PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Across the European Union, small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 99 per cent of all businesses, make up two thirds of private sector jobs and are responsible for more than half of the value added that is created by the business sector. However, one of the concerns of the sector, and its representatives, is that SMEs are still not getting full access to the EU public procurement market, which is estimated to be worth around one-sixth of total European GDP. Indeed, it is worth far more than any direct grant or government scheme that is aimed at supporting business. The good news is that the European Commission recently published draft directives that are aimed at modernising public procurement in the EU. However, the bad news is that large firms, whilst capturing only 40 per cent of all public contracts, continue to get two thirds of the overall value of contracts across Europe. And the smaller the business, the lower the chances of getting public contracts. In fac...

If you were asked to name any famous female entrepreneurs, who would you mention? Laura Ashley, Anita Roddick, Estee Lauder, Deborah Meaden? Compare this to the long list of male entrepreneurs you could name at the same time. Yet, as the latest report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) team shows, women are making a real impact on entrepreneurship across the World. According to the latest data, more than 104 million women aged between 18-64 years old were actively engaged in starting and running new business ventures in 2010 in 59 countries. In addition, another 83 million women were running established businesses demonstrating the real impact they have on the development of enterprising economies across the World. Despite this, the rate of entrepreneurial activity by men remains far higher. In fact, the study shows that women are less likely to consider entrepreneurship than men and when they do start a business, they are more likely to be motivated by necessity r...

The latest sketchbook from the Kauffman Foundation. Enjoy....

Last summer, the University of Wales Global Academy established an office in Silicon Valley, California, the global centre for innovative and entrepreneurial businesses. Based at the Irish Innovation Centre (IIC) in San Jose, the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley, the aim of the office is to provide a presence for Welsh businesses that felt ready to present their innovation technology to potential investors, taking advantage of the soft-landing that the IIC provides to companies already based there. As most of you are no doubt aware, Silicon Valley is where some of the leading high technology businesses in the World are to be found, with great companies such as Apple, Cisco, eBay, Google, Hewlett Packard, Intel and Yahoo having their corporate headquarters located there. And of course, let’s not forget that it is also the home of Facebook, a company that was started in a bedroom eight years ago but which, in the next few months, will undertake a stock market flotation ...