Prospects for the Development of Crowdfunding as an Innovative Form of Financing Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Polish entrepreneurs in recent years rely more and more on innovation, which is immanently associated with a greater risk when starting a new business. Greater risk translates into smaller opportunities to raise capital from traditional sources. Crowdfunding is a new approach to financing projects whose initiators are mostly start-ups. At the same time, it is a response to the gap in financing such ventures during a crisis, when traditional financing methods, such as bank loans or business angels, have proved unattainable for innovative business ideas. The aim of this article is to try to answer the question of what the prospects for crowdfunding development are as an innovative form of financing entrepreneurship in the Polish economic realm. For the purpose of this work and to verify the research hypothesis, a CAWI quantitative survey was conducted between July and September 2017 on 56 companies operating in technology parks or industrial and technological parks in Poland. It was concluded that, in the opinion of respondents, the idea of socially financing business ideas is in the process of continuous creation and development, and the added value of using this form of financing is not only acquiring the necessary cash, but primarily ascertaining market demand for the product or service.