This document presents the findings of a study carried out by the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (WPSMEE). It aimed at improving the knowledge of the links between growth and innovation factors in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to inform policy design.

At a time when policy makers are pooling efforts to restore growth and overcome the global economic and financial crisis, attention goes to those firms that by their extraordinary growth make the largest contribution to net job creation, despite typically representing a tiny proportion of the business population. These firms are called “highgrowth firms” or “high-impact firms” and play an important role in contributing to economic growth. The spectacular success of several well-known new ventures in technological fields, which in little more than a decade jumped from start-ups to top international businesses, has pointed to innovation as a key factor in the high growth of firms. With their presence in the economy considered promising for the creation of more jobs and innovation, interest in high-growth firms has risen among policy makers. The current policy debate is therefore focussing on the factors that can be leveraged and the appropriate policies, if any, needed to create more high-growth firms.