The impact of public SME finance on R&D and innovation

It is well-known that the growth of young firms accounts for a disproportionate share of employment growth and the associated economic welfare. In Canada and Japan, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent around 99.7 percent of each country’s total firms and over 70 percent of each country’s total employment. However, SMEs are known to suffer from difficulties in accessing external financing, especially those that invest in R&D and innovation activities. Government initiatives targeting SMEs and those that invest in these riskier activities have been adopted worldwide to address their financing difficulties. The limited research on this topic has utilized outdated datasets within a single country context. This research project seeks to address these limitations by investigating the impact of public funding on R&D and innovation for start-up SMEs using more recent data and lead to a comparative study between two countries, Japan and Canada. Overall, this research seeks to shed light for policymakers on effective channels of funding for SMEs.

Faculty Supervisor:

Miwako Nitani

Student:

Partner:

Kwansei Gakuin University

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Finance and Insurance; Public Service, Policy, and Governance; Other

University:

University of Ottawa

Program: