"What happens to start-up ideas, that were once given an award at a Business Plan Contest (BPC)? What kind of effects create PBCs in the regions of Lower Saxony ? These two main research questions will be analyzed in a new research project, to be funded by the MWK program "Pro*Niedersachsen" between 2019 and 2022 . Supervised by Prof. Rolf Sternberg and from Januar y 15, 2019 onwards MA Lennard Stolz will work as a doctoral student in this research project.
Surprisingly enough less is known about the effect of PBCs, of the ideas presented there and of the respective prizewinners. Research gaps are particularly large regarding the role of PBCs and the nascent entrepreneurs within Entrepreneurial Eco-Systems (EES). Several system elements like financing and local policies are mutually dependent and contribute to emergence, growing, surviving and disappearance from the market - thus, contribute to keep a region economically alive. EES are an underresearched topic. In particular, the role of PBCs within an EES is completeley unknown so far.
This research project has four aims. First, it will be investigated whether PBCs really achieve the implicitly assumed curative function, i.e. to help nascent entrepreneurs to improve their start-up ideas - or to give up (comparison between participation and non-participation). Second, the selection function of PBCs will be empirically analyzed (awarded vs, non-awarded participants). Third, it is intended to benchmark PBCs in Lower Saxony and those in the rest of Germany (impact in Lower Saxony vs. impact outside Lower Saxony). Fourth, the role of PBCs within Entrepreneurial Eco-Systems in selected regions will be assessed, besides the opportunities to increase the effects by local government's policy instruments."
