IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v49y2020i10s0048733320301062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Innovative start-ups and policy initiatives

Author

Listed:
  • Audretsch, David
  • Colombelli, Alessandra
  • Grilli, Luca
  • Minola, Tommaso
  • Rasmussen, Einar

Abstract

Innovative start-ups can create and shape new industries and generate considerable economic and societal impacts. Accordingly, a variety of policy initiatives are aimed at promoting the establishment, growth and impact of innovative start-ups. Designing such policies is a challenging task, because most start-ups fail. In addition, only a small share of those start-ups will ultimately prove to be innovative, and very few of those will eventually become high impact firms. Hence, effective policies require a better understanding of the processes by which innovative start-ups are formed, developed and create impact, as well as of the heterogeneous nature inherent to innovative start-ups along with their development trajectory. This article reviews 39 policy initiatives from around the world and classifies their approaches to the phenomenon of innovative start-ups. By relying on insights from the papers mentioned in this special issue, we develop a process framework by elaborating on (i) the antecedents of the creation of innovative start-ups, (ii) their founding characteristics, (iii) their behavior, and finally (iv) the outputs and impacts generated by them. Our framework highlights how policy initiatives, managerial issues and research approaches are conceptually different, depending on the specific stage of firm development. We conclude with implications for policy initiatives and further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Audretsch, David & Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Rasmussen, Einar, 2020. "Innovative start-ups and policy initiatives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:10:s0048733320301062
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2020.104027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733320301062
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lam, Alice, 2011. "What motivates academic scientists to engage in research commercialization: ‘Gold’, ‘ribbon’ or ‘puzzle’?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1354-1368.
    2. Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Mrkajic, Boris, 2020. "To what extent do young innovative companies take advantage of policy support to enact innovation appropriation mechanisms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    3. Giovanni Dosi & Luigi Marengo & Corrado Pasquali, 2010. "How Much Should Society Fuel the Greed of Innovators? On the Relations between Appropriability, Opportunities and Rates of Innovation," Chapters, in: Riccardo Viale & Henry Etzkowitz (ed.), The Capitalization of Knowledge, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Luca Grilli & Sergio Mariotti, 2006. "Politiche per l'innovazione e cambiamento strutturale in Italia," L'industria, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 365-396.
    5. Colombelli, Alessandra & Krafft, Jackie & Vivarelli, Marco, 2016. "To Be Born Is Not Enough: The Key Role of Innovative Startups," IZA Discussion Papers 9733, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Zoltán J. Ács & Erkko Autio & László Szerb, 2015. "National Systems of Entrepreneurship: Measurement issues and policy implications," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 28, pages 523-541, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. David B. Audretsch (ed.), 2006. "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4130.
    8. Buffart, Mickaël & Croidieu, Grégoire & Kim, Phillip H. & Bowman, Ray, 2020. "Even winners need to learn: How government entrepreneurship programs can support innovative ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    9. Erkko Autio & Saurav Pathak & Karl Wennberg, 2013. "Consequences of cultural practices for entrepreneurial behaviors," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(4), pages 334-362, May.
    10. Joern H. Block & Christian O. Fisch & Mirjam van Praag, 2017. "The Schumpeterian entrepreneur: a review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behaviour and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 61-95, January.
    11. Bruneel, Johan & Clarysse, Bart & Bobelyn, Annelies & Wright, Mike, 2020. "Liquidity events and VC-backed academic spin-offs: The role of search alliances," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    12. Russell Cooper & Andrew John, 1988. "Coordinating Coordination Failures in Keynesian Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(3), pages 441-463.
    13. Autio, Erkko & Kenney, Martin & Mustar, Philippe & Siegel, Don & Wright, Mike, 2014. "Entrepreneurial innovation: The importance of context," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1097-1108.
    14. Scott Shane, 2009. "Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 141-149, August.
    15. Alperovych, Yan & Groh, Alexander & Quas, Anita, 2020. "Bridging the equity gap for young innovative companies: The design of effective government venture capital fund programs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    16. G. Lumpkin & Todd Moss & David Gras & Shoko Kato & Alejandro Amezcua, 2013. "Entrepreneurial processes in social contexts: how are they different, if at all?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 761-783, April.
    17. Steven Klepper & Sally Sleeper, 2005. "Entry by Spinoffs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(8), pages 1291-1306, August.
    18. Steven N. Durlauf, 1993. "Nonergodic Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(2), pages 349-366.
    19. Maribel Guerrero & David Urbano, 2019. "Effectiveness of technology transfer policies and legislation in fostering entrepreneurial innovations across continents: an overview," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 1347-1366, October.
    20. Erkko Autio, 1997. "New Technology-Based Firms in Innovation Networks," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Dylan Jones-Evans & Magnus Klofsten (ed.), Technology, Innovation and Enterprise, chapter 7, pages 209-235, Palgrave Macmillan.
    21. Davide Hahn & Tommaso Minola & Kimberly A. Eddleston, 2019. "How do Scientists Contribute to the Performance of Innovative Start‐ups? An Imprinting Perspective on Open Innovation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(5), pages 895-928, July.
    22. Protogerou, Aimilia & Caloghirou, Yannis & Vonortas, Nicholas S., 2017. "Determinants of young firms’ innovative performance: Empirical evidence from Europe," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1312-1326.
    23. Josh Lerner, 2010. "The future of public efforts to boost entrepreneurship and venture capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 255-264, October.
    24. Giraudo, Emanuele & Giudici, Giancarlo & Grilli, Luca, 2019. "Entrepreneurship policy and the financing of young innovative companies: Evidence from the Italian Startup Act," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    25. Riccardo Fini & Kun Fu & Marius Tuft Mathisen & Einar Rasmussen & Mike Wright, 2017. "Institutional determinants of university spin-off quantity and quality: a longitudinal, multilevel, cross-country study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 361-391, February.
    26. Autio, Erkko & Rannikko, Heikki, 2016. "Retaining winners: Can policy boost high-growth entrepreneurship?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 42-55.
    27. Naldi, Lucia & Criaco, Giuseppe & Patel, Pankaj C., 2020. "Related and unrelated industry variety and the internationalization of start-ups," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    28. Audretsch, David B. & Keilbach, Max, 2008. "Resolving the knowledge paradox: Knowledge-spillover entrepreneurship and economic growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1697-1705, December.
    29. Luca Grilli, 2014. "High-Tech Entrepreneurship in Europe: A Heuristic Firm Growth Model and Three "(Un-)easy Pieces" for Policy-Making," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 267-284, May.
    30. Autio, E., 1997. "New, technology-based firms in innovation networks symplectic and generative impacts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 263-281, October.
    31. Grimaldi, Rosa & Kenney, Martin & Siegel, Donald S. & Wright, Mike, 2011. "30 years after Bayh-Dole: Reassessing academic entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1045-1057, October.
    32. Kivimaa, Paula & Kern, Florian, 2016. "Creative destruction or mere niche support? Innovation policy mixes for sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 205-217.
    33. Koryak, Oksana & Lockett, Andy & Hayton, James & Nicolaou, Nicos & Mole, Kevin, 2018. "Disentangling the antecedents of ambidexterity: Exploration and exploitation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 413-427.
    34. Vohora, Ajay & Wright, Mike & Lockett, Andy, 2004. "Critical junctures in the development of university high-tech spinout companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 147-175, January.
    35. Henrekson, Magnus & Sanandaji, Tino, 2019. "Measuring Entrepreneurship: Do Established Metrics Capture High-Impact Schumpeterian Entrepreneurship?," Working Paper Series 1270, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    36. Annalisa Croce & Luca Grilli & Samuele Murtinu, 2014. "Venture capital enters academia: an analysis of university-managed funds," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(5), pages 688-715, October.
    37. Ensley, Michael D. & Hmieleski, Keith M., 2005. "A comparative study of new venture top management team composition, dynamics and performance between university-based and independent start-ups," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1091-1105, September.
    38. Fiona Wilson & James Post, 2013. "Business models for people, planet (& profits): exploring the phenomena of social business, a market-based approach to social value creation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 715-737, April.
    39. Hottenrott, Hanna & Richstein, Robert, 2020. "Start-up subsidies: Does the policy instrument matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    40. Erik Stam & Andrew Ven, 2021. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem elements," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 809-832, February.
    41. Hyytinen, Ari & Pajarinen, Mika & Rouvinen, Petri, 2015. "Does innovativeness reduce startup survival rates?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 564-581.
    42. Ans Heirman & Bart Clarysse, 2004. "How and Why do Research-Based Start-Ups Differ at Founding? A Resource-Based Configurational Perspective," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(3_4), pages 247-268, August.
    43. Rasmussen, Einar & Mosey, Simon & Wright, Mike, 2014. "The influence of university departments on the evolution of entrepreneurial competencies in spin-off ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 92-106.
    44. Gimenez-Fernandez, Elena M. & Sandulli, Francesco D. & Bogers, Marcel, 2020. "Unpacking liabilities of newness and smallness in innovative start-ups: Investigating the differences in innovation performance between new and older small firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    45. Audretsch, David B. & Keilbach, Max C. & Lehmann, Erik E., 2006. "Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195183511.
    46. Lee Branstetter & Francisco Lima & Lowell J. Taylor & Ana Venâncio, 2014. "Do Entry Regulations Deter Entrepreneurship and Job Creation? Evidence from Recent Reforms in Portugal," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(577), pages 805-832, June.
    47. Robert N. Eberhart & Charles E. Eesley & Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, 2017. "Failure Is an Option: Institutional Change, Entrepreneurial Risk, and New Firm Growth," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 93-112, February.
    48. Alessandra Colombelli & Gianluca Orsatti & Francesco Quatraro, 0. "Local knowledge composition and the emergence of entrepreneurial activities across industries: evidence from Italian NUTS-3 regions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    49. Alessandra Colombelli, 2016. "The impact of local knowledge bases on the creation of innovative start-ups in Italy," Post-Print halshs-01340050, HAL.
    50. Dirk Czarnitzki & Julie Delanote, 2013. "Young Innovative Companies: the new high-growth firms?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(5), pages 1315-1340, October.
    51. Fini, Riccardo & Grimaldi, Rosa & Meoli, Azzurra, 2020. "The effectiveness of university regulations to foster science-based entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    52. Rodrik, Dani, 1996. "Coordination failures and government policy: A model with applications to East Asia and Eastern Europe," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-2), pages 1-22, February.
    53. Tommaso Minola & Davide Hahn & Lucio Cassia, 0. "The relationship between origin and performance of innovative start-ups: the role of technological knowledge at founding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    54. Hans Rawhouser & Michael Cummings & Scott L. Newbert, 2019. "Social Impact Measurement: Current Approaches and Future Directions for Social Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 82-115, January.
    55. Agarwal, Rajshree & Shah, Sonali K., 2014. "Knowledge sources of entrepreneurship: Firm formation by academic, user and employee innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1109-1133.
    56. Andersen, Kristina Vaarst & Frederiksen, Marianne Harbo & Knudsen, Mette Præst & Krabbe, Anders Dahl, 2020. "The strategic responses of start-ups to regulatory constraints in the nascent drone market," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    57. Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2014. "Government, venture capital and the growth of European high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1523-1543.
    58. van Winden, Willem & Carvalho, Luís, 2019. "Intermediation in public procurement of innovation: How Amsterdam’s startup-in-residence programme connects startups to urban challenges," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    59. Charles Eesley, 2016. "Institutional Barriers to Growth: Entrepreneurship, Human Capital and Institutional Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(5), pages 1290-1306, October.
    60. Jain, Sanjay & George, Gerard & Maltarich, Mark, 2009. "Academics or entrepreneurs? Investigating role identity modification of university scientists involved in commercialization activity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 922-935, July.
    61. Mickaël Buffart & Gregoire Croidieu & Phillip H. Kim & Ray Bowman, 2020. "Even winners need to learn : How government entrepreneurship programs can support innovative ventures," Post-Print hal-02927561, HAL.
    62. Anna Kochenkova & Rosa Grimaldi & Federico Munari, 2016. "Public policy measures in support of knowledge transfer activities: a review of academic literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 407-429, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luca Grilli & Boris Mrkajic & Emanuele Giraudo, 2023. "Industrial policy, innovative entrepreneurship, and the human capital of founders," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 707-728, February.
    2. Christopher S. Hayter & Andrew J. Nelson & Stephanie Zayed & Alan C. O’Connor, 2018. "Conceptualizing academic entrepreneurship ecosystems: a review, analysis and extension of the literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 1039-1082, August.
    3. Gümüsay, Ali Aslan & Bohné, Thomas Marc, 2018. "Individual and organizational inhibitors to the development of entrepreneurial competencies in universities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 363-378.
    4. Tommaso Minola & Davide Hahn & Lucio Cassia, 2021. "The relationship between origin and performance of innovative start-ups: the role of technological knowledge at founding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 553-569, February.
    5. Colombelli, Alessandra & Krafft, Jackie & Vivarelli, Marco, 2016. "New Firms and Post-Entry Performance: The Role of Innovation," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201602, University of Turin.
    6. Franco Malerba & Maureen McKelvey, 2020. "Knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship integrating Schumpeter, evolutionary economics, and innovation systems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 503-522, February.
    7. Kleinhempel, Johannes & Estrin, Saul, 2024. "Realizing expectations?," MPRA Paper 120863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Alessandra Colombelli & Jackie Krafft & Marco Vivarelli, 2016. "To be born is not enough: the key role of innovative start-ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 277-291, August.
    9. Stefan Marc Hossinger & Xiangyu Chen & Arndt Werner, 2020. "Drivers, barriers and success factors of academic spin-offs: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 97-134, February.
    10. Francesco Manaresi & Carlo Menon & Pietro Santoleri, 2021. "Supporting innovative entrepreneurship: an evaluation of the Italian “Start-up Act” [The effects of entry on incumbent innovation and productivity]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(6), pages 1591-1614.
    11. Maksim Belitski & Rosa Caiazza & Erik E. Lehmann, 2021. "Knowledge frontiers and boundaries in entrepreneurship research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 521-531, February.
    12. Buffart, Mickaël & Croidieu, Grégoire & Kim, Phillip H. & Bowman, Ray, 2020. "Even winners need to learn: How government entrepreneurship programs can support innovative ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    13. Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Mrkajic, Boris, 2020. "To what extent do young innovative companies take advantage of policy support to enact innovation appropriation mechanisms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    14. Würmseher, Martin, 2017. "To each his own: Matching different entrepreneurial models to the academic scientist's individual needs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-17.
    15. Dionisio, Eduardo Avancci & Inácio Júnior, Edmundo & Fischer, Bruno Brandão, 2021. "Country-level efficiency and the index of dynamic entrepreneurship: Contributions from an efficiency approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    16. Pindado, Emilio & Sánchez, Mercedes & García Martínez, Marian, 2023. "Entrepreneurial innovativeness: When too little or too much agglomeration hurts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    17. Alessandra Colombelli & Jackie Krafft & Marco Vivarelli, 2016. "Entrepreneurship and Innovation: New Entries, Survival, Growth," GREDEG Working Papers 2016-04, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    18. Huynh Evertsen, Phuc & Rasmussen, Einar & Nenadic, Oleg, 2022. "Commercializing circular economy innovations: A taxonomy of academic spin-offs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    19. Pietro Santoleri, 2020. "Innovation and job creation in (high-growth) new firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(3), pages 731-756.
    20. Prencipe, Antonio & Corsi, Christian & Rodríguez-Gulías, María Jesús & Fernández-López, Sara & Rodeiro-Pazos, David, 2020. "Influence of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and its knowledge spillovers in developing successful university spin-offs," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:10:s0048733320301062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.