Open Resources for Entrepreneurship Guide Ask Us

Open Resources for Entrepreneurship

The open resources included in this guide are either freely available or open access. There are some resources that have free information with additional information behind a paywall. Other resources are open access which refers to free, unrestricted online access to research outputs such as journals, books or databases.

Open resources can be helpful to entrepreneurs that may not have access to expensive market research databases or for entrepreneurs that struggle to find information using library resources. They can help you learn about competitors, understand your market, and keeping on top of emerging trends.

The open resources listed in this guide are considered secondary research which is a compilation of existing data that has been collected and analyzed. This information is communicated in a variety of formats including government statistics, newspaper articles, an industry report, and a wide variety of additional sources. Staying up to date on this information will keep you informed of new trends in the market, disruptive technologies, and help you stay aware of what your competitors are working on.

Secondary research can help you find answers to just some of the following questions:

• What is the size of my market?
• Who are my competitors?
• Which market is best suited for my product or service?
• What are the emerging trends in an industry?

Use the tabs above to find Canadian, United States, and Global open access resources. 

Canada

Demographics

• Statistics Canada produces statistics to help Canadians better understand the underlying data that makes up their country.
  • They publish data on subjects like population and demographics, energy, agriculture, and education. You can browse the full list of subjects and the corresponding data here.
  • Statistics Canada has introduced infographics to help people, business owners, academics, and management at all levels, understand key information derived from their survey data. You can browse the published infographics here.
  • Economic and social indicators specific to New Brunswick can be found here.
• Nielsen Insights: Demographics

Economic Indicators

• Key small business statistics: January 2019 (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada)
• Small and medium sized business counts (Statistics Canada)
• Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS) 
  • Releases projections of future trends in the numbers of job openings and job seekers for 292 occupational groupings at the national level, covering the entire workforce.
• Trade Data Online
  • Allows you to generate customized reports on Canada and U.S. trade in goods with over 200 countries.

Industry 

• Canadian Industry Statistics 
  • Data coverage for a variety of industries. It provides information on the number of businesses, financial performance, and labour productivity for each industry. 
• UBC Small Business Accelerator Industry Guides 
  • A collection of over 100 industry guides to help you plan and execute your secondary market research. 
  • Note: Most information is freely available but some of the resources listed require a UBC login. 
• PwC Canada Industries
  • Research on multiple industries including cannabis, healthcare, and technology.

Consumer Behaviour

• PwC: 2020 Canadian Consumer Insights Survey
• BDC: Five Game-Changing Consumer Trends
• Nielsen Insights
  • Collection of research on topics such as digital, innovation and media.

Manufacturing and Suppliers

• Frasers: Canada's Industrial Search Engine
• Thomas Net
  • Data, platform and technology company that has become the leading resource for the industrial marketplace.
• WAND: Business to Business Directory Platform

General Trends

• Google Scholar Find academic research articles related to a specific term or topic. 
• Google Trends Allows you to explore the popularity of a specific search term or topic.
• BetaKit Canadian startup new and tech innovation.
• Entrevestor News on Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs.
• Huddle Gathering place connecting NB entrepreneurs with jobs and opportunities.
• The Verge Examines how technology will change life in the future for a massive mainstream audience.
• TechCrunch Reports on the business of the tech industry.
• CB Insights - Newsletter CB Insights newsletter offers analysis on venture capital, startups, patents, news and partnerships gleaned from their CB Insights market intelligence platform.
• Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship Generates forward-looking insights and stimulates new thinking to advance actionable innovation policy in Canada.

United States Information

The United States Census Bureau will be your main source for demographic data related to the United States. 

• The American FactFinder tool can be used to find data related to the American Housing Survey, the Survey of Business Owners, and the Population Estimates Program. You can browse the full list of what's available here.
• All topics with data available can be found in this list. It is quite long so use ⌘F to search for your specific topic.
• If you are looking for charts that have already been created, there are Infographics & Visualizations available for data going back to 2008.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

• The Occupational Outlook Handbook can help you find career information on duties, education, and training, pay, and the outlook for hundreds of occupations.
• Subject areas covered by BLS include employment, unemployment, inflation and prices, and productivity. A list of all available subject areas can be found here.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.

Data USA is a comprehensive data tool developed by Deloitte, Datawheel, and Cesar Hidalgo providing visual representations to understand and visualize the critical issues facing the United States in areas like jobs, skills, and education across industry and geography.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.

Global Information

World Bank Open Data provides free and open access to global development data. You can browse the data by countries and economies or indicators. An example of an indicator could be education or poverty.

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides health-related statistics for more than 1000 indicators for its 194 member states.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) publishes a range of time series data on IMF lending, exchange rates, and other economic and financial indicators.

European Commission: Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs provides information on legislation and standards, reports and consultations, and covers a wide variety of industries for the European market.

Open Educational Resources for Entrepreneurship

This guide is intended to help instructors find OER alternatives for the entrepreneurship courses they teach. This list is by no means exhaustive but should serve as a starting point for those curious about incorporating OER into their classes.

A general Open Educational Resources guide has also been created by our Scholarly Communications and Publishing Librarian. 

Each of the resources below links directly to results for "entrepreneurship".

• Open Textbook Library 
• ECampusOntario Open Textbook Library
• LearningEdge Cases from MIT
• OpenStax
• LibreTexts
• Directory of Open Access Books
• University of PEI - Maritime Management: Micro and Small Business

Map the System

 Map the System is a global competition that provides an opportunity for post-secondary students to explore social and environmental issues like food security and climate-resilient cities through mapping, which is used as a tool for gaining insight into these complex issues. 

Below are a few open research resources that are provided by Map the System:

• Map the System Student Resources (Canada). Includes videos and webinars. 
• Map the System (Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford). Features past competition winners and information about the global program, including an FAQ. 
• The Institute for Community Prosperity (Mount Royal University). Conducts annual environmental scans of socio-economic global trends like affordable housing and reconciliation.
• Ballard Brief (BYU Marriott’s Ballard Center for Social Impact). Provides in-depth coverage of global social issues like poverty and immigration via its free research library. 
• LearnGala (University of Michigan). Facilitates interactive learning via sustainability case studies, such as Michigan Sustainability Cases, which center on real-world problems with multiple possible solutions. Search by keyword, global system, site location, case library and more. 
• Participant Media. Inspires audiences to engage in positive social change through content that stands at the intersection of art and activism. Founded by social entrepreneur, Jeff Skoll. You can search the website for educational guides that accompany many of the films. 
• Transformation Maps (World Economic Forum). Insights into over 250+ global issues, from Agritech to Virtual and Augmented Reality. 
• Ashoka Fellows (Canada) Database. Captures the world's leading social entrepreneurs and their initiatives. 
• UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goals, history and reports on the progress of the United Nation's 17 goals, from No Poverty (1) to Partnerships for the Goals (17). 
• World Resources Institute. Publishes the annual World Resources Report, which provides in-depth analyses of global issues such as climate, energy, food, forests, water, cities and the ocean.