VU Business School and Moody’s sign support agreement to finance Lithuanian GEM study
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) returns to Lithuania: Moody’s is providing €60,000 in support to help analyze, assess, and address the challenges facing the business sector that are destabilizing the promotion and regulation of entrepreneurship and the development of business start-ups in our country.
“This support is important not only in the context of Lithuania’s participation in research and its results, it is a pillar and a strong foundation for the growth of science, studies, and business. The community of Vilnius University (VU) notes the commendable increase in business confidence in the social sciences, considering that the benefits of research to the business sector are of great importance and gravity to their achievements,” says VU Rector Prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas.
On 9 June 2020, the Ministry of Economics and Innovation and Vilnius University signed a cooperation agreement on the development and dissemination of science-based international entrepreneurship research in Lithuania. The GEM study is the world’s largest study of entrepreneurship dynamics, its results are important for Lithuania and relate to the development of an evidence-based business sector.
“Moody’s is proud to support the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a study conducted in close collaboration with Vilnius University. This project will provide invaluable insights into entrepreneurial trends at the state level and help business leaders make better decisions. We look forward to revealing what the results of the study will bring and what they will mean for Lithuania,” said Mariano Andrade Gonzalez, Head of Moody’s Lithuania.
Lithuania has already participated in this study in 2011–2014, and now the €60 thousand grant donated by sponsors at Moody’s will help the VU Business School research group, in cooperation with the Entrepreneurship and Export Development Agency Versli Lietuva established by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, to carry out consistent entrepreneurship monitoring study in the country. The first results of the research will be presented in 2022, while fully detailed results not only for Lithuania but also for the world will be released at the beginning of 2023.
“Entrepreneurship is a key factor in public health and well-being, and a major driver of economic growth. Lithuania’s participation in the GEM study is important in that we can self-assess how we look in the global context. The development of entrepreneurship and its ecosystem is one of the main missions of the VU Business School, so we are happy to contribute to it at the national level. Our team of researchers is ready to look for new opportunities and solutions,” said Director of the Business School Dr. Birutė Miškinienė.
The GEM network conducts entrepreneurship and market research around the world. This research enables academics to apply a unique methodology to research and access data from more than a hundred countries around the world to research entrepreneurship, and strengthens the development of evidence-based policies, while the assessment of business resources and investment opportunities contributes to the business ecosystem.