Evolutionary Interpretation of VC Policy in Israel, Germany, UK and Scotland

Abstract

Despite many attempts to develop high-impact VC policies, most VC markets in Europe are still underdeveloped. Many of these policies were based on 'traditional' (Rosiello et al 2009) VC policy involve a mix of monetary incentives and institutional changes. In this paper, we present an alternative evolutionary VC policy, which is based on a dynamic analysis of emergence processes and on the co-evolution between VC and entrepreneurship, as well as on a dynamic and adaptive view of policy. The paper presents four case studies of VC development: Israel, UK, Scotland, and Germany. Evolutionary VC policies relies on few major factors: i) a strategic objective and a long-term commitment to enhancing VC market and high-tech cluster emergence and development, ii) a phased-policy portfolio including both direct and indirect VC policy components, and iii) a dynamic policy process, which is adaptive to the specific context.

Keywords: Venture Capital, High Tech Cluster, Emergence, Innovation Policy, Targeted Policy, System Evolutionary Perspective, and Industry Life Cycle

JEL Classification: G24, O38