WATCH THE WEBINAR ON ESBRI PLAY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nDuring a webinar on entrepreneurship and democracy organized by Esbri earlier this week, David Audretsch, a professor at Indiana University, highlighted a perspective that is often overlooked. Entrepreneurship is not just about innovation, technology, and economic growth, but also about people\u2019s ability to act independently and challenge established power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Entrepreneurship is a cornerstone of democracy, but democracy is also essential to entrepreneurship. In both cases, it\u2019s about independence\u2014people being able to make their own decisions and act on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That connection is put to the test when a handfull of companies gain so much influence that they can limit others\u2019 ability to compete, finance new ideas, and make independent decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a matter of good and bad companies. It\u2019s about power. When companies, organizations, or people gain power, they use it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Audretsch cited Sonos as an example. The company\u2019s founder has described how large technology platforms can create a so-called \u201ckill zone\u201d around themselves: an area where smaller companies find it difficult to grow because they risk being copied or squeezed out. If investors believe that a young company cannot compete with a dominant player anyway, funding may also dry up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spotify found itself in a similar dispute with Apple and reported the company to the European Commission for anti-competitive behavior. Spotify was later found to be in the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the upstart becomes the establishment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When a company transitions from challenger to market leader, what it has to gain and lose also changes. Apple, Microsoft, and Google were once upstarts that challenged established companies and business models. Today, they themselves are among the world\u2019s most powerful companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 A company that hasn\u2019t yet created much doesn\u2019t have much to protect either. But once the company becomes successful, it suddenly has a market position and revenue to defend. At some point, the company therefore becomes more interested in protecting what has already been created. What once challenged the status quo begins instead to defend it, said David Audretsch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 The companies that are entrepreneurial today will become tomorrow\u2019s established companies. That is why society must constantly create opportunities for a new generation of entrepreneurs to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than just tech, AI, and high-growth companies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For a long time, entrepreneurship policy has primarily sought to promote innovation, technology, growth, and new jobs. Those goals remain important. But if entrepreneurship is also viewed as a matter of democracy, it\u2019s not enough to ask which companies are growing the fastest. It also becomes important to ask how many people and companies actually have the opportunity to make their own decisions and challenge established players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 We\u2019ve almost arrived at a view where all entrepreneurship is considered equal, but some forms are more equitable than others. It\u2019s seen as better if a company is innovative, if it\u2019s a scale-up, or if it works with AI. But if we\u2019re concerned about democracy, something else becomes important: that there are many independent companies and people who can make their own decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This independence is also why entrepreneurship and authoritarian systems clash. Entrepreneurs act on their own ideas and can thus challenge the order that those in power try to maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technology and innovation still play a major role, and at the same time, this presents a new societal challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Twenty or twenty-five years ago, much of the focus was on how we could foster more innovation and bring new ideas to market. That need remains. But now we also face a challenge that concerns the very foundation of our societies. Democracy is under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those without power must be given a chance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Entrepreneurs are often in a weak position when the rules of the game are being shaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Entrepreneurs are generally people without much power. They usually lack significant financial resources and are therefore not particularly well represented. At the same time, there are other interests that are established, organized, and considerably stronger, said David Audretsch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because established interests have more resources and stronger representation, entrepreneurs\u2019 needs risk being given less consideration when policy is formulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Audretsch, there is often a strong belief in Europe in the \u201cmanaged economy,\u201d where regulations, institutions, and established players wield significant influence. This model can create stability, but it can also give those who already hold a strong position greater opportunities to shape the rules of the game. This makes it more difficult for new companies to challenge the status quo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Entrepreneurs want to challenge the status quo. They need to be supported and given the opportunity to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For David Audretsch, entrepreneurship policy is therefore not just about more startups, patents, or fast-growing tech companies. New and independent companies must also be able to challenge those who already hold power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democracy is slow\u2014the entrepreneur is in a hurry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Democratic processes take time. Decisions must be built on broad support, different interests must be weighed against one another, and rules must be followed. Entrepreneurs often need to act quickly and test the waters while uncertainty is still high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A centralized system can sometimes make decisions faster because fewer stakeholders need to be consulted. But that same concentration of decision-making power can limit the ability of people and companies to test their own ideas. There is a clear conflict of objectives here: faster decisions can mean less room for independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Perhaps this is the great challenge of our time. We value democracy, but we also value prosperity. And we need entrepreneurship for that prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to David Audretsch, the challenge is therefore not to choose between democratic processes and vibrant entrepreneurship. It is to design rules and institutions that both distribute power and give new companies the opportunity to act quickly, test ideas, and challenge established players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Investing in entrepreneurship is investing in democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WATCH THE WEBINAR ON ESBRI PLAY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Entrepreneurship can spread economic power and give more people the opportunity to influence decision-making, thereby strengthening democracy. But over time, successful challengers may themselves begin to protect their power. Entrepreneurship policy needs to take this paradox more seriously, according to Professor David Audretsch. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":35653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,127,404],"tags":[797,125,122,123,130,263],"class_list":["post-35657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-new-research","category-visa-deepl","tag-democracy","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-innovation-en","tag-research","tag-technique","tag-webinar-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35657"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35676,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35657\/revisions\/35676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esbri.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}