On request, the PSF supports Member States and associated countries in improving the design, implementation and evaluation of their national R&I policies and systems. In this case, the Slovak government asked the PSF experts to answer three main questions.

“We asked them to provide recommendations on: How to improve the business environment to promote entrepreneurship and startups? How to improve business incubation and acceleration? And how to increase the existing small community of business angels?” says Dr Peter Žiga, Minister for the Economy of the Slovak Republic.

Paulo Andrez, an experienced investor in several early-stage companies, President Emeritus of the European Trade Association for Business Angels (EBAN) and expert in entrepreneurial ecosystems development, led the panel.

“We framed these questions in terms of an ‘ecosystem’,” he says, which in Slovakia is small but partially functioning already. The country needs to build on this, “encouraging rather than substituting” the existing actors and activities. He hopes that the contribution of independent experts will enable the government to implement best practices in doing this.

“The expert panel was impressed by the talent pool and potential of Slovak entrepreneurship,” says Mr Andrez, as well as by the quality of existing private initiatives, such as incubators and business angels – investors who offer not just money, but mentoring and networking. But the country lacked policy expertise in these sectors.

“We were able to meet all the major actors: from incubators to business angels,” says Mr Andrez, explaining that their visits to Slovakia meant the panel could “talk freely, one-to-one,” and learn from people on the ground the real issues that the country faces.

Thanks to these meetings and hands-on research, the panel developed a set of recommendations to improve and nurture the startup sector in Slovakia.

“The starting point is to manage the startups as an ecosystem,” says Mr Andrez, making the best use of EC money, and building a self-sustaining system to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship.

The important thing is to not “crowd out” private investors, according to Mr Andrez, and “to build trust among the key stakeholders,” as well as setting clear key performance indicators, and benchmarking with international best practices.

The Slovak government asked for specific support under the PSF following its adoption of a ‘Strategy to support startups and further develop the startup ecosystem’ in June 2015. The activity was jointly coordinated between Directorate-General for Research & Innovation (DG RTD) and Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT).

“Our request for PSF support shows our commitment to implementing new policies to develop the current start-up ecosystem,” says Dr Žiga, the Slovak minister. “I am sure that some of these recommendations will have a significant impact very soon after being implemented.”

For further information

More information on the PSF, the Specific Support to Slovakia, and the final report of the expert panel is available at:
https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/policy-support-facility/specific-support-slovakia

An article (PDF, 60KB) summarising the Specific Support to Slovakia is available at: https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/Summary_Article_Specific_Support_Slovakia_FINAL.pdf 

The Final Report (PDF, 1.9MB) of the Specific Support to Slovakia is available at: https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/KI-AX-17-001-EN-N%20SK.pdf