Reader’s guide
This report provides an overview of the scope of entrepreneurship policy today, discussing policy challenges and presenting the different types of instruments available to policymakers. It also provides principles and good practices to follow in designing and implementing these policies. It offers concrete policy examples to illustrate this discussion, complete with lessons learned. The compendium aims to serve as a source of inspiration for policymakers seeking to strengthen their portfolio of interventions in support of entrepreneurship in a holistic approach, and aims to encourage and facilitate peer learning across countries and territories.
While this report can be read linearly, it is designed as an interactive resource, where readers can easily identify the sections that are of most interest to them and access relevant case studies. To facilitate the navigation, the report includes various matrices, allowing readers to browse sections and policy examples along the dimensions that best match their interests.
Interested in policies in a specific area of intervention or with a specific feature (e.g. in support of a specific target group, or in a specific country)? Chapters 1 and 2 provide an overview of policy options and Chapter 3 provides a mapping of case studies by main type of intervention and characteristics.
Looking for inspiration on key performance indicators (KPIs) used to monitor and evaluate different types of policies and programmes? Chapter 3 provides a mapping of case studies by area of intervention and the type of KPIs used to monitor programme activities, outputs, and impacts.
Looking for concrete policy examples illustrating the success factors highlighted in Chapters 1 and 2? Chapter 3 provides a mapping of cases by main reported success factors and Chapters 4 to 6 set out the case studies in detail.
The report is structured in two parts. Part I discusses challenges, approaches and success factors for entrepreneurship policy. Chapter 1 discusses the rationales and objectives of entrepreneurship policy and explores its regional and local dimension. It also delves into the challenges of monitoring and evaluating entrepreneurship policies and provides guidance for identifying effective KPIs to follow progress. Chapter 2 discusses policy approaches to supporting entrepreneurship, highlighting the main types of policy support available, covering creation of effective institutional and framework conditions, extending direct support to entrepreneurs and designing holistic approaches to reinforce entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Part II presents a selection of 16 short case studies describing policies and programmes illustrating these different approaches. Chapter 3 provides a mapping of the case examples by policy type, KPI used and policy success factors illustrated. Chapters 4-6 present the case examples themselves, with the case examples grouped into those that address institutional conditions, those offering support direct to entrepreneurs, and those that build entrepreneurial ecosystems. The case studies present the objectives and rationale of each policy example discussed and offer a synthetic description of the activities, linkages to other policies, monitoring and evaluation methods and main evaluation results available. The cases also show the challenges that may be encountered in the design and implementation of initiatives and the responses that may be developed. The case studies contain key takeaways that could inform the development of similar policy initiatives in other countries.
Although the initiatives discussed generally incorporate more than one single intervention focus, Table 1 identifies a main category of policy intervention of each case study featured in this report to assist in navigating the report.
The development of the compendium started with the elaboration of an analytical framework identifying key issues in entrepreneurship policy and outlining a typology of interventions, drawing on the OECD’s extensive body of work on supporting entrepreneurship and strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems in a variety of contexts. Based on the framework, a template was prepared for the development of case studies. Relevant examples of policies and programmes illustrating different approaches to entrepreneurship policy were then identified through extensive desk research and exchanges with experts.
Among this initial collection, a sub-set of 16 cases illustrating a variety of approaches from a range of countries were selected based on a series of criteria, including consideration for the range of approaches at national and local levels such as institutional conditions, direct support to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ecosystem development. Specific attention was also paid to policies and programmes with robust evaluation frameworks.
Information on the selected case studies was gathered through interviews with experts and programme managers and review of programme documentation, leading to a set of draft case studies. Case studies were prepared by international experts and the OECD secretariat and benefitted from a review from national policymakers.
