High-Growth Support Initiatives

New firms create new jobs. Many studies have shown that SMEs do play an important role in job creation. Others state that this role is overestimated due to the high job destruction rate among SMEs. Still, the net effect of new firms on employment creation can remain positive, especially when a there are fast growing firms among these new firms. In consequence, there has been increasing policy interest in new firm formation, and especially in highgrowth firms. However, even though governments worldwide are increasingly aware of the importance of high-growth entrepreneurship, it is difficult to design effective policies for this group, because this group experiences specific bottlenecks. In this report, we describe the available policy and support initiatives specifically aimed at supporting rapidly growing intrepreneurial firms in the Netherlands. These initiatives are directed at the various stages of the firm life cycle, especially the creation, start-up, early growth and stable growth. Furthermore, we also describe a number of high-growth support initiatives in other countries.