Lassébie, J., et al. (2019), "Levelling the playing field: Dissecting the gender gap in the funding of start-ups", OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 73, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/7ddddd07-en.
This report investigates the gender gap in the funding of innovative start-ups across OECD and BRICS countries using a detailed micro-dataset on start-ups and their founders. Results from empirical analysis show that start-ups with at least one woman in the team of founders are less likely to receive funding by 5-10%. When such start-ups do receive funding, they receive an amount lower by a third compared to start-ups created by male founders. Accounting for founders’ characteristics (their educational background and past professional experience) reduces the gap in likelihood to receive funding, but not the gap in funding amounts. A key conclusion is that addressing the gender gap will require a holistic approach, including through – but not restricted to – the education system. The paper concludes by a discussion of potential mechanisms that could explain the observed gap, presents policy options, and proposes an agenda for future research.
Breschi, S., et al. (2019), "Public research and innovative entrepreneurship: Preliminary cross-country evidence from micro data", OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 64, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0d057da7-en.
This paper provides a first assessment of the degree to which public research contributes to innovative entrepreneurship, using data on start-ups and venture capital (VC). It looks at academic start-ups founded by recent undergraduates and doctorate students or researchers. It shows that academic start-ups represent 15% of all start-ups in the specific sample under scrutiny. Their share is higher in science-based technological fields such as biotechnology (23%). Across the majority of countries and technology fields, start-ups created by undergraduate students represent the highest share of all academic start-ups. As to their performance, start-ups founded by researchers are more likely to patent and those founded by students introduce innovations that are more radical compared to other start-ups. While start-ups founded by undergraduate students receive less VC funding and are less likely to exit via IPO or acquisition, those created by researchers are as successful as their non-academic counterparts.
Stefano Breschi & Julie Lassébie & Carlo Menon, 2018. "A portrait of innovative start-ups across countries," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2018/2, OECD Publishing
The report presents new cross-country descriptive evidence on innovative start-ups and related venture capital investments drawing upon Crunchbase, a new dataset that is unprecedented in terms of scope and comprehensiveness. The analysis employs a mix of different statistical techniques (descriptive graphics, econometric analysis, and machine learning) to highlight a number of findings. First, there are significant cross-country differences in the professional and educational background of start-ups’ founders, notably the share of founders with previous academic experience and in the share of “serial entrepreneurs”. Conversely, the founders’ average age is rather constant across countries, but shows a fair degree of variability across sectors. Second, IP assets, and in particular the presence of an inventor in the team of founders, are strongly associated with start-ups’ success. Finally, female founders are less likely to receive funding, receive lower amounts when they do receive financing, and have a lower probability of successful exit, when other factors are controlled for.