Scottish entrepreneurship nears "premiership" levels: report The number of people starting up businesses in Scotland has accelerated as more professionals and graduates move into self-employment due to the recession, new research today shows. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Gem) 2012 survey today reveals that for the first time in its series, total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) in Scotland matched the average for 20 similar, innovation-driven economies and exceeded the average for "Arc of Prosperity" countries, including Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Norway. It is the 12th year the report, undertaken by the University of Strathclyde's Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, has tracked start-up activity in Scotland. Sir Tom Hunter, who endowed the Hunter Centre, praised the rise in the number of people in starting up businesses but warned that Scotland still lagged England in terms of its entrepreneurial activity. He said: "In a matter of three years we've moved from being in the fourth quartile of TEA rates up to the second quartile and our TEA rates now exceed the average of the Arc of Prosperity countries - the Premiership beckons! Well, maybe - we still lag the UK rate. The academic leading the research, Professor Jonathan Levie, said the rise in numbers was "encouraging," but noted the increase was mainly due to "low aspiration start-up activity" among graduates. He called for a "Team Scotland approach" to raise the level of ambition among the self-employed toward higher growth business. Hunter added: "An entrepreneurial Scotland can't be achieved by Government, nor our educationalists nor our businessmen and women on their own. It takes all of us together to achieve that," he said. The report also found that attitudes towards entrepreneurship among young adults have recovered to the levels reached prior to the economic downturn. Graduates, who made up 40 per cent of the Gem sample in 2012 compared with only 21 per cent in 2002, had more positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship than non-graduates. One important exception was attitudes to starting a business as a career choice, which were more negative among graduates. Said Hunter: "Ultimately it seems we need to continue the cultural shift towards enabling our people to recognise entrepreneurialism as a real career option. We are in the teeth of a recession but when I started out in a similar recession there was very little by way of support. Today it's different and I really do believe that we are finally integrating the support network for aspiring entrepreneurs. The research also shows that both Scottish migrants to England and English migrants to Scotland are more entrepreneurial than their non-migrant peers. English early-stage entrepreneurs in Scotland are also more growth-oriented than Scots early-stage entrepreneurs, despite their older profile. Levie said: "As a result of the financial crisis, more highly-qualified people have started businesses. Many of these individuals would not ordinarily have considered this option. The challenge now, as the UK economy recovers, is to encourage them to grow their business and not abandon it for a full-time job outside Scotland. Finance secretary John Swinney welcomed the report and said: "Entrepreneurialism is a key driver in our aim of building a wealthier and fairer Scotland. It is fantastic news that Scotland now has more entrepreneurs than ever before and that we are now in the top half of the world's most innovation driven nations but the Scottish Government knows that more can be done.