Newswise — Founding institutions Babson College and The London Business School and teams from 34 consortium countries have announced leadership and structural changes to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), designed to further strengthen what is the world's most comprehensive annual barometer of entrepreneurship.
These changes follow the January 20 release of the 2004 GEM Executive Report, at which speakers from the European Commission and the United Nations addressed a London audience of some 200 business persons, policy makers, embassy officials, entrepreneurs, academics and journalists from around the globe.
This 2004 GEM Executive Report surveyed 784 million individuals in 34 countries. "The new strategic and organizational changes agreed upon by all members of the consortium will allow GEM to expand upon its preeminent position as the leading provider of quality research on entrepreneurial activity," said William Bygrave, Frederick C. Hamilton Professor of Free Enterprise at Babson College, and Michael Hay, Deputy Dean & Secretary, London Business School.
The key changes are:
*Implementation of a new constitutional structure and legal form;
*Establishment of additional full-time positions within GEM's top class management team, including a new Executive Director and Research Director;
*Restructuring of the project to ensure an integrated and closer relationship between the central coordination unit and the national teams;
*Development of a streamlined strategy designed to ensure the achievement of its vision: to remain the primary global resource and first port of call for information, advice and ideas on entrepreneurship and development of its product offerings in tune with the increasingly demanding needs of governments and policy makers around the world.
The new Executive Director will take responsibility for extending the project's global reach, strengthening further its research program, deepening its effect on public policy and maintaining and developing the GEM global brand's position as the pre-eminent entrepreneurship initiative. The executive search for this appointment is already underway and several high profile candidates are currently being considered for the position. An announcement is expected within the next month.
Until the new Executive Director is appointed, Michael Hancock of GEM Denmark will oversee the daily running of the project. "To see a relatively young organization grow at such a phenomenal rate underscores the importance of entrepreneurship around the world," said Hancock. "The value to policy makers of having access to reliable grass-roots data cannot be overstated. Continuing to forge links between policy makers and academia is vital if we are to make the most of what both sides have to offer. It is a very exciting time for everyone involved in the project."
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor was founded in 1997 by Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and the London Business School. GEM research involves a consortium of teams from participating countries, backed by national panels of experts and entrepreneurs. 43 countries have participated in GEM since its inception in 1997 (the first report was released in 1999). In 2005, it is expected that at least three more nations will join the $2.5 million a year research project. All originators welcomed the new organization and in doing so have underpinned their commitment and long-term funding support for the multi million dollar project.
GEM research involves the collection of grass roots level data and reports on entrepreneurial activity around the world on an annual basis. The research is carried out in exactly the same way in each country so that the results are comparable. This research is unique in the field of entrepreneurship studies. It allows a country to track its rate of entrepreneurial activity over time (the project now has six years of historic data) and to compare its level of entrepreneurial activity and the nature of its entrepreneurs and their activities with all the other countries involved in the research. No other entrepreneurial research project provides a truly comparable assessment of early stage entrepreneurial activity between countries.
Information on GEM is available at http://www.gemconsortium.org
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