“Knowledge breeds gallantry”. This saying was propagated by some eminent scholars in the mid 17th century in order to foster realisations regarding the significance of learning. Many people are trapped with illusions...

This study examines trends in and key features of policies and programmes used by governments to support innovation in the business sector.

The outlook for the global steel market has become more uncertain, according to industry and government officials at the OECD’s Steel Committee meeting in Paris on 5-6 2011 . Policies to support open markets for raw materials are key, they said.

This book covers seed stage financing for high-growth companies in OECD and non-OECD countries with a primary focus on angel investment. It provides an overview of angel financing, including a description of how it has evolved and policy interventions taken within some countries.

The 2011 annual report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises focuses on adhering countries' committment to new, stronger standards of corporate behaviour in the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

G20 governments should prevent further deterioration in their collective trade and investment policy stance and focus on promoting open markets to re-boot growth in the world economy, according to the OECD, WTO and UNCTAD.

The Regional Growth Core Schönefelder Kreuz and the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau in partnership with the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development Programme (LEED) are working on defining and collecting measurable indicators at the regional/ local level that can inform over time of transition to low-carbon economic and industrial activities.

This seminar aimed to advance shared understandings on policies to make the most of cross-border capital flows in support of growth and development and on the value of international co-operation, including the OECD Codes of Liberalisation, in the current context of serious global financial turbulence.

OECD Steel Committee Statement

The 2012 annual report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises provides an account of the actions taken by the adhering governments over the 12 months to June 2012 to enhance the contribution of the Guidelines to the improved functioning of the global economy and focuses on how NCPs are working to improve their mediation skills.

The conference discussed the results of the project as well as policy recommendations on training and skills development for the creation of an innovative and competitive SME sector in OECD countries.

This paper looks at a study carried out among 80 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Canadian cities, Montréal and Winnipeg, based on a survey and case studies, which show the importance of innovation among Canadian SMEs. These innovations in turn create new demands for skill development, both through formal training and in informal activities.

Private investment in the food and agriculture sectors can enhance productivity, drive job creation and income growth, increase food supply and improve food security, according to panel participants. The panel also recognised the need to attract more private private investment in the food and agriculture sectors, and called on governments to design coherent policy frameworks and implement reforms to improve the investment climate.

Government, business, trade and civil society representatives came together at this panel session to discuss the first year of implementation following the 2011 Update of the Guidelines.

The creation of innovative new firms and the development of SME innovation are strongly influenced by the extent to which localities offer environments that favour the transfer of knowledge to local business and provide the other resources required for innovative firm development, including skills, finance, advice, and supply chain partners.

Many areas like Manisa suffer from a local lack of sophisticated demand in terms of expressed SME requirements. This leaves considerable scope for demand and supply side initiatives set within KOSGEB’s framework that will assist in shaping intervention and promoting a coherent approach to SME development.

Global value chains (GVCs) have become a dominant feature of world trade and investment, offering new prospects for growth, development and jobs, according to a new joint report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Most OECD governments use tax incentives to encourage businesses to invest in research and development (R&D) to boost innovation and drive economic growth. Others, like China, India and South Africa, are doing the same. But reforming these incentives would give countries a better return on their investment and support young innovative firms that play a crucial role in job creation, according to a new OECD report.

Finding new sources of growth right now is tough. And in a time of rising inequality, to do so equitably and fairly is even tougher. Innovation can help, but with budgets stretched to the limit how can governments boost innovation in their economies?

Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Khin San Yee, presented her country’s ambitious efforts to improve the investment climate at meetings of the OECD Investment Committee and Advisory Group on Investment and Development from 15-17 October 2013 in Paris.

The 2013 Annual Report describes the activities undertaken to promote the observance of the Guidelines during the implementation cycle of June 2012-June 2013. This includes the launch of the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct (RBC), the establishment of a Working Party on RBC, and the elaboration of a robust multi-stakeholder proactive agenda to promote the observance of the principles and standards found in the Guidelines.

The last decade has seen considerable policy attention to the social economy and its contribution to employment, in particular as regards the inclusion and empowerment of vulnerable workers and the provision of appropriate working conditions.

The OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development is pleased to invite you to a seminar to present and discuss the CAF 2013 Report: Entrepreneurship and Development, featuring CAF Director Pablo Sanguinetti, Head of Research.

Available in several languages, this booklet provides basic information about the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the most comprehensive set of government-backed recommendations on responsible business conduct in existence today. Adhering governments aim to encourage the positive contributions MNEs can make to sustainable development and to minimise the difficulties to which their various operations may give rise.

Statement from Risaburo Nezu, Chairman of the OECD Steel Committee, Paris, 6 June 2014

This statement was adopted by National Contact Points on 25 June 2014 during their 15th Meeting.

This survey was presented at the Informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct held in Paris on 26 June 2014.

Global Value Chains (GVCs) are a dominant feature of the world economy that impact growth, jobs and development, but numerous challenges remain to ensure that all countries and all firms have the opportunity to participate and benefit.

This self-assessment report looks at South Africa's investment regime in the light of the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment.

This publication reports on trends in the steelmaking capacity of economies that are not members of the OECD. It examines existing capacity and investments that will lead to changes by 2014, with detailed tables on equipment, starting dates of planned projects, and works ownership.

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 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.

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.

Chairman's statement of the OECD Steel Committee's 78th session, Paris, 11-12 May 2015.

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.

In a historic visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to the OECD in Paris, the People’s Republic of China today decided to enhance longstanding collaboration with the OECD and to join the OECD Development Centre.

The slowdown in productivity over the past decade has added to concerns about the long-term economic outlook. But new OECD research shows that policy reforms can revive the diffusion of innovation and make better use of human talent to clear the path for higher and more inclusive productivity growth.

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.

Business start-up rates in OECD countries have generally risen since the crisis - particularly in Australia and the United Kingdom - but they remain below pre-2008 levels in many Euro area economies.

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.

Immediate action is needed to address the challenge of excess global steel capacity, according to industry and government officials at the OECD’s Steel Committee meeting in Paris on 30 November and 1 December 2015.

Achieving green growth requires ambitious transition management policies in key sectors such as energy, transport, water and agriculture. Provided that the pace of innovation in a number of these key areas is growing faster than ever before, the Forum examined how to foster the "next industrial revolution" by harnessing the potential of systems innovation policies to support green growth.

Concerns have been raised about the current health of the steel industry, amidst a context of global excess steelmaking capacity. This paper shows that, notwithstanding considerable firm-level heterogeneity, the steel industry’s financial situation is on average weaker than it has been in years, worse than during the last steel crisis of the late 1990s.

A High-Level Meeting on excess capacity and structural adjustment in the steel sector was convened on 18 April 2016, at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels, co-organised by the OECD and the Belgian government.

Not so long ago, “globalisation” was a favourite paradigm in international business. It was a trend that began in the late 1970s and accelerated in the 1980s, when corporate takeovers were the order of the day and multinational companies fixated on maximising short-term profits and boosting share prices. One approach was “global sourcing”, also called outsourcing or offshoring.