We are happy to report there are several research collaborations underway to help guide entrepreneurship policymaking. Here are some of the most recent:
The Global Entrepreneurship Research Network (GERN) Ecosystem Mapping Project
The GERN Ecosystem Mapping Project aims to create the largest database of entrepreneurship ecosystems in the world. GERN leadership has validated the project’s methodology. The project will combine a comprehensive and current database, to include 100 cities within the next 5 years, with an easy-to-use, open access visualization tool. Two cities have been finalized to date: New York City (mapped by Endeavor Insight) and Cairo (mapped by Mercy Corps). You can explore the visualization tool to discover large-scale patterns characterizing these entrepreneurship ecosystems and to identify particular actors—entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and others—within the ecosystems. Ten other cities are currently being mapped: Buenos Aires, Cambridge, London, Medellin, Mexico City, Oxford, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Toronto. In addition to Mercy Corps and Endeavor Insight, Nesta, MaRs, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have jointly committed over $1 million towards this project. More information at www.gern.co/research.
The Innovation Growth Lab (IGL)
IGL is a new global collaboration that uses randomized trials to improve the design of the programs and institutions that help make our economies more innovative and entrepreneurial. Driven by the belief that we need a more experimental approach to innovation and growth policy, this partnership aims at trialling new instruments but also evaluating them more rigorously. Using randomized trials, IGL is helping to find out what works and what doesn’t (and when). More information at www.innovationgrowthlab.org.
The Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI)
GALI is a partnership to carry out the first comprehensive market assessment and analysis of accelerators. The partnership was created by U.S. Global Development Lab at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Omidyar Network, The Lemelson Foundation, and the Argidius Foundation to analyze the efficacy of accelerator programs. The partnership responds to the fact that hundreds of accelerators have been launched around the world, without corresponding research to understand the effects of early-stage acceleration on the companies accelerated, especially for small and growing businesses in emerging markets. This public-private partnership has committed $2.3 million over three years to scale the program by collecting data on more than 10,000 firms globally. More information at www.andeglobal.org/Accelerators.