The report, from international accountancy and advisory group Mazars and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor GEM, measures start-up ambition by examining the phenomenon of high-expectation entrepreneurship - start-up firms expecting to employ at least 20 people in the next five years. This rare group of 'high-growth' entrepreneurs makes a significant contribution to economic prosperity and job creation.

Countries with similar levels of economic wealth have very different levels of high-growth entrepreneurship. A case in point is Finland, where it has been calculated that some 150,000 additional jobs could be created every five years if Finnish entrepreneurs' growth ambitions were raised to the same level as those in Sweden.

This would have a major impact in a country where the size of the adult-age working population is 3.5 million. Because Finland and Sweden have very similar industrial and economic conditions, the differences between them can be partly attributed to lower growth ambitions among Finnish entrepreneurs.

In the UK, too, the prevalence of high-growth entrepreneurs is not at the same level as in comparable countries. There may be many reasons for this, but one of particular significance is the south east's financial industry, which employs many individuals who could have chosen to start high-growth firms.

Among entrepreneurs, the ambition for high-growth tends to increase with the level of education, partly because well-educated individuals tend to have higher career opportunity costs. The pull of the UK's financial industry may be so strong that it lures potential entrepreneurs away from entrepreneurial activity. What can governments do to help foster high-growth activity? One important way is by creating a regulatory environment that does not hinder growth. The higher the regulatory compliance costs, the less growth ambitions entrepreneurs tend to exhibit.

Recent research also suggests that entrepreneurship training and education is an important contributing factor to high-growth activity. Higher education helps to process individuals who have high human capital and as such are potential high-growth entrepreneurs. Education and training of this sort also comes at a time when these individuals are making career decisions. Well-timed injections of entrepreneurship training may help spur high-growth entrepreneurs.

During recent years, UK universities have expanded entrepreneurship courses. There is however, still room for more. Simply increasing the number of entrepreneurs is not enough. The problem is not how many entrepreneurs a given economy has, but rather, who starts those firms. The challenge for policy is to address career trade-offs of high-human capital individuals in such a way that starting an entrepreneurial firm becomes an attractive option for them.

GEM studied policy initiatives designed to support high-growth entrepreneurs in nine countries. The study found that most countries tend to favour funding initiatives, perhaps in an attempt to correct perceived market failures.

However, it is questionable as to whether financing is a real bottleneck for high-potential firms, as venture capitalists often complain that the problem is not money, but rather the dearth of high-potential ventures.

There seems to be a gap in policy initiatives that address the managerial skills required to initiate and sustain rapid growth. Managerial skills and motivations may well be a real restriction hindering entrepreneurial growth.

Facilitating and managing growth is difficult, and the required skills only accumulate through experience. Therefore, governments would be well advised to invest in support initiatives that address managerial skills and growth motivations and involve seasoned high-growth entrepreneurs to act as mentors and share their experience.

Erkko Autio is professor of entrepreneurship at Imperi al College, London