The OECD has mapped national-level policies that support the growth and scale up of SMEs and startups as well as the institutions implementing them. Policy measures have been grouped into five key policy areas: i. Access to finance, ii. Data governance, iii. Trade and internationalisation, iv. Innovation networks, v. Skills. The mapping results in a repository of 2 578 policy elements or measures and 517 institutions across the 38 OECD countries. Several policies contain multiple measures relevant for different policy areas. For example, a policy may provide both financial support for SMEs and advisory services for SMEs trade and internationalisation. The mapping collects information on multiple aspects of policy elements such as: Instrument used (e.g. regulations, financial support), Strategy (e.g. improving the business environment), Targeting (e.g. SMEs at large, startups, sectors), Monitoring and evaluation (evaluated or not) other. Information on institutions includes aspects such as: Type of institution involved (ministry, other), Core mandate of the institution, and Number of responsibilities of the institution.
The OECD has made the repository available in a tool that allows users to browse policy elements and institutions by country and policy area and access all information collected.
The tool was developed as part of the work on Helping SMEs scale up that was co-funded by the European Union.