Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2007 257 Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Support systems for new enterprise formation in Catalonia: an institutional approach Christian Serarols-Tarrés,* David Urbano and Yancy Vaillant Department of Business Economics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Fac. CC. Econòmiques i Empresarials – Edifici B, Bellaterra (Barcelona) 08193, Spain Fax: +34-935-812-555 E-mail: christian.serarols@uab.es E-mail: david.urbano@uab.es E-mail: yancy.vaillant@uab.es *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper presents some of the results of an empirical research that analyses the formal institutional framework related to new enterprise systems in urban and rural areas of Catalonia. The research focuses on the supply side (institutions and support programmes) and on the demand side (new entrepreneurs). Institutional economic theory is adopted as the theoretical framework of this research. For the supply of support programmes, personal interviews were carried out with the officials responsible for business support institutions in the urban county of Vallès Occidental and in the rural county of Garrotxa. For the demand side, 92 and 58 telephone interviews were conducted with new entrepreneurs from the previously mentioned counties. Keywords: entrepreneurship; support systems; regional development; regional innovation system; institutional theory; public administration; new ventures. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Serarols-Tarrés, C., Urbano, D. and Vaillant, Y. (2007) ‘Support systems for new enterprise formation in Catalonia: an institutional approach’, Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.257–279. Biographical notes: Christian Serarols-Tarrés is a Senior Lecturer within the Department of Business Economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a Member of the Research Group in ‘High-tech entrepreneurs in Catalonia’. Research interests include entrepreneurship and small business management, e-business and electronic commerce. He has industrial engineering background, a PhD in Business Economics, with industrial experience in technical research, consulting and management. He has founded a high-tech enterprise in the field of content aggregation. David Urbano is a Senior Lecturer within the Department of Business Economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Active Member of several associations in the field of entrepreneurship in Spain and as well as in Europe (ACEDE, ECSB, etc.). Research interests include entrepreneurship and small business management, institutional factors affecting entrepreneurship and high-tech new firm creation. He has business administration and anthropology background, a PhD in Business Economics, with experience in international academic research and consulting, especially for the Catalan Government.