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Academic research into entrepreneurship policy is particularly interesting due to the increasing relevance of the topic and since knowledge about the evolution of themes in this field is still rather limited. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key concepts, topics, trends and shifts that have shaped the entrepreneurship policy research agenda during the period 1990–2016.

This paper uses text mining techniques, cluster analysis and complementary bibliographic data to examine the evolution of a corpus of 1,048 academic papers focused on entrepreneurship-related policies and published during the period 1990–2016 in ten relevant journals. In particular, the paper follows a standard text mining workflow: first, as text is unstructured, content requires a set of pre-processing tasks and then a stemming process. Then, the paper examines the most repeated concepts within the corpus, considering the whole period 1990–2016 and also in five-year terms. Finally, the paper conducts a k-means clustering to divide the collection of documents into coherent groups with similar content. The analyses in the paper also include geographical particularities considering three regional sub-corpora, distinguishing those articles authored in the European Union (EU), the USA and South and Eastern Asia, respectively.

Results of the analysis show that inclusion, employment and regulation-related papers have largely dominated the research in the field, evolving from an initial classical approach to the relationship between entrepreneurship and employment to a wider, multidisciplinary perspective, including the relevance of management, geographies and narrower topics such as agglomeration economics or internationalisation instead of the previous generic sectorial approaches. The text mining analysis also reveals how entrepreneurship policy research has gained increasing attention and has become both more open, with a growing cooperation among researchers from different affiliations, and more sophisticated, with concepts and themes that moved the research agenda forward, closer to the priorities of policy implementation.

The paper identifies main trends and research gaps in the field of entrepreneurship policy providing actionable knowledge by presenting the spectrum of both over-explored and understudied research themes in the field. In practical terms the results of the text mining analysis can be interpreted as a compass to navigate the entrepreneurship policy research agenda.

The paper presents the heterogeneity of topics under research in the field, reinforcing the concept of entrepreneurship as a multidisciplinary and dynamic domain. Therefore, the definition and adoption of a certain policy agenda in entrepreneurship should consider multiple aspects (needs, objectives, stakeholders, expected outputs, etc.) to be comprehensive and aligned with its complexity. In addition, the paper shows how text mining techniques could be used to map the research activity in a particular field, contributing to the challenge of linking research and policy.

The exploratory nature of text mining allows us to obtain new knowledge and reveals hidden patterns from large quantities of documents/text data, representing an opportunity to complement other qualitative reviews. In this sense, the main value of this paper is not to advise on the future configuration of entrepreneurship policy as a research topic, but to unwrap the past by unveiling how key themes of the entrepreneurship policy research agenda have emerged, evolved and/or declined over time as a foundation on which to build further developments.

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the policy tools to complement public involvement and public‐private collaboration in the deployment of next generation electronic communications infrastructures.

The special issue, of which this paper is a part, examines a number of policy tools that support public involvement and enhance public‐private partnering in next generation infrastructures, tools that are generally overlooked. The papers explore the main domains where these complementary actions might take place. They encompass policies directed to the demand and supply sides of the market, information society and industrial innovation policies, additional measures that can be taken by local and regional public administrations and new policy tools to foster user empowerment.

From the authors' perspective, public involvement and public‐private partnering for the deployment of next generation infrastructures in telecommunications will require an integrated policy approach. The appropriate policy mix includes instruments of innovation, information society development and new user empowerment.

This paper introduces a timely contribution to the debate on public support of next generation infrastructures in electronic communications.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce to the concepts related with universal service and the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital era”.

This special issue aims to provide support to the policy process with regard to universal service in a digital context. The papers in the issue highlight developments that are shaking up the current universal service model. They consider universal service from a set of different dimensions, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations. Also a comparative outlook draws lessons from a representative set of existing regulatory models.

The paper finds that the foundations and concept of universal service are experiencing a profound transformation as we enter into a new phase of information society development. A new set of policy goals and tools is the main consequence of this change.

The paper presents a timely account of the universal service policy debate.

This paper aims to give conclusions from the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital era”.

A summary of the themes, trends and new concepts about universal service is compiled from the varied viewpoints introduced in the issue. The editors also appraise the mobile and broadband universal service candidates under the different perspectives in the issue, point out a number of questionable assumptions and gaps in the universal service stories, and touch on the international currents of influence in universal service policy. Finally, a succinct vision of a universal service policy for Europe is outlined.

This special issue aims to provide support to the policy process with regard to universal service in a digital context. The papers in the issue highlight developments that are shaking up the current universal service model. They consider universal service from a set of different dimensions, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations. Also a comparative outlook draws lessons from a representative set of existing regulatory models.

The paper provides a summary of the main avenues for the upcoming universal service policy debate.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the direct involvement of public administrations in the supply side of electronic communications markets based on the Spanish experience. It is an example of the difficult balance in the public private interplay in next generation electronic communications networks.

Starting from a general overview of the conditions for public intervention in the development of infrastructures established by the electronic communications regulatory framework, this paper analyses the case of Spain as an illustrative example taking into consideration some specific initiatives to illustrate the different possible mechanisms of intervention on the supply side.

It is the opinion of the authors that a framework of public‐private collaboration in the field of electronic communications infrastructure development is consistent with the industry liberalisation model chosen one decade ago in Spain and it could be particularly adequate in an environment of financial hardship such as the present one, which leads to a greater demand for efficiency in the use of public and private resources. However, the conditions and limitations for public involvement should be persistently respected. In addition, there are novel policy instruments on the supply side that could help the deployment of next generation networks without the burden of substituting private initiative.

The paper presents a systematic analysis of policy instruments for direct intervention of public administrations in the supply side of electronic communications market, including the specific situation of Spain. It is also a contribution to the debate on the role of public administrations in developing electronic communications infrastructures.

This article aims to review the technological and socio‐economic conditions which will influence the development of the mobile search market.

An expert workshop with academics, industry representatives and market analysts was organised to discuss and analyse the results of an online survey of techno‐economic and socio‐economic aspects concerning the evolution of mobile search.

Despite clear positive signs, forecasted great expectations around mobile search are not yet supported by economic market evidence. Substantial development work for creating new applications ripe for the mass market is still needed, although there seems to be no fundamental technological barrier to that. Location‐based services, augmented reality, real‐time information search, and social network search and recommendations, have been identified as some of the key trends that may shape the future of mobile search. User demand for innovative mobile search‐based applications is largely taken for granted, but experts lack a clear view on suitable business models that would allow for sustainable economic development.

Innovating is not only inventing. Understanding what drives customers' willingness to use – and to pay for – a product or service is essential in order to design appropriate services and introduce these innovations to the market. There is a growing literature on mobile search‐related technology, but the market context is largely unexplored.

This paper aims to give an overview of EU‐level e‐inclusion policy providing elements for the context for reflection on the role and shape of universal service.

The paper provides an account of the drivers and principles of EU e‐inclusion policy.

The paper finds that e‐inclusion – at this stage – needs a comprehensive and coherent approach addressing any social and economic exclusion factor with the help of ICT, addressing the risk of ICT as a factor of exclusion, bringing together the market, society, and user perspectives and seeking a “triple‐win”, and pro‐actively and forward‐looking combination of policy tools that can help to realize e‐inclusion.

The paper provides a contribution to the discussion on universal service from the wider perspective of EU e‐inclusion policy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how innovation has become more important in information society policy and what the implications are for policy design, policy coordination and policy evaluation.

Against the background of European information society policy, a case study is done on the policy mix for ICT innovation in The Netherlands. A highly structured qualitative methodology is developed to analyse the relevant policy instruments in information society policy and innovation policy. The methodology includes a typology for rationale, policy instruments and element of the innovation process.

To a large extent, information society policy and innovation policy are complementary. There is some overlap between policy instruments. The rationale and objectives can be more explicit. The policy mix had a positive impact on information communication technology (ICT) knowledge, broadband and e‐government.

The paper presents the relevance, methods and results of a detailed study on the intersection of two policy fields: information society policy and innovation policy.

The deployment of next generation communications (NGC) progresses unevenly, frequently suffering from insufficient interoperability. Interoperability remains a fundamental driver for NGC diffusion, but existing theories remain vague on how to ensure its provision. Since interoperability features increasing returns and public good regimes, its market provision may be hampered. At the same time, public efforts might be ineffective when colliding with private operators' incentives. Sometimes, the policy instruments used might even distort technological diffusion and competition in a way incompatible with a market‐neutral approach. This paper aims to investigate these issues.

This paper first reviews the literature on the economics of standardisation, the provision of private and public goods and the regulation of NGC. Then, it illustrates the EU policy on interactive television. Finally, it presents a research case study, analysing the recent implementation of this policy in Italy.

Coherently with the hypothesis of the literature, the case study confirms that the public‐private interplay for interoperability is complex, and that the public and subsidised provision of an open standard might be captured by private interests.

The case study is representative of the dilemmas affecting future policy‐making in NGC. More case studies will corroborate the above findings, better clarifying the available options to ensure a virtuous public private interplay.

Policy should be carefully framed in a way to impose market‐neutral implementations. Further, open standards – although valuable – are not a panacea and can be useless when systemically tied to other proprietary intellectual property rights (IPRs).

This is a first case study in a new field of policy assessment. The evidence provided is valuable for scholars, practitioners and policy‐makers dealing with NGC.