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How Can Government Policies Stimulate Entrepreneurship?
Box 5.3 Start-Ups Supported by the Microsoft Innovation Center (continued)
a business model based on revenue generated from SMS messages and saw great potential in the system because most farmers have access to mobile devices. Support from the center: The center provides facilities for the E-Agriculture Marketplace (computers, Internet access, and servers). It helped the entrepreneurs form partnerships with the relevant stakeholders (mobile operators, regional centers, Ministry of Agriculture, and others). The center also provided necessary software licenses through the Microsoft BizSpark program. Grant: As the project intended large-scale implementation, the team needed funding and applied for and received a Civilian Research and Development Foundation grant that is covering the project expenses. Future: After the successful implementation of the pilot, the team intends to create a separate startup company and further develop and support the platform.
Box 5.4 Case Study: The Republic of Korea—Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development Korea has a reputation for having one of the world’s best education systems and a very welcoming business atmosphere (the World Bank ranks the country eighth in ease of doing business). With these advantages, Korea should be teeming with aspiring entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, cultural barriers such as an aversion to risk and failure have kept many would-be entrepreneurs from reaching their full potential. But over the past decade the country has bolstered support for startup enterprises and implemented several programs that foster an entrepreneurial spirit, changing the attitude toward entrepreneurship. In 2008 Korea began implementing a series of policy packages known as the Start-up Korea Initiatives. These policies foster entrepreneurship with support structured around three themes: developing startup resources, enhancing startup capacity, and leveraging successful incubation. Leading this effort is the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development, a public institute under the country’s Small and Medium Business Administration. The institute was founded in 2000 as a nonprofit business incubation association but was designated by the government as the organization exclusively in charge of SME startup promotion in 2006, and it officially became a public entity in 2010. The institute is now the primary implementation agency for the Small and Medium Business Administration’s startup initiatives. The first theme of support involves developing the requisite skills and resources to set a backdrop for successful startup creation. The institute implemented five programs addressing various aspects of development: • A program to support commercialization of creative ideas through content production, registration, and intellectual property protection. box continues next page
Fostering Entrepreneurship in Armenia • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0064-1