The study assesses the role of feed-in tariffs (FITs) and renewable energy certificates (RECs) in creating incentives for cross-border investments and for investments in particular technological portfolios via M&A. The analysis explores the dataset on M&As in alternative energy sources worldwide over 2005-2011.

This public consultation was held to gather interested stakeholders' comments on the draft chapters of the Policy Framework for Investment currently being updated. The consultation ran until 31 December 2014.

This review underlines some important points of strength with respect to Italian SMEs and entrepreneurship, notably for medium-sized firms that very often excel in their market niches, have a strong propensity to business collaboration, as well as favourable access to finance.

In addition to inspiring policy practices, the 2014 edition contains special thematic chapters on entrepreneurship by ethnic minorities, pro-entrepreneurship welfare support systems and support for entrepreneurship from unemployment.

This conference showcased ASEAN’s regional investment integration achievements and efforts. Practitioners highlighted policy reforms at the national and regional levels and considered practical measures to enhance integration. Ways to successfully attract investment that will strengthen ASEAN supply chains were identified.

Steel is one of the most widely produced industrial products in the world, and the sector depends heavily on a range of raw materials for its production. The aim of this workshop was to better understand the impacts of trade-restrictive raw material policies on the global steel industry and to explore policy approaches that would improve the longer-term efficiency and functioning of these markets.

Excess capacity in steel as growth in investment projects outpaces demand will pose risks for the sector for the foreseeable future, according to industry and government officials at the OECD’s Steel Committee meeting in Cape Town on 12 December 2014. The risk of trade conflicts in the industry also appears to have increased of late, they said, and Committee members discussed options for closer co-operation to try and prevent disputes.

The Korean shipbuilding industry is one of the top global players, leading by value and second only to China by volume. However, the global economic crisis has dented its finances and it now faces serious challenges to set itself back on a solid footing.

This public consultation was held to gather comments on the draft FAO-OECD guidance for responsible agricultural supply chains which is designed to help enterprises observe standards of responsible business conduct along their agricultural supply chains. The deadline for comment was 20 February 2015.

This paper examines the extent, reasons and impacts of excess capacity in the global steel industry, as well as the implications of new investment projects that continue to take place at a rapid pace in many parts of the world. By focusing on new investment projects, this study intends to help governments and industry better understand the extent to which global steelmaking excess capacity may evolve in the future.

While de-industrialisation and offshoring have dominated the news about manufacturing during the past decades, recent years have witnessed a number of examples of companies re-shoring activities back to OECD economies. Policy discussions often ignore the profound changes manufacturing has undergone. This working paper addresses this issue against the background of long-term structural change in OECD economies.

This online public consultation was held to gather interested stakeholders' comments on the draft Policy Framework for Investment currently being updated. The consultation ran until 25 February 2015.

Paris, 16 March 2015: Organised by the OECD-hosted Freedom of Investment Roundtable, this conference assessed opportunities and challenges associated with investment treaties and how the system can be improved.

The project provided recommendations to the city of Medellin and Antioquia to support the development of the local economy and includes a focus on how the innovative environment can be strengthened to support inclusion, entrepreneurship, SME, and local developmentto and how to better coordinate and integrate its policies with the national level.

Climate change and, more generally, environmental damage have quantifiable economic and health costs, which weigh on long-term growth and well-being. If left unchecked, climate change is projected to decrease global GDP by 0.7 to 2.5 % by 2060. At the same time, the costs to society of air pollution already appear substantial–equivalent to some 4% of GDP across OECD countries and even higher in some rapidly developing economies.

This public consultation is being held to gather comments on the draft OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractives Sector which provides practical guidance to mining, oil and gas enterprises in addressing the challenges related to stakeholder engagement. The deadline for comment is 5 June 2015.

Innovation and creativity have long been hallmarks of the Czech Republic. After all, this is the country that invented the term “robot”, when Czech writer, Karel Čapek, coined the word back in 1921.

With a focus on the Asia-Pacific region, this conference addressed what the Sustainable Development Goals will mean for business and how business sustainability strategies can be aligned to support their implementation.

Patent data provide an increasingly used means to analyse innovation performance worldwide including in countries with incomplete data coverage, such as some developing countries. This paper discusses the specific issues associated with using patent data for measuring and analysing innovation in narrow technological fields, such as many environment-related technologies.

Most of the projections of the cost of meeting climate change mitigation targets hinge crucially upon assumptions made about the cost and timing of the development of breakthrough technologies. This paper seeks to uncover attributes of inventions – as reflected in patent data – which serve as "leading indicators" of subsequent technological and market development in climate change mitigation technologies.

The report provides a description of start-up dynamics exploiting the richness of the recently collected DynEmp v.2 database. The contribution of new firms in terms of new jobs to the existing workforce can be expressed as a combination of four different elements: the start-up rate; the average size of firms at point of entry; the survival rate; and the average growth rate of survivors.

Addis Ababa - Part of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, this event explored strategies to leverage Africa’s pension funds and other sources of private financing to develop Africa’s infrastructure. Ways to improve the investment climate in Africa using the recently updated Policy Framework for Investment were also be addressed.

There has been increasing global concern from policy makers over the lack of access to finance for young innovative firms. As a result, governments in many OECD countries have sought to address the financing gap and perceived market failures by supporting the seed and early stage market.

In 2014, many countries implemented the latest international guidelines for compiling FDI statistics. The new standards have resulted in significant changes in FDI statistics, including new measures of FDI at the global level.

The Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) is a comprehensive and systematic tool for improving investment conditions. The pocket edition of the PFI contains the full text of the 2015 update minus the supplemental questions and reference lists. Find the integral text and other tools online at www.oecd.org/investment/pfi.htm

This public consultation is being held to gather comments on the draft Chinese Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains. They are intended to align Chinese company due diligence with international standards and allow for mutual recognition with existing international initiatives and legislations.

The workshop will discuss the first results of the OECD Secretariat’s work on integrating FDI statistics into the analysis of Global Value Chains (OECD-WTO Trade in Value Added Initiative) to better account for foreign ownership.

We are looking for national and sub-national policies and initiatives for social enterprise creation and development. The focus will be placed on initiatives funded by the European Social Fund, by other EU funds and programmes, by Member States and sub-national authorities and NOT on examples of successful social enterprises.

Focused mainly on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this report takes stock of 5 years of implementation of national and international programmes and initiatives designed to operationalise the recommendations of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas in the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa.

L'Organizzazione per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo Economico (OCSE) e il Governo Italiano hanno intensificato la collaborazione per garantire un'efficace attuazione delle strategie di sviluppo locale per promuovere l'occupazione, incoraggiare l'imprenditorialità e aumentare l'inclusione sociale.

This OECD report lays an empirical foundation for structuring economic policies to facilitate Chile’s participation in global value chains and to maximise the associated benefits for national firms and workers.

The tourism industry in OECD countries continues to grow strongly despite economic weakness in advanced economies, and outperformed tourism globally in 2014. However, active, innovative and integrated policies are needed to ensure that tourism remains a competitive and sustainable sector, says OECD.

11 March, Paris, France: This high-level launch event included a panel discussion that addressed the potential impacts of companies operating in agricultural supply chains on human, labour and tenure rights.

This paper examines the relationship between environmental policy and "green" innovation in shipbuilding.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), Canada, Iceland, India, Israel, New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China signed today the Multilateral Competent Authority agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports (“CbC MCAA”), bringing the total number of signatories to 39 countries. The signing ceremony took place in Beijing, China.

This year’s OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), chaired by Chile, is devoted to productivity. Ministers will discuss what governments, firms and individuals can do to improve productivity with the aim of fostering inclusive growth.

The world has seen more than one industrial revolution and another one is already upon us. We should face it as optimists.

Productivity growth – the central driver of rising economic output and material living standards – has been slowing in many advanced and emerging economies in the wake of the crisis, according to new data released today in the OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators.

The theme of the 2016 Forum taking place in Paris on 3 June is "New Challenges and Innovative Partnerships in a Shifting World". Key issues on the agenda include redefining partnerships to support inclusive and sustainable growth, and innovative policies to increase productivity and tackle inequalities.

Further structural reforms are needed to help the business sector boost productivity growth and overcome the key challenges of sluggish investment in advanced economies and excess capacity in emerging economies, according to a new OECD report.

A three-year programme of co-operation between the European Commission and LEED on self-employment and entrepreneurship in Europe.

Shanghai, 9-10 July 2016: G20 Trade Ministers reinforced their "determination to promote inclusive, robust and sustainable trade and investment growth" with the adoption of the G20 Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking.

The Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) is a non-prescriptive tool for improving investment policy for development. It helps governments to design and implement policy reforms to create a truly attractive, robust and competitive environment for domestic and foreign investment.

Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) GDP will shrink by between 0.9% and 1% in 2016, according to the latest estimates, the second consecutive year of negative growth and a rate of contraction the region has not seen since the early 1980s. According to the Latin American Economic Outlook 2017, the region should recover in 2017, but with modest GDP growth of between 1.5% and 2%, below expected growth in advanced economies.

A decline in government funding of science and technology research in a number of countries could pose a threat to innovation at a time when global challenges like climate change and ageing populations demand solutions, according to a new OECD report.

The proliferation of high-cost medicines and rising drug prices are increasing pressures on public health spending and calling into question the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing strategies.

Entrepreneurial activity appears to be recovering from the crisis as new data show that the number of new businesses created has been rising in most OECD countries.

Paris, 2-3 October 2017: The meeting will bring together Ministers, high level policy makers and industry leaders to discuss ways to deliver more sustainable and inclusive tourism growth. Held to mark the occasion of the 100th meeting of the OECD Tourism Committee, the high-level meeting will facilitate an open discussion between countries on the long-term strategic objectives for tourism development.

Governments need to rethink their tourism policies to encourage more diversity, reduce concentration in high-density destinations and put in place long-term strategies that are ecologically sustainable and socially inclusive, according to the OECD.

When economic shocks occur, economic agents are expected to react to reduce the negative impact or amplify the positive effects. The ability of a country to contain economic losses can be defined as the resilience to economic shocks. Using the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output tables, this paper investigates the relationship between changes in final demand and production structures for 61 economies.