Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship and Innovation for a Prosperous Wales

Business entrepreneurs are at the heart of a dynamic, knowledge based economy. Understanding the early stages of business growth is critical to the development of a thriving economy. However defined, the rate of entrepreneurship in Wales consistently lags behind most regions of the UK. This policy brief reviews the connection between entrepreneurial activity and socio-economic prosperity and discusses existing evidence on the recent policy approaches to develop knowledge based entrepreneurship in Wales. The most important dimensions of entrepreneurship for achieving growth are identified as being innovationactive and having a skilled workforce. The brief also calls attention to the fact that policies
need to address the various phases of entrepreneurial development, and more importantly, evaluate the impact of the programmes, developing new measures and evaluation processes where appropriate.