Crowdfunding in sustainable innovation: Insights from and for Malta

The take up of innovative services and products has contributed to creative thinking also in terms of new sources of financing. Innovation processes are characterised by constant development, and it is beneficial if models of financing can be aligned to that. Crowdfunding, i.e. collecting finance from publics, has emerged as a new alternative also in the field of sustainable innovation. Crowdfunding is particularly interesting for Small and Medium size companies (SME’s) looking for financing when their product or service is not considered quite ready for investments. This policy brief looks how crowdfunding relates to sustainable innovation. It introduces crowdfunding as an activity, discusses it in relation to sustainable innovation and looks at the development of crowdfunding in Malta. This policy brief looks at crowdfunding from several levels: a strategic, programmatic and case level. Sourcing funds to support various, mostly social initiatives, has a long standing tradition in Malta. However, Crowdfunding has not yet received significant attention on a strategic policy level. Recently, the launch of Malta’s first national crowdfunding platform called ZAAR has been announced. The project is spearheaded by the Foundation for the Promotion of Entrepreneurial Initiatives, a joint venture between the Malta Business Bureau and the University of Malta. ZAAR is also supported by the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business and the Arts Council Malta. Concerning Malta attention should be paid to further increase the outreach and visibility of its first crowdfunding platform so that more businesses and start-ups will benefit from this initiative in the future.