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Policies promoting informal venture capital generally and business angel networks (BANs) in particular have gained increased attention in recent years. As a consequence, BANs are now widespread across Europe. However, there continues to be a debate whether BANs should be supported with public money. This article discusses the possible rationale for governments to support BANs and what criteria to apply when evaluating such networks. The article is based on an in-depth observation study of the whole life cycle of a national BAN – the Danish Business Angel Network (DBAN) – and a comparison with a similar national angel network in Wales. Results show that applying traditional evaluation criteria for assessing BANs may provide only a partial picture. DBAN was squeezed between political pressures, impatience and lack of understanding of the broader benefits of an angel network. It was therefore left to die. This contrasts Wales where Xenos was shown more patience and persistence and it was rapidly integrated into the investment community. The implication is that lack of consistent funding, even in economic downswings, may erase the position and awareness of BANs in the capital markets. When governments consider whether to provide continuing support to BANs they should evaluate not only their immediate effectiveness but also whether BANs should be considered a part of the general small business support infrastructure. ; Policies promoting informal venture capital generally and BANs in particular have gained increased attention in recent years. As a consequence, Business Angel Networks (BANs) are now widespread across Europe. However, there continues to be a debate whether BANs should be supported with public money. This paper discusses the possible rationale for governments to support BANs and what criteria to apply when evaluating such networks. The paper is based on an in-depth observation study of the whole life cycle of a national BAN – the Danish Business Angel Network – and a comparison with a similar national ...

Many regions have realised that access to capital is an important prerequisite for establishment and growth of businesses, and have therefore focused policies to ensure an adequate supply of risk capital. The growth of the venture capital industry in the 1990s put pressure on venture capital firms (VCFs) to act more strategically. Many VCFs have thus specialized along one or more dimensions: certain industries, stages of development of the firm, or geographical areas. A theoretical dichotomy is developed in this paper to explain regionally focused venture capital. A competence-based theoretical view sees increased competition in the industry as promoting the growth of geographical specialization, while, according to financial theory, it would lead to diversification in order to spread risk. The empirical analysis illustrates the development in the average distance between VCFs and their Danish portfolio firms. All venture capital investments are included. Findings suggest that the process of geographical specialization follows an inverted v-shaped curve. This is interpreted in light of the developments in competition and in the competencies in the market. VCFs search broadly for investment opportunities in the first phase of the emergence of the venture capital industry, but when competition increases they tend to confine themselves to investments within a closer geographical distance. The implications of these findings are important both for funds-of-funds, regional governments, and VCFs.

As in other West-European countries Danish innovation policies has undergone significant changes during the past couple of decades. Moreover, it is perhaps one of the most important changes that innovation has gained much higher focus and priorities in the overall industrial policy. It is fair to say that even if the importance of technological development has been recognised since long, then innovation has now to a much larger extent become the buzzword of Danish industrial policies. Promoting innovation through changing institutional structures and incentives is bounded by the institutional and political set-up this policy is to be implemented in. In other words, the historically rooted Danish mode of innovation provides an important trajectory for which policies that could be expected to be effective and efficient. Policy changes are, however, not only a result of previous development, because this would require that all past political decisions were made on a completely well-informed basis in a world without different political interests. In practise, governments are unable to operate without failures, political conflicts and public debates may influence decisions, and the knowledge on the nature of the inno-vation process has improved immensely. Furthermore, governments learn from experiences on what works and what fails. Likewise the scope for efficient policy is bounded by the national industrial structure, norms and traditions for collaboration etc. Therefore, innovation policy is a much more demanding task than simply copying successful schemes from abroad. As a result, political strate-gies change over time in response to all these forces. Following the argument above, to understand the development of innovation policy it is important to define the context in which is to operate, in other words, the special features of Danish innova-tion must be explained. This is done in section 2, following this introduction. The above-mentioned main changes in innovation policies are explained in section 3. Next, in section 4, it is discussed what are the present challenges for innovation policies. It is discussed what inspiration to these pol-icies is, in particular to what extent academic research influence policy making. Measures to cope with these changes are exemplified in section 5. These examples are not chosen randomly but illus-trate some important principles of policy making. Finally, section 6 summarises the main arguments of the paper and points to possible future policy developments.

As in other West-European countries Danish innovation policies has undergone significant changes during the past couple of decades. Moreover, it is perhaps one of the most important changes that innovation has gained much higher focus and priorities in the overall industrial policy. It is fair to say that even if the importance of technological development has been recognised since long, then innovation has now to a much larger extent become the buzzword of Danish industrial policies. Promoting innovation through changing institutional structures and incentives is bounded by the institutional and political set-up this policy is to be implemented in. In other words, the historically rooted Danish mode of innovation provides an important trajectory for which policies that could be expected to be effective and efficient. Policy changes are, however, not only a result of previous development, because this would require that all past political decisions were made on a completely well-informed basis in a world without different political interests. In practise, governments are unable to operate without failures, political conflicts and public debates may influence decisions, and the knowledge on the nature of the innovation process has improved immensely. Furthermore, governments learn from experiences on what works and what fails. Likewise the scope for efficient policy is bounded by the national industrial structure, norms and traditions for collaboration etc. Therefore, innovation policy is a much more demanding task than simply copying successful schemes from abroad. As a result, political strategies change over time in response to all these forces. Following the argument above, to understand the development of innovation policy it is important to define the context in which is to operate, in other words, the special features of Danish innovation must be explained. This is done in section 2, following this introduction. The above-mentioned main changes in innovation policies are explained in section 3. Next, in section 4, it is discussed what are the present challenges for innovation policies. It is discussed what inspiration to these policies is, in particular to what extent academic research influence policy making. Measures to cope with these changes are exemplified in section 5. These examples are not chosen randomly but illustrate some important principles of policy making. Finally, section 6 summarises the main arguments of the paper and points to possible future policy developments.

"This book explores the capacity of the Danish innovation system to respond to key societal challenges including the green imperative of achieving growth with environmental sustainability and the need to adapt to new and possibly disruptive changes in technology, often referred to as the 4th Industrial Revolution. The book is divided into 4 main sections. The first describes the evolving characteristics of the Danish system of research and innovation with special attention to the role of policy at the national and regional levels. The second section focuses on interorganizational relations, including the position of Danish firms in national and global value chains. The third section examines changes in labour markets and in the educational and training system, and it considers the impact of new technologies including robotics and artificial intelligence on employment and skills. The fourth section turns to issues of climate change and environmental sustainability including an assessment of the Danish economy's success in meeting the challenges of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The book will be of particular interest to small countries, of which the Danish innovation system is representative, but it also appeals more broadly to an audience interested in innovation systems and policies to support economic development."

The purpose of this 'radar report' is to give an overview of the state of the art concerning indicators of energy innovation systems and their dynamics. As part of this, it is the aim to discuss current challenges and efforts made by researchers and other professionals working in the field. Through this, the radar report shall contribute to the discussion of how the field might develop in the future; both for the sake of understanding the dynamics of energy innovation systems in general and, more specifically, for the sake of understanding the role energy innovation systems play for moving towards more climate-friendly and sustainable energy systems. The analysis behind the radar report builds on a search and review of research literature, databases, statistics schemes, etc., on indicators of energy innovation systems as such and on relevant connected issues. In addition, it builds on assessment and insights from experienced researchers in the field. It is the intention with the report to communicate knowledge from researchers to other interested parties; not only to other researchers, but also to stakeholders more broadly, e.g. interest organisations, policy makers, sta-tisticians, etc. However, a one-way communication picture is not entirely correct. Not only do researchers in many cases build on nationally or internationally recognized indicator schemes and databases established by governmental bodies, statistics agencies or international organizations like the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) and the IEA (International Energy Agency). Researchers are also in a number of cases involved in establishment and development of official indicator schemes for example by acting as advisors or carrying out background studies. The interaction between research and practitioners is complex, and it makes little sense to address scientific research activities only, without taking into consideration the broader picture of indicator schemes. What we researchers most obviously can contribute with compared to other professional bodies in the field, is an explicit theoretical analysis perspective, in this case based on innovation system theory. Through this we can hopefully point out issues and raise questions that would otherwise not have been addressed.