Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Martin, R.
Right arrow Articles by Turner, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Related Collections
Right arrow G24 - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage; Rating Agencies
Right arrow G28 - Government Policy and Regulation
Right arrow O16 - Economic Development: Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
Right arrow O18 - Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses
Right arrow R12 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity
Right arrow R32 - Other Production and Pricing Analysis
Right arrow R58 - Regional Development Policy
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Economic Geography 2:121-150 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 Oxford University Press

Article

Taking risks in regions: the geographical anatomy of Europe's emerging venture capital market

Ron Martin*, Peter Sunley** and Dave Turner***

*Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 2EN, UK. email <rlm1{at}cam.ac.uk>
**Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK. email <pjs{at}geo.ed.ac.uk>
***Research Fellow, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9DD, UK. email <dt224{at}econ.cam.ac.uk>

Abstract

Over the past 25 years, the USA has pioneered a new technological revolution, based on large numbers of new small enterprises, financed by a dynamic venture (risk) capital market. The European Union, meanwhile, has lagged behind in this sector of economic activity, and compared to the US innovative small and medium enterprises appear to find it more difficult to get started and grow. At a time when regional and local banking systems – traditionally major sources of capital for small and medium sized enterprises across Europe – are undergoing intense reorganisation and restructuring, the European Commission considers the development of a substantial risk capital market to be a key condition for closing the ‘enterprise gap’ with the US. While the venture capital industry is much less developed in Europe than it is in the US, nevertheless it has recently experienced a marked increase in activity. But whereas the European Commission argues that venture capital activity needs to be much more regionally clustered if it is to emulate the US experience, the OECD and some EU member states have argued for a more even regional distribution. The aim of the paper is to chart the growth and geographical anatomy of the emerging European venture capital market, and to examine its spatial development and regional implications in the context of these somewhat opposing views.

Keywords: venture capital, European regional development, high technology clusters, policy

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J ECON GEOGRHome page
H.-M. Zademach
Global finance and the development of regional clusters: tracing paths in Munich's film and TV industry
J. Econ. Geogr., September 1, 2009; 9(5): 697 - 722.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cambridge J Regions Econ SocHome page
D. Power and A. Malmberg
The contribution of universities to innovation and economic development: in what sense a regional problem?
Cambridge J Regions Econ Soc, July 1, 2008; 1(2): 233 - 245.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.