This briefing looks at how to foster innovative entrepreneurship, critical to the UK’s future competitiveness.

Key findings:

• Entrepreneurship has important economic and social benefits. This is particularly true for innovative entrepreneurship – which actively seeks to develop and exploit new ideas, products and markets. 
• It is more important for the UK to encourage more innovative start-ups, rather than focus on the total number of start-ups.
• Policy has an important part to play in identifying and supporting innovative entrepreneurs, and in minimising the specific challenges they face.
• Nesta is working to understand more about the unique contributions, characteristics, and challenge of innovative entrepreneurs.

Innovative entrepreneurs create ideas and have the ambition to build them into high-growth enterprises. Fostering innovative entrepreneurship is critical to the UK’s future competitiveness.

While the UK has been successful at increasing the number of businesses, it is apparent that some entrepreneurs are more innovative than others. 

It is these innovative entrepreneurs who are more likely to seek growth, create the majority of jobs and wealth, and therefore contribute to closing the UK’s productivity gap. 

The UK should therefore develop a policy framework that supports these entrepreneurs. However, with limited information available about them, more evidence is needed to identify their characteristics and the barriers that they face.

Author:

Nesta