OECD

The OECD has a new publication reporting on discussions that were held at its SME and Entrepreneurship Ministerial Meeting, 27-28 June 2023. With the global context having radically evolved in the last three years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict, and other challenges, policies will also need to evolve in order to ensure that SMEs are resilient and have access to the support they require. The publication notes the need to find a balance between guaranteeing long-run financial support and providing the right conditions for SMEs to compete and become more productive. Furthermore, the policies need to be people-centred and granular as SMEs can widely differ, with no one policy fitting all of their collective needs.

Click here to read the full paper.

All OECD countries have put in place policies that support SMEs and entrepreneurs. These policies differ considerably along a number of dimensions, including the policy framework in which they are embedded. This paper maps and compares policy approaches and governance mechanisms across OECD countries. It shows that there are significant similariIes in objectives pursued and instruments used, and that countries use various governance models to ensure coherence. The paper was developed in the context of the OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy.

Read the full story. 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.) published its Economic Outlook Interim Report stating that a global economic recovery from the pandemic was finally taking hold, but it inched back its forecast for worldwide economic growth and warned that the rebound was benefiting wealthier countries more than the developing world as vaccine distribution occurs at an uneven pace. Countries that have made big strides toward vaccinating most of their populations are bouncing back much more quickly than those that are still struggling to obtain shots, the O.E.C.D. said, raising a host of related economic problems that are affecting global supply chains and pose a risk for the future.

Laurence Boone, the organization’s chief economist: “If we continue to vaccinate and adapt better to living with the virus, supply will begin to normalize and this pressure will fade, but for that we have to vaccinate more people.”

Read the full story.

Mark Schultz and co-author Douglas Lippoldt created the Trade Secret Protection Index (TSPI). The TSPI is a data-driven, objective index that measures the strength of trade secret protection in 39 countries from 1985 to 2010. It was originally created for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in two ground-breaking studies, which IIPR is working to update and expand upon, so more information and analysis will be available shortly about the state of TS protection in different countries.

The first study, Approaches to Protection of Undisclosed Information (Trade Secrets), explains the importance of trade secret law and establishes the TSPI, explaining its methodology and results.

The second study, Uncovering Trade Secrets – An Empirical Assessment of Economic Implications of Protection for Undisclosed Data, uses the TSPI to assess the economic impact of trade secret law. It finds a positive relationship between the strength of trade secret laws and several important economic outcomes related to trade and innovation.

Link to TSPI.

Speaking at a panel organized by the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), ministers from Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom announced their plan to lead the world in fostering responsible innovation and entrepreneurship. The Agile Nations Charter sets out each country’s commitment to creating a regulatory environment in which new ideas can thrive. Read full article here.