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Society is increasingly moving towards an 'entrepreneurial economy' where entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship play an increasingly important role. Another relevant development is that the new generation of entrepreneurs may have different demands or expectations regarding entrepreneurship and financing than has been more customary up to now. A characteristic of this is that young entrepreneurs may prefer to use alternative forms of financing sooner.
At the same time, entrepreneurship in the future will also require new/different skills. For example, entrepreneurs must be able to respond rapidly to changing and dynamic (market) conditions. Many of these entrepreneurs work in small, starting companies that grow towards an SME. The Dutch SME market consists of several hundred thousand companies with more than one employed person (including the entrepreneur). These companies play a crucial role in the Dutch economy, in terms of employment, added value and exports. Therefore, the government is keen to nurture this group of companies and provide support where necessary, such as in internationalization and innovation.
Dialogic conducts research on various themes within entrepreneurship and SMEs (also for Flemish SME policy):
- Evaluation of SME and entrepreneurship policy The Dutch government has a wide range of tools and agencies to help entrepreneurs with scaling up, financing, and innovation. Dialogic regularly evaluates these initiatives (including the Seed Capital scheme, the Growth Facility, the GO scheme, PMV Flanders, and the BMKB scheme).
- Entrepreneurship and SME monitoring Dialogic assists governments in developing indicators that provide insight into various aspects of SMEs and entrepreneurship. This support includes setting up a monitoring system (e.g. for the SME action plan), data collection, and reporting through online dashboards.
- Policy support and advice The government needs insights into social and economic developments that may affect entrepreneurship and SME policy, along with the associated knowledge questions. Dialogic regularly assists governments in exploring these (strategic) areas. Examples include an exploration of (future) developments in the SME financing market and an inventory of new knowledge questions concerning SMEs and entrepreneurship, such as in the areas of diversity and 'human capital'.
