In recent years, a “third mission” pursued by universities, i.e. knowledge transfer to industry and society, has become more important as a determinant of enhancements in economic growth and social welfare. In the vast world of technology transfer practices implemented by universities, the...

We use the lens of the resource-based view and horizontal agency cost theory to analyse the effect of the presence of different types of individual owners, i.e. owner-managers and non-manager individual shareholders, on the performance of high-tech entrepreneurial firms. Ownership enlargement...

Despite the evidence on the positive effect of venture capital (VC) on portfolio firm performance, such evidence badly pulls up alongside the non-negligible number of entrepreneurial firms that chooses to refuse VC. This is the first study that investigates the determinants behind the missed...

We aim to ascertain to what extent the better performance of European venture capital (VC)-backed firms in high-tech industries is due to either ‘screening’ or ‘value added’ provided by VC investors. We compare portfolio firms’ productivity growth before and after the first VC round,...

This paper highlights the main challenges faced by the Cleantech sector. Key barriers include limited access to external finance, with many respondents expecting to raise significant funds in the next five years. Additionally, stringent and uncertain standards and regulations create operational...

This working paper uses machine learning to identify Cleantech companies in the Orbis database, based on self-declared business descriptions. Identifying Cleantech companies is challenging, as there is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes Cleantech. This novel approach allows...

The EIF VC Survey and the EIF Private Equity Mid-Market Survey (the largest combined regular survey exercises among General Partners on a pan-European level) provide an opportunity to retrieve unique market insights. This publication is based on the results of the 2023 VC Survey, conducted by...

The EIF Private Equity Mid-Market Survey and the EIF Venture Capital Survey (the largest combined regular survey exercises among General Partners on a pan-European level) provide an opportunity to retrieve unique market insights. This publication is based on the results of the 2023 EIF Private...

This work reviews the principal econometric methods used to measure the effects of public R&D subsidies on firm performance. First, we show the main econometric challenges a researcher has to face in estimating the impact of a government policy scheme, by paying special attention to the issues...

We analyze a sample of European high-tech entrepreneurial firms that received bank venture capital (BVC) financing between 1994 and 2004. We employ a “two-step” matching procedure in order to build a control group composed of i) comparable firms that received venture capital financing from...