This book consists of selected papers from the Annual High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs). The conference is acknowledged by experts in the field to be a particularly useful and authoritative record of the evolution of HTSF research since the inception of the series in 1993. It addresses strategic growth for small firms. It discusses how to harness external resources to promote growth (i.e., government and/or larger firms) while maintaining a win-win. It includes discussion of "spin off" the transformation from a non-profit making entity to a competitive busines world.

The latest edition of this international edited book series, based on the formation and growth problems of High Technology Small Firms (HTSF), contains the best papers presented at the 2011 and 2013 conferences, both held at Manchester Business School. This volume remains true to the initial mission of the HTSF Conference, established in 1993, to advance our knowledge of high-technology entrepreneurship and to advocate the need for more and better designed policy to promote such entrepreneurship. The need is as great as ever it was, not least given the continued economic stagnation of the European economy in the wake of the Financial Crisis and the Euro crisis. These papers address key themes relating to improving our understanding of the processes involved in high-technology entrepreneurship and of the design of effective policy to promote this research. The first two groups of papers examine the start-up and commercialization processes and the internationalization processes, which are often important for new high-technology businesses. Other papers examine topics like entrepreneurship clusters, inter-firm collaboration, and growth strategy for high-technology small firms.

This volume is the latest edition of an international edited book series based on the formation and growth problems of High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs) begun in 1993. This body of work is unique, and maps the evolution of research in this area through almost two decades of academic research and government policy towards a sector that is the key to future prosperity of developed and developing notational economies throughout the world.

The research and policy evaluations presented in these papers represent a uniquely valuable evolving record of policy and research on high technology small firms through many changes in economic conditions and government policy approaches over more the a decade and a half. Specific issues in the book series cover many of the key industrial development policies adopted by developed, and developing, national governments since the early 1990's including, for example, writings on policy and practice concerning science parks, incubators, academic enterprise, industrial networking and the role of clusters in nurturing high technology small firms formation and growth. In particular, the on-going problem of early stage high technology funding has been a theme of constant concern since 1993, and because it remains resistant to amelioration, will endure into the future. Both the conference and the ensuing book series represent a pre-eminent vehicle for all the major international researchers concerned with high technology small firms to present their work to each other and the wider public.

This volume is the latest edition of an international edited book series based on the formation and growth problems of High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs) begun in 1993. This body of work is unique, and maps the evolution of research in this area through almost two decades of academic research and government policy towards a sector that is the key to future prosperity of developed and developing notational economies throughout the world. In this the latest Volume, there is one major and two subsidiary themes that have emerged from the best papers to be presented at the HTSF Conference held at the University of Twente at Enshede in May 2008. Following a contextual introduction by the editors, seven of the chapter are concerned with the key issue of strategy, which is always a key concern for HTSFs as they seek to find the best way to getting their products to the market. Indeed, a further two papers are concerned with the requirements of international marketing, while a final three papers deal with aspects of education for HTSF founders.

"The New Technology-Based Firms in the New Millenium" series provides up to date research on a variety of aspects of High Technology Small Firm formation and growth (HTSFs) from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives and from national contexts throughout the world. This edited book series reflects on and shapes currently popular national government policies insofar as they relate to HTSFs. It is the only international publication specifically dealing with HTSF formation and growth and it uniquely provides an uninterrupted record of research in this area since 1993. This latest volume is a collection of the best papers presented at the HTSF Conference held in the United Kingdom at Manchester Business School in June 2007. Three major themes have emerged. Six particularly strong chapters of this volume are devoted to the critical problems of HTSF financing, comprising two contributions from the United Kingdom and individual chapters from Sweden, the Irish Republic, Italy, and Belgium. A further four papers are concerned with aspects of strategic development in HTSFs, and a final group of three papers deal with HTSF marketing problems, often in a 'born global' strategic context.

Ward et al., examine the question of whether providing work experience within courses of study in higher education affects entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviour, important given government imperatives to foster entrepreneurship through the education system. They consider two dimensions: self-efficacy, which broadly relates to confidence in ability; and, entrepreneurial intent which relates to positive attitudes towards engaging in risk taking or firm start-up. Their sample is of 158 undergraduates who engaged in a summer work placement linked to their study. Their key finding is that positive effects on self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intent depends on the nature of the experience, being fostered by performing well in the face of difficulty and the closeness of the placement activity to their studies. Such experience appears more common when undertaking a placement in a small firm. Van der Sijde et al., consider the extent to which University start ups which are global as opposed to being domestically focussed differ in the extent of their business networks, using a sample comprising five technology-based firms of each type. They establish that global start-ups do have more extensive networks in terms of number of actors and global actors in the network at start-up, although their networks do not expand thereafter significantly more than domestic start-ups. They also have significantly more sources of capital.