Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Scotland: 2007/08 Executive Report

GEM Scotland 2007/08 has nine years of data to draw on, with around 2000 individuals aged between 16 and 80 interviewed each year. In the UK in 2007, only those aged 16 to 64 were sampled and the total size of the 2007 GEM UK sample was 42,713. In 2008, 32,007 individuals aged between 16 and 80 were interviewed. In early 2009 a harmonization of the complete UK database from 2002 to 2008 was undertaken, enabling pooling of data and the creation of maps of entrepreneurial activity in Scotland at NUTS2 and NUTS3 (local authority) level. New questions in the 2007 and 2008 surveys enable identification of home-based businesses. Training in starting a business was taken as the first annual special topic in GEM in 2008. Together with slightly different questions asked on this topic in 2007, this data provides a broad picture of the extent and impact of training in entrepreneurship in the UK and Scotland.