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1
Entrepreneurship Innovation Policy in
Greece Presentation of the Greek Report
Lisbon, October 8 9, 2007
2
The Profile of the conducted Survey

• Surveyed both Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  Policies
• Covered both National and Regional levels
• A representative Region was selected (Thessaly)
• Broad Survey Sample
• National Level 60 government policy makers,
  officials, researchers and business associations
• Regional Level 120 business associations,
  service providing organizations and SMEs that
  operate in Thessaly
• Satisfactory Response Rate
• National level 40 (24 entities)
• Regional level 90 (108 entities)
• Included both desk and field research

3
The National Economic Environment

• Key economic achievements
• Strong growth rates
• Deficit reduction
• Job creation downward unemployment rates
• Increase in investments
• Business expansion in S/E Europe
• SMEs VSEs the basis of economic and social
  life (77.5 of all employment)
• Improved Competitiveness rates, though still
  lower than other EU Countries
• High rates of entrepreneurship, among the highest
  in EU
• Innovation performance lower than the EU average
  rates

4
Entrepreneurship Innovation National
Level Main Characteristics

• No distinct entrepreneurship innovation
  documents
• Same actors involved in different degrees in both
  policy areas
• High rates of entrepreneurship driven by
  necessity entrepreneurship
• Low level of entrepreneurship in RT I sectors
• Satisfactory range of laws on incentives for
  investment, establishment of enterprises, RT and
  innovation, etc
• Modernized and supportive legislative framework
  for the development of scientific technological
  research
• Restructuring of national research and technology
  system linkage of RT to entrepreneurship and
  production

5
Entrepreneurship Innovation National
Level Main Characteristics

• Supportive complementary policies implemented in
  the measures and actions of the 13 Regional
  Operational Programs (ROP) and the Sectoral
  Operational Programs (SOP) of the 3rd CSF
  (Competitiveness, Information Society, Initial
  Education Vocational Training, Employment,
  Agricultural Development-Rural Reform) of EU
  programs initiatives (Leader Plus, Equal,
  Urban, etc.)
• Complementary supportive policies empower the
  measures actions of the programs of the
  National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)
  2007 2013 (Competitiveness Entrepreneurship,
  HR Development, Training Life Long Learning,
  Information Society, Digital Convergence)

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Entrepreneurship Innovation National
Level Entrepreneurship Main Actors

• Ministry of Development
• National Council for Competitiveness
  Development
• Special Secretariat for Competitiveness
• General Secretariat of Industry
• Hellenic Organisation for Small Medium Size
  Enterprises Haqndicrafts
• General Secretariat of Research Technology
• Ministry of Economy Finance
• Hellenic Centre for Investment
• Ministry of National Education and Religious
  Affairs
• Ministry of Employment Social Protection

7
Entrepreneurship Innovation National
Level Innovation Main Actors

• Ministry of Development
• General Secretariat for Research and Technology
• National Council for Competitiveness
  Development
• Special Secretariat of Competitiveness
• National Research and Technology Council
• Hellenic Organisation for Small Medium
  Enterprises Handicrafts SA
• Ministry of Economy and Finance
• Directorate General for Investment and Foreign
  Capital
• Hellenic Centre for Investment
• Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs
• Hellenic Innovation Relay Centre

8
The Regional Economic Environment

• Thessaly
• Rural region of intensive agriculture
• 56 of the population is rural or semi-rural
• 39 employment of active population , low
  employment rate of women youth
• Mostly SMEs VSEs, 5.98 country wide
• Exit rate 2.8 country wide
• 92.8 of the Thessaly enterprises employ 0-5
  employees
• Local University, Technical Colleges, Research
  Canters

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Entrepreneurship Innovation Regional
Level Main Characteristics

• Non competitive businesses core , mostly family
  owned VSE, unable to face the market changes and
  to fulfil the requirements and terms of the
  available incentives for investment
• Limited specialisation of businesses sectoral
  structure remains unchanged
• Very small participation of knowledge intensive
  products in total industrial production
• High production cost increased by external
  factors that lower the competitiveness of the
  enterprises, e.g. the infrastructure quality, the
  comparatively low efficiency of the production
  processes, of distribution and of the use of
  energy
• Loose connection of industry with the tertiary
  sector, missing basic service sectors

10
Entrepreneurship Innovation Regional
Level Main Characteristics

• Regional administrations faced difficulties in
  assuring adequate funds allocation for
  innovation, since almost all structural funding
  was directed to infrastructure projects
• Policy making is not a priority for regional
  authorities and more particularly innovation
  policy making
• Local actors concentrate on traditional
  development strategies for access to markets
  (transportation, communications), resources
  (energy, climate, landscape and monuments) and
  direct investment
• Several regional initiatives favouring innovation
  have been deployed but tangible results have yet
  to be seen

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Entrepreneurship Innovation Regional
Level Entrepreneurship Main Actors

• Regional Authority of Thessaly
• Technical Chamber of Greece-Thessaly Regional
  Section
• Technology Science Park of Thessaly
• University of Thessaly
• Technological Education Institutes
• Centre of Research and Technology of Thessaly
• Chambers of Commerce and Industry Regional
  Sections
• The Economic Chamber of Greece Thessaly branch
• Business Innovation Center - BIC
• Association of municipalities and communities
• Euro-Info Centres

12
Entrepreneurship Innovation Regional
Level Innovation Main Actors

• Regional Authority of Thessaly
• University of Thessaly
• Technological Education Institutes
• Centre of Research and Technology of Thessaly
• Chambers of Commerce and Industry Regional
  Sections
• Business Innovation Center - BIC
• Euro-Info Centres
• Technical Chamber of Greece-Thessaly Regional
  Section
• Technology Science Park of Thessaly
• Regional Innovation Pole
• The Economic Chamber of Greece Thessaly branch
• Association of municipalities and communities

13
Entrepreneurship Key Points

• Lack of specificity and integration with
  innovation and other supporting policies
• Improved performance of CSF Programs due to
  strict regulations and performance evaluations
• Improved performance of the various
  entrepreneurship programs for targeted
  under-privileged social groups, partly due to the
  familiarization of the Greek business community
  with the pertinent programs
• Wide availability of support structures and
  relevant services provided
• Lack of entrepreneurship training and culture in
  Educational Institutions
• Low Easing Entry and Access to Start-Up act as
  counter-incentives
• Lower than expected, but yet improved, Promotion
  levels
• Still low, but soundly progressing, Research
  levels
• Government promotes measures for
  entrepreneurship Support of business start-ups
  and growth, Provision of better access to
  financing by SMEs, Improvement of regulatory
  framework and one-stop-shops, Reform of corporate
  taxation, Provision of investment incentives

14
Entrepreneurship Key Points

• Factors of Comprehensiveness Index
• General Policy 49.8
• Policy Structure 76.9
• Promotion 50.2
• Education 24.0
• Easing Entry 39.9
• Access to Start up 45.3
• Business Support 52.0
• Target Groups 72.8
• Research 24.5
• Performance Tracking 46.2

15
Innovation Key Points

• Deficiencies in innovation general policy
  performance tracking
• Satisfactory performance in policy structure, due
  to recent improvements in the regulatory
  framework of RTD
• Very low performance in innovation training and
  culture
• Lower than expected performance in promotion,
  ease of entry and access to start-up
• Considerable familiarization of the Greek RT but
  not of the business community with the relevant
  financing programs resulting to increased
  financing of innovation RT projects of the
  academic community
• More than half of the research activity is held
  by Higher Education Institutions
• SMEs, though increasingly alerted today, still
  show limited innovation activity mostly due to
  low innovation culture and understanding of the
  integration of innovation in business
• Gross Domestic Expenditure on RTD (GERD), though
  steadily increasing, is still very low (0.62 of
  GDP in 2003)

16
Innovation Key Points

• Factors of Comprehensiveness Index
• General Policy 34.3
• Policy Structure 66.8
• Promotion 40.5
• Education 23.4
• Easing Entry 37.2
• Access to Start up 44.9
• Business Support 48.0
• Target Groups 53.6
• Research 32.5
• Performance Tracking 37.4

17
Policy Integration on National Level

• Low level of integration between entrepreneurship
  and innovation, though carried out by the same
  actors in most cases
• Entrepreneurship mostly understood as policies
  for SMEs
• Innovation
• mostly understood as a concept,
• confused with ICT,
• often connected only with manufacturing or
  processing industries
• No clear and integrated statement of the policy
  for the promotion of entrepreneurship and
  innovation
• No clear definition of the areas of activities of
  engaged institutions, bodies and agencies, in
  most cases

18
Policy Integration on Regional Level

• Consultative and not legislative role of the
  Region
• Low level of integration between entrepreneurship
  and innovation
• No clear distinction between entrepreneurship and
  innovation actors
• Actions both in entrepreneurship and in
  innovation for the promotion and increase of
  regional competitiveness are taken (e.g. support
  of SME/VSE, entrepreneurship of socially
  vulnerable groups, incentives for investment,
  incentives for innovative products and services,
  vocational training and LLL), through the main
  document, the ROP

19
Lessons Learnt

• Entrepreneurship and innovation policies are not
  structured as distinct policy areas and are part
  of wider strategies depicted in all SOP, ROP and
  EU Programs
• A large number of actors are engaged in
  entrepreneurship and innovation, often providing
  overlapping services
• Understanding and introduction of innovation in
  day-to-day operations is low among SME/VSE
• Female participation in entrepreneurship and
  innovation programs is low, particularly in
  remote regions
• Rural and remote regions have a considerably
  lower performance in entrepreneurship and
  innovation
• Low attractiveness of entrepreneurship and
  innovation elective modules is included in the
  national education system

20
Lessons Learnt

• Youth entrepreneurship and innovation are
  scarcely supported
• Nascent entrepreneurs from the targeted socially
  vulnerable groups often lack professional and
  technical skills
• Excellence in entrepreneurship and innovation
  remain issues for limited professional circles
  and trade press
• Entrepreneurship policy is better structured, and
  evaluated than innovation policy and
  entrepreneurship has a better performance in all
  sub-areas of the comprehensiveness index than
  innovation
• During the last fifteen years, emphasis was given
  on SMEs policies, while ST and innovation
  policies are rather new

21
Lessons Learnt

• Performance tracking has improved, during the
  last five years, as a result of the close
  monitoring of the programs of the 3rd CSF
• Innovation policy makers and actors should
  examine how innovation will become more
  tangible and understood by population groups
  without technological background, so that it does
  not remain an issue of larger enterprises and
  research organizations
• The cultural image of entrepreneurship in the
  Greek society is weak and needs improvement and
  enhancement
• The Greek entrepreneurship is characterised by
  necessity and business to consumer
  entrepreneurship

22
Lessons Learnt

• The high degree of self-confidence of prospective
  entrepreneurs is undermined by irrational fear of
  failure
• Legal, institutional and structural changes have
  to take place in the area of innovation as a
  prerequisite for meeting challenges such as
• the attraction of investments from foreign
  companies positioned in the high technology
  frontier,
• the reorientation of research focus towards
  societal and economic needs,
• the shortage in the number of researchers and
  high potential enterprises, ect