Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship 2011

Only a few countries and regions have succeeded to date in creating an ecosystem suitable for high-growth, entrepreneurial companies to develop and prosper at large scale. It can be argued that these high-growth companies are responsible for the highest per-dollar employment and high-value employment efficiency of any sector in their region. To prosper in their respective market niches, these companies are driven by a necessity to innovate, be it in technology or otherwise. They shift existing paradigms and redefine the ways industries and societies operate.

Prerequisites for developing an entrepreneurial-friendly ecosystem and sustaining it over the long run include the availability of an educated and skilled workforce, abundance of venture capital, a favourable legal and regulatory framework, and an entrepreneurial “culture”. While this is not an exhaustive list of drivers, many countries and regions recognize that innovation and employment growth are dependent on creating environments where new ideas can be brought to market and young companies can grow rapidly. This is evidenced by the multitude of start-up incubators emerging from San Francisco to Singapore and from Beijing to Rio de Janeiro.