In spring 2023, researchers from ENTU, the Entrepreneurship Unit at Aalto University School of Business, were invited to contribute to the OECD’s Missing Entrepreneurs report, a biennial publication developed in collaboration with the European Commission. The project started in April and was completed in October 2023. The final report was published in November 2023.
The Missing Entrepreneurs report examines how public policy at national, regional, and local levels can support job creation by promoting business start-ups and self-employment among disadvantaged or under-represented groups, such as women, youth, seniors, the unemployed, immigrants, and people with disabilities. It presents entrepreneurship indicators for these groups and includes thematic chapters and country profiles highlighting recent policy developments.
The OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities approached Associate Professor Ewald Kibler to contribute to the chapter on youth entrepreneurship. He invited Postdoctoral Researcher Bernadetta Ginting-Szczesny to collaborate on the project.
Their task was to produce a 25-page background paper reviewing the effectiveness of youth entrepreneurship policies and public support schemes. The research was conducted as desk research and based on a meta-analysis of academic articles and policy evaluations that assessed the actual impact of these schemes. To ensure rigour, only evaluations that compared programme participants with matched non-participants and accounted for selection bias using statistical methods were included.
The analysis revealed a significant gap in robust evidence. Although more than 100 evaluations of youth entrepreneurship schemes were identified across EU member states and OECD countries since 2000, fewer than 30 met the OECD’s criteria for high-quality evaluation. Moreover, most evaluations focused only on changes in attitudes or self-perceived skills. Just 11 of the high-quality evaluations assessed measurable outcomes related to employment or entrepreneurship.
This finding points to a critical evidence gap in policymaking, where programmes are often implemented without rigorous evaluation of whether they lead to long-term entrepreneurial success or improved employment outcomes.
ENTU’s paper was developed and submitted in several stages, including an outline, a draft, and a final revised version, in close coordination with the OECD team. It served as a foundational source for Chapter 4 of the report, titled Youth Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship Activities. The work also informed OECD-hosted policy workshops, where findings were shared with international stakeholders. It further helped the OECD assess which youth entrepreneurship policies show measurable impact, guiding future recommendations for member countries.
Unlike traditional academic research, which is mainly produced for academic journals, this work was designed to support real-world policymaking. It highlights how university-based research can help international organisations and governments make informed decisions.
‘’This project was a great opportunity for me to engage in a different kind of research, one that was more policy-oriented. In some ways, it was similar to conducting a literature review, as we examined academic articles on the effectiveness and impact of youth entrepreneurship support programmes. But the references and sources we used were quite different from those typically cited in academic research papers. For me, this raises important questions about the relevance of academic research to policy and practice. The encouraging part is that, as a researcher within an academic institution, it is possible to contribute to different types of research.” said Bernadetta Ginting-Szczesny, who had the pleasure of co-leading the project.
This collaboration reflects ENTU’s growing contribution to research-based policymaking. It also highlights the need for stronger evaluation standards when designing public support for youth entrepreneurship.
We thank David Halabisky and the OECD team for the opportunity to contribute to this important work.
ENTU offers research-based insights to inform public policy and entrepreneurship ecosystems in Finland, Europe, and beyond. Contact us to explore potential collaboration.
