The study

Some factors are conducive and others are inhibitive in the process of entrepreneurship development.  A more conducive environment, for example, will support many folks to become and progress as entrepreneurs, while in a more inhibitive environment, only self-made entrepreneurs will exist. This study serves to the understanding of the degree to which Romania is a conducive environment for entrepreneurship. It addresses the defining conditions of entrepreneurship and gathers evidence and knowledge in order to inform policy-makers on how to better support the entrepreneurship development.

No similar study has been conducted so far regarding the Romanian entrepreneurial ecosystem and the momentum is given by the growing interest for supporting social and economic entrepreneurship at European and national levels for the period 2014-2020 (International Expert Workshop Joint Research Center-IPTS, July 2014).

At national level, the Romanian National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation 2014-2020 encourages the strengthening of ecosystems through public-public and public-private collaboration and partnerships. This is meant to address Romania’s long-standing competitiveness issue.

The main goal of the Romanian National Strategy for Competitiveness 2014-2020, is formulated in terms of entrepreneurial ecosystems: “The development of a competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem, based on a stable set of rules, centered around entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity, which emphasizes trust, efficiency and excellence and will place Romania among the first 10 economies at European level.”

Therefore, there is an interest of national policy-makers and of the current and wannabe entrepreneurs as well, for adopting and adapting financial and non-financial instruments, developing and accessing them, and to identify and strengthen Romania`s specific entrepreneurial ecosystem`s features.

The methodology

In the first part we follow the frameworks suggested by Babson Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Programme (BEEP) and Organization for European Cooperation and Development (OECD) to provide data-informed policy recommendations based on findings at national level and based on data comparison at international level.

Babson Entrepreneurial Ecosytem Programme (US, 2011)                 OECD, A Framework for adresing and Measuring Entrepreneurship (Paris, 2007)

 

In the second part, we base our assessment of the Romanian Entrepreneurship Environment on a survey which we conducted between February and April 2015. The survey questioned Romanian entrepreneurs to reveal data about previous work experience, sources of inspiration and investment, consultancy and mentorship.

Its results, correlated with the databases presented in the Part A of the study, aim to inform evidence based policies towards entrepreneurship and they want to open the floor for further informed discussions.