Serhiy Podosynnikov

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The transition to climate neutrality in Europe increasingly depends on the capacity of public policy to stimulate innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment in the energy sector. This study aims to examine whether, and under what conditions, public R&D support and finance-related policy instruments are associated with energy-related start-up activities and financing across European and neighboring economies, while accounting for delayed, non-linear, and country-specific effects. The analysis is based on panel data for 37 countries over the period 2018–2023. The study employs fixed-effects, PPML, lagged, and quadratic specifications. The findings suggest weak short-term associations between policy support and energy start-up outcomes, while several delayed and non-linear patterns emerge. Two-year lagged estimations reveal significant delayed associations: government support is negatively associated with green start-ups (–0.0072) and digital start-ups (–0.0114), which may reflect crowding-out mechanisms or reactive policy behaviour, although these explanations are not directly tested. In contrast, finance-related support is positively associated with digital energy start-ups after two years (0.0225). Funding models show weaker transmission effects, although government support is negatively associated with early-stage green funding (–0.0605). Quadratic specifications reveal meaningful thresholds for government support at 51.33, 93.71 and 107.39 in baseline models and between 80.80 and 158.28 points in lagged models. The results suggest that policy–start-up relationships vary by timing, intensity, support type, and start-up segment. This highlights the scientific value of analyzing public support as a delayed, non-linear and context-dependent mechanism rather than as a simple direct stimulus.

Acknowledgment
This article was prepared based on the results of the project 101127491-EnergyS4UA-ERASMUS-JMO2023-HEI-TCH-RSCH. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The transition toward low-carbon energy systems is increasingly viewed not only as an environmental necessity but also as a driver of innovation, competitiveness, and entrepreneurial development in modern economies. This study investigates how public energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) expenditures are associated with annual energy and green start-up counts, as well as with the availability of venture financing for clean-technology entrepreneurship across countries. The empirical analysis is based on a panel dataset covering 23 countries over the period 2000–2023 (470 country-year observations). It applies Poisson and negative binomial fixed-effects models, distributed lag specifications, fixed-effects OLS, and Gamma PML and PPML estimators. The results indicate that public RD&D spending does not have a statistically significant immediate effect on the number of green start-ups, as the Poisson FE estimates for renewable RD&D (0.034) and storage RD&D (0.011) remain insignificant. The venture-funding models show positive, though only weakly significant, coefficients for renewable-energy RD&D, with values of 1.41 for early-stage funding and 1.56 for later-stage funding, suggesting a possible association between public research activity and venture financing. Robustness checks indicate that low-carbon RD&D is positively associated with later-stage venture financing in selected model specifications, with a PPML coefficient of 1.77. The findings suggest that public RD&D is not a standalone driver of annual energy and green start-up counts and may be related to selected venture-financing outcomes, particularly in later-stage funding models, such as the scaling and commercialization of green innovation.

Acknowledgment
This article was prepared based on the results of the project 101127491-EnergyS4UA-ERASMUS-JMO2023-HEI-TCH-RSCH. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.