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Knowledge of factors that determine the transition from nascent entrepreneurship to real entrepreneurship is of major importance for policies aiming to stimulate start-ups effectively. Scholars have concentrated mainly on person-specific factors to explain transition probabilities, and environmental characteristics have been relatively neglected. Given that entrepreneurship is a strongly localized phenomenon, this paper argues that regional entrepreneurial opportunities are a driving force behind the transition from nascent entrepreneurship to new venture creation. Based on unique data from 103 nascent entrepreneurs in the German biotechnology industry, we empirically assess the importance of regional entrepreneurial opportunities for transition probabilities. Further, we introduce a new approach to measure nascent entrepreneurship by capturing details of individuals who participate actively in start-up competitions and have won at least one of these. Controlling for technology and individual characteristics, we find strong support for our hypotheses relating to the significant impact of general regional opportunities, specific regional opportunities and the entrepreneurial environment on the probability of transition from award-winning nascent entrepreneurs to real start-ups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

I investigate the mechanisms through which a cluster policy can enhance entrepreneurship defi ned as new venture creation. The paper is based on the study of a cluster policy ('BioRegio') that strongly simulated new fi rm creation in biotechnology in Germany after 1996. The process induced by BioRegio at the territory level is analyzed over a ten-year period (1995-2004). I identify a three-step social mechanism through which a cluster policy can enhance entrepreneurship. The presented results strengthen the literature on cluster policies and clusters on the specifi c issue of entrepreneurship: four main contributions are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper updates to 2006 material first gathered in the late 1990s. Though Germany has about the same number of firms as the UK its biotechnology economy is far weaker, with many small firms employing few people, relatively low venture capital investment and little interest being shown by pharmaceuticals companies in licensing intellectual property. The reverse is the case in the UK even though the investor euphoria at the time of the first comparative study has not returned. A new policy of 'entrepreneurship outsourcing' has become visible in the UK as venture capital perceives a better business climate for biotechnology entrepreneurship in the USA. Recent developments of this kind may add to debilitating European problems, loosening more proximate links within national and regional innovation systems widely perceived as highly important elements in biotechnology cluster performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]