"It was an unforgettable pleasure to talk about Global Entrepreneurship Monitor being a real gem."
These are the words of Anna Tarnawa, head of the GEM Poland Team and a GEM / GERA Board Member, describing her experience at the Future of Entrepreneurship in Czech Republic conference, organized by CzechInvest and Asociace podnikavé Česko.
One of the sessions was entitled "The Enterprising Future of the Czech Republic, or What the Data Does (Not) Tell Us About Entrepreneurship". It was noted during this session that the Czech Republic has not been involved in GEM for more than 10 years. As a result, there aren't any large and internationally comparable datasets on entrepreneurship in the long term.
The event, held on 17 October, attracted over 120 participants at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. Attendees included leading experts on entrepreneurship support, representatives from the public and state sectors, innovation centers, schools, non-profit organizations, and the private sector.
Jan Michal, General Director of CzechInvest, stated: “The conference aims to contribute to increasing support for entrepreneurship. For that, we need both the connection of key actors and a thorough understanding of the situation, including a wealth of hard data.”
Anna Kačabová, Director of the Enterprising Czechia Association, added: “What we can measure, we can see. The power lies in systemic thinking and collaboration. It is important to incorporate entrepreneurship into all relevant strategies, whether they are educational, economic, or employment strategies. We must work on this collectively across departments and build on one another. The role of the Enterprising Czechia Association is to connect these efforts to achieve interdepartmental cooperation.”
Experts at the conference agreed that participation in GEM is essential for improving the future of entrepreneurship in Czech Republic. Without it, creating effective strategies for supporting entrepreneurship is impossible; support for entrepreneurship in Czech Republic is often random and inefficient, which could have a significant impact on the future of the economy.
"GEM uses a bottom-up approach, with each country needing a motivated organization to conduct the extensive surveys,” said Tarnawa, who is also the Head of Analysis and Strategy Unit of the Analysis and Strategy Department at the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. “As a source of reliable and trusted data used by international organizations, GEM enables global comparisons while keeping people at the center. Membership allows countries to influence topics and gain international visibility through various reports and analyses.”
Petr Očko, Deputy Minister for Digitalization and Innovation at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, stated the following in a post-conference interview: "Today’s conference brought great consensus that even in the field of entrepreneurship, to support it properly, we need a solid data foundation that tells us what is happening in the ecosystem and how it is evolving. There is agreement that we need to bring GEM back to Czech Republic because we are one of the very few EU and OECD member countries that currently does not have this measurement."
Aileen Ionescu-Somers, GEM Executive Director, concluded: “GEM is looking forward to the prospect of having Czech Republic rejoin the consortium, joining over 60 other countries and building on an already strong Eastern European contingent. We are always keen to hear from new potential National Teams.”
Learn more about forming a GEM team in your country by emailing info@gemconsortium.org.