Young innovative companies (YICs) and entrepreneurship policy

This study examines the features of young innovative companies (YICs) that enable their access to public policies in the form of subsidies. Through this analysis, the study determines the profile of YICs that receive public innovation aid. The study thus establishes whether governments design these innovation policies to adapt to the specific nature of YICs. Empirical analysis tests hypotheses for a sample of 189 YICs from the Valencian Region to analyze how the entrepreneur's features, the YICs themselves, and their sector relate to public innovation policies. The study also examines whether these variables act as moderating variables. Size of the YIC and the entrepreneur's sex significantly affect access to subsidies. The fact that a female entrepreneur creates a YIC is actually a moderating factor in the relationship between size and access to subsidies.