What is GEM?

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project is an annual assessment of the entrepreneurial activity, aspirations and attitudes of individuals across a wide range of countries. Initiated in 1999 as a partnership between London Business School and Babson College, the first study covered 10 countries; since then nearly 100 ‘National Teams’ from every corner of the globe have participated in the project, which continues to grow annually - in 2011, the project had an estimated global budget of nearly USD $9 million. 

GEM is the largest ongoing study of entrepreneurial dynamics in the world.

GEM explores the role of entrepreneurship in national economic growth, unveiling detailed national features and characteristics associated with entrepreneurial activity. The data collected is ‘harmonized’ by a central team of experts, guaranteeing its quality and facilitating cross-national comparisons.

The program has three main objectives:

• To measure differences in the level of entrepreneurial activity between countries
• To uncover factors leading to appropriate levels of entrepreneurship
• To suggest policies that may enhance the national level of entrepreneurial activity.

GEM is unique because, unlike other entrepreneurship data sets that measure newer and smaller firms, GEM studies, at the grassroots level, the behaviour of individuals with respect to starting and managing a business. This approach provides a more detailed picture of entrepreneurial activity than is found in official national registry data sets.