In many international meetings on innovation, a question often asked by audiences and panelists is ‘why is Europe unable to generate an Apple Company, a Google, an Amazon, a Steve Jobs, or a Bill Gates ?’. Maybe it is time to change the parameters of this type of question by raising another one ‘what would a young Leonardo da Vinci need in today’s Europe to start a successful global business ?’.
Europe is not – and never was – short of ideas, innovative brains or disruptive innovations. Yet, Silicon Valley has no obvious equivalent on our continent, and Nasdaq companies continue to be dominantly American. What Europe still has not been able to build is a comparable eco-system in which universities, research centers and creative individuals can find support and mutual stimulation in a vibrant financial canvas (VCs) and inter-disciplinary cross-fertilization (‘organized serendipity’). A recent study carried out by INSEAD with Booz and Co for the European Executive Council shows that business leaders worldwide consider indeed that Europe has good or even world-class ideas and people (58% of respondents) and business skills (51%), but they consider that European funding for technology and innovation is only average (37%) or even below average (42%), and 56% regard governmental policies and support as insufficient in this area (see diagram below).
To read the full, original article click on this link: Leonardo 2.0 – Re-booting Europe’s innovativeness | New Europe
