This review was a collaborative effort between the OECD’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director; and the European Commission’s Directorate for Innovation, International Cooperation and Sport in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, led by Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director. It was undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Association of Research Universities (VSNU), and the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (VH) of the Netherlands.
The report was prepared by Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, Economist, under the supervision of Jonathan Potter, Head of the Entrepreneurship Policy and Analysis Unit of the SME and Entrepreneurship Division of the CFE. It is part of the programme of work of the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme, led by Sylvain Giguère of the CFE. Peter Baur from the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission participated in various review activities. Giulia Ajmone Marsan (OECD) provided comments on Chapter 1.
Sections of the report were drafted by Ben Jongbloed, Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies at Twente University (Chapter 1); Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, OECD (Chapter 2); Maria Helena Nazaré, Rector Emeritus of the University of Aveiro, and Ruaidhri Neavyn, Policy Advisor to the Irish Higher Education Authority (Chapter 3); Gabi Kaffka, Twente University, Alain Fayolle, Professor for Entrepreneurship EM Lyon, and Kare Moberg, Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship (Chapter 4); Phillip H. Phan, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Johns Hopkins University, and Andrew Gibson, Senior Research Assistant at the Higher Education Policy Research Unit, Dublin Institute of Technology (Chapter 5); and Mikkel Trym, Climate KIC, and Norris F. Krueger, School of Advanced Studies, University of Phoenix, Entrepreneurship Northwest (Chapter 6).
A key source of information for the report were study visits to Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvR), Utrecht University (UU), Twente University, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), Arnhem and Nijmegen University of Applied Sciences (HAN), and Maastricht University (MU). These study visits were organised by the local HEInnovate co-ordinators: Ronald van den Bos and Pleunie van den Borne (EUR), Rogier Cazemier (HvR), Onno Möller (UU), Roelyn Vanderhoek (Twente), Niek Brunsveld (UvA), Matthias Bakker (VU), Lucy Kerstens and Bart van Grevenhof (AUAS), Loes Kater and Gert-Jan Sweers (HAN), and Niels Harteman and Walter Jansen (MU). Their enthusiasm, commitment and support were crucial for the review.
This report benefitted greatly from knowledge shared by those who participated in the meetings during the study visits. Instrumental for the implementation of the review process were Wouter Exterkate and Robin van IJperen from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Special thanks are extended to Wouter Feldberg from VSNU, Frank van der Zwan (VH), Lennart Kamphuis (RVO), Mark Frederiks (NVAO), Guy Bauwen from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and member of the HEInnovate Facilitators Group, and to Gabi Kaffka, who co-ordinated the study visits.
The authors are grateful for the comments and contributions from Claudia Sarrico and Monica Hanssen in the Higher Education Team of the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills for their inputs, to Kay Olbison for proofreading, and to Gabriella Scaduto Mendola of the OECD Public Affairs and Communications Directorate for the assistance during the publication process.