布鲁盖尔-Policies-for-seed-and-early-stage-finance_82页_1mb

Summary of OECD Policy Paper: Policies for Seed and Early Stage Finance

Core Content

This OECD policy paper presents findings from the 2012 OECD Financing Questionnaire, which explored the role of public support in promoting seed and early stage financing for innovative firms across 34 OECD member countries. The paper focuses on the supply side, regulatory challenges, and demand side actions, with a particular emphasis on the need for a balanced and coordinated policy mix to address the growing financing gap for young firms.

Main Findings

1. Challenges in Seed and Early Stage Finance

• Young innovative firms face significant difficulties in accessing seed and early stage finance.
• The financial crisis has led to reduced willingness of banks to provide loans to start-ups, which often lack collateral.
• Venture capital firms have shifted focus to later-stage investments, leaving a gap in early stage financing.
• Angel investors have become more active through groups, syndicates, and networks but still face challenges.

2. Policy Interventions

• Supply Side Interventions: Include grants, loans, guarantees, tax incentives, and equity instruments.
• Regulatory and Administrative Barriers: Affect institutional investors, venture capital firms, angel investors, and high-growth firms. These include restrictions on private equity investments, cross-border investment challenges, and securities legislation.
• Demand Side Interventions: Focus on developing human and social capital, such as incubators, accelerators, business angel networks, and investor training programs.

3. Policy Rationales

• Market Failures: Imperfect information and information asymmetries between entrepreneurs and investors are major issues, especially in early stage financing.
• Spill-over Effects and Externalities: Innovations from early stage firms can have broader economic impacts, justifying public intervention.
• Policy Mix: A combination of supply, regulatory, and demand side policies is necessary for effective support of early stage finance.

Key Policy Instruments

Grants, Loans, and Guarantee Schemes

• 30 out of 34 OECD countries have these instruments in place.
• Support has increased in 25 countries over the past five years, driven by the financial crisis.

Tax Incentives

• Young Innovation Company (YIC) Schemes: Available in 9 countries, with 3 new in the last five years.
• Front-end Incentives: Incentives for early investments, present in 15 countries, with 9 having increased or introduced new ones.
• Back-end Incentives: Capital gains tax provisions, rollover, and carry-forward of gains or losses, available in 12 countries, with most unchanged over the last five years.

Equity Instruments

• Public Equity Funds: Available in 14 countries, with support increasing in 7 and new in 3.
• Fund-of-Funds: Available in 21 countries, with support increasing in 8 and new in 8.
• Co-Investment Funds: Available in 21 countries, with support increasing in 11 and new in 6.
• These instruments aim to leverage private investment, but their impact and effectiveness remain under-researched.

Regulatory and Administrative Barriers

• Regulatory environment is a critical factor affecting access to finance.
• Exit markets and bankruptcy regulations are important for investors.
• Basel III reforms have made banking safer but may reduce investment in venture capital from institutional sources.
• Securities legislation and restrictions on institutional investors can act as barriers to early stage investment.

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Demand Side

• Human capital development is essential for early stage financing success.
• Social capital, including local and global networks, plays a crucial role in facilitating growth for high-growth firms.
• Demand side programs such as incubators, accelerators, and matchmaking services have grown in many OECD countries.
• However, there is a gap in investor training and development, which is vital for building a robust market.

Data and Evaluation

• The paper emphasizes the importance of evaluating policy instruments to assess their impact.
• Only a small portion of equity programs have been formally evaluated, and empirical analysis is limited due to data challenges.
• The OECD is working on improving data collection and evaluation methods to better understand the outcomes of these policies.

Conclusions and Further Work

• The OECD will continue to analyze the policy mix and evaluate the impact of seed and early stage financing instruments.
• The findings will feed into ongoing projects, including the Innovation Policy Platform and the WPSMEE's Financing Scoreboard.
• Workshops hosted by member countries will further explore policy rationale, the link between objectives and outcomes, and the effectiveness of incentive structures.

Annex and References

• Annex I provides a list of current financing instruments used by OECD member countries, with links to relevant websites.
• References include studies and reports from the OECD, EVCA, and other organizations, highlighting the complexity and importance of seed and early stage finance in driving economic growth and innovation.