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Good practice Imported

Baseline Survey of the Mongolian Start-up Ecosystem — A JICA-Backed Diagnostic to Guide National Innovation Policy

Mongolia · Ulaanbaatar · See the Mongolia profile · See the Ulaanbaatar profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

JICA's 2022 baseline survey of 80 Mongolian tech start-ups found they had created 1,318 jobs and an estimated MNT 452bn in value, rivalling the tourism sector, and used the findings to push government toward a dedicated national start-up policy.

1,318 jobs (717 full-time, 601 part-time)
Jobs created by surveyed start-ups
452.1 billion MNT
Estimated ecosystem value
60.2 billion MNT
Combined annual revenue
102.3 billion MNT
Funding raised (initial + follow-on)
80 start-ups
Start-ups surveyed
27 companies
Companies eligible for 2019 Law on Innovation tax incentives
110 rank
Global Innovation Index rank -- business environment
123 rank
Global Innovation Index rank -- innovation linkages
124 rank
Global Innovation Index rank -- knowledge diffusion
Baseline Survey of the Mongolian Start-up Ecosystem — A JICA-Backed Diagnostic to Guide National Innovation Policy

Details

Promoter
JICA Mongolia Office, KITE Mongolia LLC, Mongolian Marketing Consulting Group
Period
2022
Keywords
start-ups, innovation policy, technology transfer, entrepreneurship

Context

In early 2022, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), together with local consultancies KITE Mongolia and the Mongolian Marketing Consulting Group, ran the first systematic baseline survey of Mongolia's technology start-up ecosystem.

Objectives

Because Mongolian deals are absent from the global databases (Crunchbase, Dealroom) that the Startup Genome Global Startup Ecosystem Report normally relies on, the team set out to fill this data gap directly and use the findings to guide national innovation policy.

Activities

The team interviewed 80 start-up founders, 10 accelerators and incubators, 9 universities and technology colleges, and national and international development organisations, following the GSER's five-pillar framework (Performance, Funding, Market Reach, Experience/Talent/Knowledge, Connectedness), and benchmarked Mongolia against Japan, Singapore, Lithuania and Estonia.

Results

The 80 surveyed start-ups reported having created 1,318 jobs (717 full-time, 601 part-time), an estimated ecosystem value of MNT 452.1 billion, MNT 60.2 billion in combined annual revenue and MNT 102.3 billion in initial and follow-on funding raised -- comparable in scale to Mongolia's entire travel sector, which generated MNT 54 billion in revenue and supported 1,237 jobs in 2021. The survey also found only 27 companies were legally eligible for tax incentives under Mongolia's 2019 Law on Innovation, and ranked Mongolia #110 in business environment, #123 in innovation linkages and #124 in knowledge diffusion on the Global Innovation Index.

Conclusions

The headline figures come with an explicit caveat from the survey's own authors: ecosystem value, revenue and funding data are self-reported by founders and could not be independently verified, so they represent the sector's stated potential rather than an audited measure of its true size; Mongolia had produced no unicorns and no Series B round as of the survey date, and responsibility for start-up policy has since been reshuffled across three ministries without a dedicated agency being created.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Cost figures are not disclosed in available sources; delivered as JICA technical cooperation with two local consultancy partners.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Conducted in early 2022 as a one-off baseline diagnostic; findings were presented to policymakers shortly after via stakeholder seminars.
Staffing & skills
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mongolia Office, KITE Mongolia LLC, Mongolian Marketing Consulting Group

Conditions for success

  • Direct interviews to fill a data gap left by Mongolia's absence from global deal databases (Crunchbase, Dealroom)
  • Use of the internationally recognised Startup Genome GSER five-pillar framework for cross-country benchmarking
  • Presentation of findings directly to policymakers at stakeholder seminars in Ulaanbaatar

Common failure modes

  • Headline ecosystem value, revenue and funding figures are self-reported by founders and explicitly flagged by the survey's own authors as unverifiable
  • Responsibility for start-up policy has since been reshuffled across three ministries without a dedicated agency being created

Where it fits

Governance type
donor-commissioned diagnostic feeding into national policy
Scale
national
Income level
lower-middle-income

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Data sources

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