contributions were made by Martin Bliemel, University of Technology Sydney, Australia; Alasdair Reid, European Future Innovation Centre, Belgium; Professor Wadid Lamine, University of Ottawa, Canada; Professor Nadine Levratto, University of Paris Nanterre, France; Professor Philippe Mustar, Mines Paris – PSL, France; Professor Klaus Fichter, Borderstep Institute, Germany; Professor Peter Lindelöf, University of Southeastern Norway, Norway, Professor Manuel Laranja, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Professor Björn Asheim, Lund University, Sweden; Professor Magnus Klofsten, Linköping University, Sweden; Professor Bart Clarysse, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Professor Helen Lawton Smith, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom; Professor Kevin Mole, University of Warwick, United Kingdom; and Professor Sarfraz Mian, State University of New York at Oswego, United States. Chapter 5 of the report is based on a paper prepared for the OECD Secretariat by Professor Magnus Klofsten, Linköping University, on coaching in business incubators. Chapter 8 is based on a paper prepared by Professor Manuel Laranja, University of Lisbon, on entrepreneurship training in business incubators.
The report draws on material developed in three in-depth OECD studies on incubation policies conducted at the request of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment of Ireland, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups of the Republic of Korea, and the Portuguese Ministry of Economy and Maritime Affairs, the latter with the financial support of the European Commission’s SG Reform through Technical Support Instrument project 23PT34.
The report has benefitted from interviews and information provided by many stakeholder organisations in case study countries, including representatives of startup and scaleup enterprises, incubator and accelerator managers and staff, universities, entrepreneur and employer associations, and government ministries and agencies.