Sustaining Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth: Lessons in Policy and Industry Innovations from Germany and India

Academic research on developed countries has scientifically evaluated the role of entrepreneurship on economic growth, market expansion, commercializing innovation, and reducing unemployment. In this research, regions or industries with higher rates of entrepreneurship show higher levels of innovation and economic growth. The literature on entrepreneurship and innovation has largely ignored developing countries, despite the positive results from new venture investments in India, China, and elsewhere. This volume bridges this gap by bringing together research by scholars in Germany and India, whose analysis of entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development in their respective countries reveals commonalities. Covering such timely issues as R&D and labor policies and including case examples from the chemical, biotech, and IT industries, the authors offer insight into the entrepreneurial process. The volume concludes with a discussion of the global implications for entrepreneurship research and policy.

Max Keilbach is a Research Scholar in the Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group, Max Planck Institute of Economics. His main research interests are in the area of innovative entrepreneurship and its economic impact. Previously, he was a Senior Researcher in the Department of Industrial Economics at the Centre for European Economic Research. He is co-author, with David Audretsch, of Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth, author of Spatial Knowledge Spillovers and the Dynamics of Agglomeration and Regional Growth (Physica), contributor to The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship, and co-author of many articles in such journals as Annals of Regional Science, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and Journal of Evolutionary Economics.

Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada is a Research Fellow in the Entrepreneurship, Growth and public Policy Group, Max Planck Institute of Economics. His research interests include entrepreneurship, occupational choice, small firm dynamics, and spatial econometrics. Previously a Research Scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology he presents at conferences around the world, serving as organizer of the Max Planck workshops. These workshops have focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth, jointly with the Indian Institute of Science.

David Audretsch is Director of the Max Planck Institute of Economics. He also serves as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Research Professor at Durham University, and as the Ameritech Chair of Economic Development and Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, among other research positions. His research has focused on the links among entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development, and global competitiveness. He has received grants from such agencies as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Academy, and the U.S. Department of Education, and consulted with a wide array of organizations and policy institutes, including the World Bank, the European Parliament, and the U.S. State Department. He is co-founder and co-editor of Small Business Economics Journal (Springer); author and editor of many books, including Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research (Springer), Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth (with Max Keilbach), SMEs in the Age of Globalization, and The Entrepreneurial Society; and author of dozens of journal articles and book reviews.