Funding Programme: Tender of DG RTD – European Commission

Duration: January 2016 – December 2016

Description: Access to finance is one of the main challenges for European companies, in particular, those that are smaller, younger and more innovative. The Study presents research on how crowdfunding and other forms of alternative finance could support research and innovation (R&I). It quantifies and qualifies the potential of alternative finance in Europe with regards to research and innovation, identifies key challenges influencing the development of alternative finance, and alternative finance for research and innovation in particular, and recommends actions to overcome those challenges and to exploit the opportunities of alternative finance for R&I.

To do that, the Study team used a unique methodological approach developed by the Politecnico di Milano, based on the computerised content analysis of the project descriptions. In total, 10 platforms were analysed including 263,781 projects that were launched between 2009 to 2016 by fundraisers located in 161 countries and using six languages. Other methods included desk research, surveys, case studies and focus groups.

ECN’s role: In this Study, ECN brought its crowdfunding regulatory expertise and a strong network. ECN was in charge of facilitating data gathering from platforms, providing the content for the country fiches on regulatory issues and managing the engagement of stakeholders, both through meetings and through online engagement.

Results:

The study produced a report and released online and offline platforms database and country fiches.

• Download the full Study here
• Find the accompanying annexes here
• The executive summary is available here

Project partners:

• Open Evidence
• Ernst & Young
• European Crowdfunding Network
• Politecnico di Milano