Universities are seen as an opportunity for economic growth and increased employment and university spin-offs, operating with new and emerging technologies, are considered as means of return on academic research. However, some problems may occur related to the large number amount of stakeholders and their goals. The government is one important player and it can act as a policy maker, provider of financial support, or even as an owner. Governments regularly provide the innovation market with co-working hubs, incubators and science parks.  The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the possibility of knowledge- transfer from the Swedish system to the Russian regarding the support from the government to the entrepreneurial ventures through the science parks and incubators, and what and why would prevent Russia to adopt this model.

Although there is consensus on the increasing role of emerging and developing economies in global markets, the literature on the mechanisms contributing to their growth remains still limited. The research aims to contribute to knowledge by exploring and understanding the process of transformation from a centrally planned economy into a market based economy. This transformation process is analysed from the perspective of a Venture Capital industry emerging and developing in Poland. The research focuses on the dynamics of particular factors and their impact on a specific set of stakeholders. In order to take a sufficiently broad contextual view, an organizational theory approach was employed. The Venture Capital industry was treated as a community of organizations which are connected by direct or indirect relationships. The interpretative framework was provided by two leading organizational theories: Institutional theory and Resource Dependence theory. The research is qualitative, and is guided by a specially designed framework for collecting and analysing the data. The primary data were collected though semi structured interviews with Venture Capital industry stakeholders of different types, and with different roles in the process. The research contributes to knowledge at three levels. Firstly, it addresses the literature gap on emergence of the Venture Capital industry in Poland. Secondly, it contributes to an understanding of the process of the emergence of a Venture Capital industry and economic transformation. Thirdly, findings may contribute to policy recommendations formulated to accelerate effective development in financial services.

Étant donné que les espoirs de croissance des pays développés reposent largement sur leur capacité à développer l’innovation, la question du financement de l’innovation est cruciale. Les biotechnologies sont au centre de nombreux débats et sont décrites comme étant une source de croissance et d’emplois pour nos économies modernes. Pour pouvoir se financer, les entreprises spécialisées dans les biotechnologies rencontrent beaucoup de difficultés à accéder à des financements. Il semblerait que les capital-risqueurs sont l’un des rares investisseurs à vouloir supporter les risques liés à l’activité des entreprises de biotechnologies, parmi lesquels il convient de distinguer entre capital-risque indépendant (IVC) et capital-risque d’entreprise (CVC). Cette thèse a pour principal objet l’analyse des apports de ces différents capital-risqueurs dans le contexte des biotechnologies et plus singulièrement l’apport d’un co-investissement faisant intervenir ces deux types d’investisseurs. Dans un premier temps, nous nous intéressons à l’étude des disparités entre IVC et CVC en nous basant sur les résultats d’une enquête menée auprès des capital-risqueurs et des entreprises financées. Étant donné la capacité des IVC et CVC à créer de la valeur, nous développons, dans un second temps, un modèle théorique qui décrit les conditions sous-lesquelles un co-investissement mixte est beaucoup plus plausible que toute autre stratégie d’investissement, tel qu’un investissement autonome. Enfin, nous tentons de voir si notre hypothèse centrale qui est la plus grande capacité des syndicats mixtes à apporter de la valeur aux entreprises serait « valorisée » par les marchés au moment de l’introduction en bourse et dans les deux ans qui suivent cette dernière. / Given that the growth prospects of developed countries rely heavily on their ability to develop innovation, the issue of financing innovation is crucial. Biotechnologies are the center of many debates and are described as a source of growth and jobs for our modern economies. Companies specializing in biotechnology encounter many difficulties in accessing funding. It seems that venture capitalists are one of the few investors that are willing to bear the risks related to the business of biotechnology companies, among which it is necessary to distinguish between independent venture capitalists (IVC) and corporate venture capitalists (CVC). The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the contributions of these venture capitalists in the context of biotechnology and particularly the contribution of a co-investment involving both types of investors. As a first step, we are interested in the study of differences between IVC and CVC. This study is based on the results of a survey of venture capitalists and corporate funding. Given the ability of IVC and CVC to create value, we develop in a second step, a theoretical model that describes the conditions under which a co-investment involving both types of venture capitalists is much more plausible than any other investment strategy, i.e. a stand-alone investment. Finally, we try to check if our main hypothesis, i.e. greater value-adding capacity of mixed syndications, is valued by public markets at the time of IPO and during the two years following that event.

I en vid definition är riskkapital alla investeringar i onoterade bolag som bidrar till det egna kapitalet. En annan kännetecknande egenskap är att investeringarna är tidsbegränsade med målet att avyttras inom 3-7 år. Den vanligaste orsaken till att företag väljer att samarbeta med riskkapitalister är ganska given, de behöver kapital till sin verksamhet.När ett företag använder sig av riskkapital hamnar det i en typ av beroendesi-tuation gentemot finansiären, där denna har möjligheten att ställa orimliga krav. Det finns många faktorer som rimligtvis borde påverka vilka krav på finansieringen av företaget som riskkapitalisten kan ställa samt även vilket engagemang de har. Några faktorer kan vara företagets utvecklingsfas, stor-lek på investering, bransch och företagsledningens kompetens.Våra problemfrågor är: Vilka krav ställer riskkapitalisterna i form av storlek på aktiepost, typ av aktie, styrelseposter för att genomföra en investering? Vilket engagemang har riskkapitalister i sina portföljföretag, är de aktiva eller passiva?Vårt syfte är att beskriva vilka krav riskkapitalister ställer på företagen de ska investera i samt vilket engagemang de har i sina portföljföretag. Vi har valt att avgränsa oss till venture capital-företag som investerar i Sverige och som har fokus på investeringar i expansionsfasen. Vi har använt oss av en abduktiv ansats och gjort en kvalitativ undersökning.Vi har kunnat dra slutsatsen att riskkapitalister som fokuserar på expansions-faserna vanligtvis investerar i stamaktier. Vanligtvis kräver riskkapitalbola-gen styrelsepost/er i de portföljföretag som de skall investera i. Investerarnas krav på aktiepostens storlek skiljer sig ganska mycket mellan våra respon-denter vilket kan bero på i vilken expansionsfas portföljföretagen befinner sig i.De investerare som framförallt investerar i tidig expansion kräver mellan 1-30 %. De investerare som inriktar sig på sen expansion kräver mellan 30-50 %. Vi har kunnat dra slutsatsen att riskkapitalbolagen ökar sitt engagemang när något av deras portföljföretag går dåligt eller är i kris. Samtliga respon-denter som vi har intervjuat har uppgett att de ökar sitt engagemang i krissi-tuationer. Alla våra respondenter är aktiva i sin investeringsroll, vilket verkar vara det vanligaste. De verkar framförallt genom styrelsen och försöker där-ifrån att utveckla företagen / Uppsatsnivå: D

Governments in both advanced and emerging markets invest heavily into joint R&D projects to facilitate inter-firm collaboration and scientific productivity. As a science-based cluster, nanotechnology is a highly R&D-intensive field with very complex interdisciplinary features that enables multiple interactions between scientists from diverse cultural backgrounds working for multi-faceted organizations across public and private sectors and through internationally regulated borders. In this thesis, I examine the main determinants of the dimensions of inter-firm collaboration in high-tech industries particularly among nanotechnology R&D organisations across Europe. Also, I investigate the key factors that influence the innovation, financial and exit performance of nanotech companies during the commercialisation period and across 15 developed and developing countries, taking into consideration the involvement of venture capital (VC) firms. In order to methodically integrate the qualitative and quantitative features of my research study, I employed mixed method to analyse primary and secondary data collected via survey instruments and comprehensive databases; to gain valuable insights into the complexities around nanotech R&D organisations. The regression results show that a predictable legal system; a high level of tolerance for uncertainty; the proximity to key partners; a high level of export demand for high-tech products; and expansionary economic policies, leads to highly valuable and long-term relationships which produces optimal partnership size with an effective organizational structure. I find that a high financial status of nanotech firms equips R&D project managers with sufficient tangible and intangible resources to engage into complex collaborative partnerships which yield innovative performing outcomes. Also, I find that nanotech R&D firms that exit venture capital investments via IPO are more likely to have their head offices in a big city; and access foreign capital to expand manufacturing operations. I conclude that the successful commercialisation of nanotechnology industries across the globe has been due to the substantial R&D public expenditures and private investments into the application and proliferation of nanotechnologies in key converging scientific fields which require robust inter-firm collaborative partnerships to rapidly develop and promote several portfolios of high-tech products that continually satisfy consumer needs in disruptive ways and secure long-term profitability for nanotech R&D organisations.

<p>Vi vill undersöka huruvida det finns ett samband mellan riskkapitalföretagets ägarstruktur och deras val av exit genom en positivistisk studie med en deduktiv ansats. Målet är att öppna vägen för mer djupgående forskning kring exits i Sverige genom att undersöka ett antal potentiella samband. Riskkapitalisterna delas upp i tre grupper baserat på deras ägarstruktur: privata, koncernbundna samt offentliga riskkapitalister.</p><p>Utifrån befintlig teori på området har vi utformat nio hypoteser som kan delas in i fyra grupper. Den första gruppen testar huruvida sambandet mellan ägarstruktur och val av exit existerar, den andra gruppen testar sambandet mellan portföljbolagets bransch och val av exit, nästa grupp testar huruvida det finns ett samband mellan investeringslängden och val av exit respektive ägarstruktur och slutligen testar vi om det finns ett samband mellan portföljbolagets potential och deras val av exit.</p><p>För att samla in nödvändig data för att testa dessa hypoteser utgick vi ifrån Förvärv och Fusioners data över alla exits i Sverige från 2003 till och med första halvåret 2006. Databasen fick kompletteras med ett antal variabler: omsättningstillväxt, typ av exit, ägarstruktur samt bransch. All databearbetning har skett i Excel och alla statistiska modeller har bearbetats i SPSS. Vår data innehåller 248 exits men eftersom endast tre av dessa var buybacks valde vi att utesluta dessa eftersom det är för lite data för att kunna testas statistiskt. Analysen har utförts med hjälp av korstabeller och ANOVAtabeller.</p><p>Studiens slutsats är att det finns ett samband mellan riskkapitalbolagets ägarstruktur och deras val av exit även om det fanns en avvikelse när det gäller finansiella försäljningar. De portföljbolag som har privata riskkapitalister som investerare hamnar oftare på börsen eller som en industriell försäljning än de som har offentliga riskkapitalister som investerare. Vidare hittade vi stöd för att portföljbolagets branschtillhörighet också har ett samband med valet av exit samt att även portföljbolagets potential har ett samband med valet av exit. Däremot hittar vi inget stöd för att riskkapitalbolagets ägarstruktur har något samband med investeringslängden men vi hittar stöd för att det finns ett samband mellan investeringslängden och valet av exit. Slutligen diskuterar vi vilka studier som skulle behöva göras för att ytterligare utforska mekanismerna bakom exits på den svenska riskkapitalmarknaden.</p>

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This thesis aims at analysing some aspects of Venture Capital (VC) and high-tech entrepreneurship. The focus is both at the macroeconomic level, comparing venture capital from an international point of view and Technology-Based Small Firms (TBSF) at company and founder’s level in Belgium. The approach is mainly empirical. This work is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on venture capital. First of all, we test the impact of VC on productivity. We then identify the determinants of VC and we test their impact on the relative level of VC for a panel of countries. The second part concerns the technology-based small firms in Belgium. The objective is twofold. It first aims at creating a database on Belgian TBSF to better understand the importance of entrepreneurship. In order to do this, a national survey was developed and the statistical results were analysed. Secondly, it provides an analysis of the role of universities in the employment performance of TBSF. A broad summary of each chapter is presented below. PART 1: VENTURE CAPITAL The Economic Impact of Venture Capital The objective of this chapter is to perform an evaluation of the macroeconomic impact of venture capital. The main assumption is that VC can be considered as being similar in several respects to business R&D performed by large firms. We test whether VC contributes to economic growth through two main channels. The first one is innovation, characterized by the introduction of new products, processes or services on the market. The second one is the development of an absorptive capacity. These hypotheses are tested quantitatively with a production function model for a panel data set of 16 OECD countries from 1990 to 2001. The results show that the accumulation of VC is a significant factor contributing directly to Multi-Factor Productivity (MFP) growth. The social rate of return to VC is significantly higher than the social rate of return to business or public R&D. VC has also an indirect impact on MFP in the sense that it improves the output elasticity of R&D. An increased VC intensity makes it easier to absorb the knowledge generated by universities and firms, and therefore improves aggregate economic performance. Technological Opportunity, Entrepreneurial Environment and Venture Capital Development The objective of this chapter is to identify the main determinants of venture capital. We develop a theoretical model where three main types of factors affect the demand and supply of VC: macroeconomic conditions, technological opportunity, and the entrepreneurial environment. The model is evaluated with a panel dataset of 16 OECD countries over the period 1990-2000. The estimates show that VC intensity is pro-cyclical - it reacts positively and significantly to GDP growth. Interest rates affect the VC intensity mainly because the entrepreneurs create a demand for this type of funding. Indicators of technological opportunity such as the stock of knowledge and the number of triadic patents affect positively and significantly the relative level of VC. Labour market rigidities reduce the impact of the GDP growth rate and of the stock of knowledge, whereas a minimum level of entrepreneurship is required in order to have a positive effect of the available stock of knowledge on VC intensity. PART 2: TECHNOLOGY-BASED SMALL FIRMS Survey in Belgium The first purpose of this chapter is to present the existing literature on the performance of companies. In order to get a quantitative insight into the entrepreneurial growth process, an original survey of TBSF in Belgium was launched in 2002. The second purpose is to describe the methodology of our national TBSF survey. This survey has two main merits. The first one lies in the quality of the information. Indeed, most of national and international surveys have been developed at firm-level. There exist only a few surveys at founder-level. In the TBSF database, information both at firm and at entrepreneur-level will be found. The second merit is about the subject covered. TBSF survey tackles the financing of firms (availability of public funds, role of venture capitalists, availability of business angels,…), the framework conditions (e.g. the quality and availability of infrastructures and communication channels, the level of academic and public research, the patenting process,…) and, finally, the socio-cultural factors associated with the entrepreneurs and their environment (e.g. level of education, their parents’education, gender,…). Statistical Evidence The main characteristics of companies in our sample are that employment and profits net of taxation do not follow the same trend. Indeed, employment may decrease while results after taxes may stay constant. Only a few companies enjoy a growth in both employment and results after taxes between 1998 and 2003. On the financing front, our findings suggest that internal finance in the form of personal funds, as well as the funds of family and friends are the primary source of capital to start-up a high-tech company in Belgium. Entrepreneurs rely on their own personal savings in 84 percent of the cases. Commercial bank loans are the secondary source of finance. This part of external financing (debt-finance) exceeds the combined angel funds and venture capital funds (equity-finance). On the entrepreneur front, the preliminary results show that 80 percent of entrepreneurs in this study have a university degree while 42 percent hold postgraduate degrees (i.e. master’s, and doctorate). In term of research activities, 88 percent of the entrepreneurs holding a Ph.D. or a post-doctorate collaborate with Belgian higher education institutes. Moreover, more than 90 percent of these entrepreneurs are working in a university spin-off. The Contribution of Universities to Employment Growth The objective of this chapter is to test whether universities play a role amongst the determinants of employment growth in Belgian TBSF. The empirical model is based on our original survey of 87 Belgian TBSF. The results suggest that both academic spin-offs and TBSF created on the basis of an idea originating from business R&D activities are associated with an above than average growth in employees. As most ‘high-tech’ entrepreneurs are at least graduated from universities, there is no significant impact of the level of education. Nevertheless, these results must be taken with caution, as they are highly sensitive to the presence of outliers. Young high-tech firms are by definition highly volatile, and might be therefore difficult to understand. CONCLUSION In this last chapter, recommendations for policy-makers are drawn from the results of the thesis. The possible interventions of governments are classified according to whether they influence the demand or the supply of entrepreneurship and/or VC. We present some possible actions such as direct intervention in the VC funds, interventions of public sector through labour market rigidities, pension system, patent and research policy, level of entrepreneurial activities, bankruptcy legislation, entrepreneurial education, development of university spin-offs, and creation of a national database of TBSF.

CleanTech is the sector where technologies intended to reduce the harmful effect that our current lifestyle has on the environment are found. In Sweden the companies developing these technologies has not yet managed to get their deserved part of Swedish venture capital. A number of venture capitalists do invest in CleanTech, however the majority is hesitant. The hesitation is to a large extent said to be born in the many risks associated to a CleanTech investment. This thesis attempts to address this issue by describing and analyzing how venture capitalists reduce risks when investing in a CleanTech company. An abductive approach has been used to conduct the study, mainly based on primary, qualitative data. The data was gathered through six face-to-face interviews with Swedish venture capitalists active within the CleanTech sector. The different risks expected to be found in a CleanTech investment are first presented grouped into three broad risks groups; Agency risk, Business risk and Innovation risk. This is followed by a framework covering methods and tools that can be applied by venture capitalists in an attempt to reduce risks in their investments. These being; Convertible equity, Syndication, Information system, Monitoring, Milestones, Bonding, Share options, Stage financing and Intellectual property rights. The respondents do not view the risks associated to CleanTech as high as generally perceived. They acknowledge that the risks exists but not to any larger extent than in any other investment. When reducing risk in their investment the respondents make use of commonly known and generally used methods and tools. These are not deliberately chosen in order to reduce a specific risk but rather to safeguard the investment as a whole. It is not just the tools in themselves that leads to a successful reduction of risk, but rather when combined with the respondent’s as well as the entrepreneurs skills and experiences.

Vi vill undersöka huruvida det finns ett samband mellan riskkapitalföretagets ägarstruktur och deras val av exit genom en positivistisk studie med en deduktiv ansats. Målet är att öppna vägen för mer djupgående forskning kring exits i Sverige genom att undersöka ett antal potentiella samband. Riskkapitalisterna delas upp i tre grupper baserat på deras ägarstruktur: privata, koncernbundna samt offentliga riskkapitalister. Utifrån befintlig teori på området har vi utformat nio hypoteser som kan delas in i fyra grupper. Den första gruppen testar huruvida sambandet mellan ägarstruktur och val av exit existerar, den andra gruppen testar sambandet mellan portföljbolagets bransch och val av exit, nästa grupp testar huruvida det finns ett samband mellan investeringslängden och val av exit respektive ägarstruktur och slutligen testar vi om det finns ett samband mellan portföljbolagets potential och deras val av exit. För att samla in nödvändig data för att testa dessa hypoteser utgick vi ifrån Förvärv och Fusioners data över alla exits i Sverige från 2003 till och med första halvåret 2006. Databasen fick kompletteras med ett antal variabler: omsättningstillväxt, typ av exit, ägarstruktur samt bransch. All databearbetning har skett i Excel och alla statistiska modeller har bearbetats i SPSS. Vår data innehåller 248 exits men eftersom endast tre av dessa var buybacks valde vi att utesluta dessa eftersom det är för lite data för att kunna testas statistiskt. Analysen har utförts med hjälp av korstabeller och ANOVAtabeller. Studiens slutsats är att det finns ett samband mellan riskkapitalbolagets ägarstruktur och deras val av exit även om det fanns en avvikelse när det gäller finansiella försäljningar. De portföljbolag som har privata riskkapitalister som investerare hamnar oftare på börsen eller som en industriell försäljning än de som har offentliga riskkapitalister som investerare. Vidare hittade vi stöd för att portföljbolagets branschtillhörighet också har ett samband med valet av exit samt att även portföljbolagets potential har ett samband med valet av exit. Däremot hittar vi inget stöd för att riskkapitalbolagets ägarstruktur har något samband med investeringslängden men vi hittar stöd för att det finns ett samband mellan investeringslängden och valet av exit. Slutligen diskuterar vi vilka studier som skulle behöva göras för att ytterligare utforska mekanismerna bakom exits på den svenska riskkapitalmarknaden.

Analysts at Venture Capital firms of today experience troubles when they try to explicate the intrinsic value, which they see in their investments. The traditional valuation models do not account the value of flexibility and analysts have to Through studies at a Venture Capital firm in Sweden, I have analyzed if Real Option analysis could help them to explicate the intrinsic value that they see.With the help from a decision tree, analysts can identify the hidden option values embedded in the investment. I find that real options can be a helpful tool for Venture Capital companiesto clarify the intrinsic values that they see in their investments. Real option analysis is however not a competitor to traditional value methods, it is rather a compliment.