Entrepreneurship in the Districts Mittweida in Saxony, and Altenburger Land in Thuringia
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OECD Local Entrepreneurship Reviews Entrepreneurship in the Districts Mittweida in Saxony, and Altenburger Land in Thuringia Discussion Paper Prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development September 2006 This local case study on entrepreneurship and local economic development in the District Mittweida (Saxony) and Altenburger Land (Thuringia) would not have been possible without the contributions provided by the project partners at Land level. Ms Gabriele Noack, Department for Regional Development Strategies and Mr Reinhard Flaskamp, Department Business start-ups and financing entrepreneurship, banks and stock exchange from the Saxony Ministry of Economy and Labour and Mr Klaus Kofler from the Saxony Development Bank (SAB) supported the process in Saxony, and Mr Claus Muschik, Ministry of Economy, Technology and Labour, Department General Economic Policy represented Thuringia. The authors are also grateful to the local authorities at district and municipal levels for their interest in the review and their engagement in the organisation of the study visit and the regional workshop. The latter would not have been possible without the time and commitment of all interview partners and workshop participants, as well as the organisational support provided by Regionomica, Berlin. Special thanks are extended to the translators and interpreters that made this work happening. Authors' note AUTHORS' NOTE This discussion paper on "Entrepreneurship in the Districts Mittweida (Saxony) and Altenburger Land (Thuringia)" is part of a series of discussion papers resulting from the OECD review on "Strengthening Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development in East Germany". The review, a co-operative project between the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs and the OECD, is being implemented by the action programme on Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED), within the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development. The review includes, in addition to a global assessment of needs and opportunities for entrepreneurship policy in East Germany as a whole, the examination of six local case study areas. The following areas have been proposed by the participating East German Länder ministries: the districts of Mittweida (Saxony); Altenburger Land (Thuringia) (case study areas 1 and 2); the districts of Uckermark (Brandenburg); Parchim (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) (case study areas 3 and 4); the university context in the City of Halle (Saxony-Anhalt); and the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin (case study areas 5 and 6). For the local case study in the districts of Mittweida (Saxony) and Altenburger Land (Thuringia) the OECD recruited an international review team. Jaime Del Castillo (Spain), Declan Murphy (Ireland) and Andy Pike (U.K.) accompanied the OECD Secretariat in a review panel visit, undertaken from 28 November to 2 December 2005, to the two districts. Ritva Nirkkonen (Finland) and Sally O'Connor (U.K.) contributed to a regional workshop on 20 March 2006 in Leipzig, Germany and presented good practice initiatives in entrepreneurship development. Jonathan Potter is managing the review and supervised the fieldwork which has been co-ordinated by Andrea R. Hofer. Wolfgang Helmstädter represented the Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, 'Aufbau Ost' and chaired the regional workshop. Manuela Wehrle from Regionomica/Berlin managed all preparatory works related to the field visit and the regional workshop. This discussion paper is based on: (i) information from a local diagnostic report prepared by Regionomica/Berlin, (ii) the findings of an international review panel visit, and (iii) the discussion of a draft summary report in a regional workshop. 3 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHORS' NOTE..........................................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................7 DEVELOPING ENTREPRENEURSHIP ATTITUDES AND SKILLS..................................9 Introduction .................................................................................................................................9 Strengths and weaknesses............................................................................................................9 Good practices in Mittweida and Altenburger Land .................................................................11 Recommendations .....................................................................................................................12 International learning models ....................................................................................................13 Employment policy as a competitiveness support instrument: The case of Asturias, Spain .13 A strategic position to consolidate an entrepreneur's society, Basque County, Spain ...........16 Innovation capability at regional level: The case of Wallonia, Belgium ...............................18 SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP: INNOVATION, EXPORTING, INFRASTRUCTURE AND FINANCING................................................................................21 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................21 Strengths and weaknesses..........................................................................................................21 Recommendations .....................................................................................................................34 International learning models ....................................................................................................41 Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland ............................................................................................41 Brixen (Brixen), Alto Adige (Südtirol), Italy.........................................................................46 The Timisoara strategy for entrepreneurship development, Romania ...................................50 THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY DELIVERY FRAMEWORK................................55 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................55 Strengths and weaknesses..........................................................................................................55 Good practices in Mittweida and Altenburger Land .................................................................59 Recommendations .....................................................................................................................60 International learning models ....................................................................................................65 North East England, U.K. ......................................................................................................65 North Jutland, Denmark.........................................................................................................67 Ontario, Canada .....................................................................................................................70 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................75 Promotion of skills and motivations for successful entrepreneurship .......................................75 Focus on growth enterprises ......................................................................................................77 Strengthening the local policy design and delivery framework ................................................78 4 Table of Contents ANNEX.........................................................................................................................................81 International learning models presented at the regional workshop ..........................................82 SPG, U.K...............................................................................................................................82 Growth Enterprises Programme, U.K. ..................................................................................85 Y4-entrepreneurship process, Central Finland......................................................................88 Business Incubator, Jyväskylä Science Park, Finland...........................................................91 Company Clinic Services, Regional Development Company Jykes Ltd, Jyväskylä, Finland...................................................................................................................................93 Action Plan ................................................................................................................................95 List of interview partners.........................................................................................................103 International review panel and workshop participants ............................................................105 5 Introduction INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurship is a critical driver of economic and employment growth, and a wide range of policy initiatives and programmes exist in OECD countries to promote it. Local actors, including Land and local governments and development agencies, have a key role to play in designing and delivering these policies. Appropriate local policies can often help