the current study represents an important step in a longerterm agenda intended to improve understanding regarding how to broaden the finance options available and accessible to smes and microenterprises taking into account the heterogeneity of the sector the challenges for small firms in actually accessing and using the instruments available the implications of ongoing financial reforms and the specific financing needs of certain types of firms such as innovative and highgrowth enterprises smes seeking international expansion or those undergoing a major transition it follows the twopronged approach advocated by the g oecd high level principles on sme financing and specifically addresses its proposal to consider the feasibility of broadening the set of assets suitable for use as collateral to include intangibles to ease access to lending for knowledgebased companies with due regard for the associated risks it also builds on recent oecdsti work on kbc and the economic impact of intellectual property in particular this study provides a detailed practicallyoriented investigation of the topics raised by chapter of enquiries into intellectual property s economic impact oecd