Synopsis: Entrepreneurship: Economics:


EC_ European Smartgrids Technology Platform _2006.pdf

of electricity is a fundamental requirement for providing European citizens, societies and economies with essential energy resources.

All this makes smart grids an important element for achieving the largest knowledge-based economy in the world.

For a successful transition to a future sustainable energy system all the relevant stakeholders must become involved:

The vision will stimulate constructive dialogue between all stakeholders involved in the electricity sector and help to ensure the European public and private investments required for the implementation of the research and development (R&d) strategies.

stakeholders and companies that perform efficiently and effectively. enables Europe's electricity grids to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century;

I D S A broad spectrum of stakeholders As markets across Europe become more liberalised and dynamic,

every stakeholder will help to shape the Smartgrids system. What are the different needs and responsibilities that will feed into the project design?

while assuring adequate remuneration for their shareholders. Investment remuneration and stable regulatory frameworks will be necessary for a level playing field competition in a liberalised market.

A shared vision of the opportunities for all stakeholders remains an essential ingredient in successfully achieving efficient liberalised markets.

This will ensure that the networks of the future meet the needs of tomorrow's customers and a broader spectrum of stakeholders.

This market evolution, associated with an efficient regulatory framework, will promote economic growth and play a key role in the EU's competitiveness strategy.

leading to win-win solutions for economic growth, social development and environmental protection. Smartgrids: Enhancing grid flexibility

They present significant opportunities and challenges for all stakeholders: for example, multilateral participation in the real-time balance between supply and demand.

Working it out together For a successful transition to a future sustainable energy system all the relevant stakeholders must become involved:

Effective dialogue between stakeholders will ensure that relevant information influences the system design. The latest technologies will be incorporated into the network

and regular interaction with stakeholders is required to respond to future challenges and opportunities. Future work should adopt a techno-economic system approach for a trans-European network.

This calls for the development of: distribution grids accessible to distributed generation and renewable energy sources,

if all stakeholders form a shared vision for future grids and develop an implementation framework that is consistent with the liberalised business model.

but also economics & market, regulatory & legal and environmental aspects. A skills shortfall is a key risk to the successful adoption of the Smartgrids vision for Europe.

a group of high-level stakeholders came together with one primary objective: to define a coherent and unified industry-driven approach to tackling major economic, technological and societal challenges, of vital importance for Europe's future competitiveness and economic growth.

More specifically, an Advisory Council has been established to develop and consolidate a joint Vision and put forward a Strategic Research Agenda that sets RTD priorities for the medium to long-term.

and opportunities ahead are responded to efficiently for the benefit of all stakeholders in Europe. It will do this in a number of ways.

ETP-Smartgrids unites high-level stakeholders in defining a vision of the future development of grids.

enable participation of associations of stakeholders. Electricity Networks of the Future Technology Platform 35 VISION AND STRATEGY I ELECTRICITY NETWORKS OF THE FUTURE AC Alternating current CHP Combined Heat and Power CO2 Carbon dioxide DG


Education - technology and connectedness.pdf

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Enhancing Europe's Competitiveness_Fostering Innovation-driven Entrepreneurship in EU.pdf

What impact would this have on Europe's economy and society? It is reasonable to assume that European output

The development of the project and this report have shone the light on the benefits of reducing fragmentation and increasing collaboration across different disciplines and stakeholders.

this challenge includes persistent innovation divides between European economies as well as between Europe overall and comparator economies such as the United states. The report suggests a forward-looking agenda designed to contribute to Europe's competitiveness

and growth by encouraging a robust environment of ambitious, serial entrepreneurs who envisage, create and scale innovation-driven ventures.

and jobs across the region Stakeholders have significant scope to positively influence external factors affecting each of these phases.

and create better conditions for cross-stakeholder or cross-regional collaboration between different actors. In addition to policy-makers'ongoing efforts, private actors are very willing to contribute.

To more effectively and efficiently support innovationdriven entrepreneurship in Europe, stakeholders need to focus, connect and partner.

More explicit criteria that can help stakeholders identify and invest in momentum-building entrepreneurship initiatives are needed.

stakeholder need to create better and new connections across countries, sectors and programmes that meet key criteria.

Building on an enabling network, stakeholders must be encouraged and supported to collaborate and partner across initiatives, regions,

growth expectations remain tempered across advanced economies, and in the Eurozone in particular, where growth rates remain low and unemployment stubbornly high.

Europe continues to struggle to increase its competitiveness and set its economy on a more solid footing.

many other European economies have much ground to cover. This result is confi rmed by the Forum's 2014 edition of the EU2020 Competitiveness Report

which indicates that Europe has the greatest gap with benchmark economies and the greatest divergence between its member states with regard to measures of smart growth, particularly with reference to the digital agenda and innovation.

Entrepreneurship is defined as the pursuit of opportunities beyond the resources you currently control. 10 Turning an innovative idea into economic activity creates companies, economic growth and jobs.

Belgium, France, Netherlands, Republic of ireland and United kingdom), indicating a potential draw for entrepreneurs from these economies to Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to take advantage of lower fixed

%when looking at the opportunity cost of the decision, the same group said that relative to other career opportunities,

reaching more than 500,000 participants. 28 Partnering across stakeholder groups to improve regulatory framework Start-up Europe was launched in March 2013 with a six-part plan to accelerate

Increased demand for collateral after the economic crisis restricts access to bank loans for entrepreneurs The European Small Business Finance Outlook 2013

and The Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 show that the financial and economic crisis continues to impact capital supply by influencing financing

and thus contribute to fuelling the European economy. Jan Mühlfeit Chairman, Europe, Microsoft Corporation Benefit for large corporates Benefit for entrepreneurs Risk to one or both partners Company shares in high-potential entrepreneurial ventures Access

The CEO-Collaborative Forum (CEO CF) is where CEOS from high-growth companies convene to explore practical solutions to critical problems about finance, raising capital, shareholder issues, their board growth strategies

The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in the economy: Which role does driven innovation entrepreneurship play for your economy?

Could you estimate what proportion of SME employees in your country are working in innovation-driven SMES?

In general, policy-makers highlighted the important role of entrepreneurship for the European economy. Key activities on the policy agenda include steps to tailor education to the needs of entrepreneurial careers,

of Finland António Pires de Lima Minister of Economy of Portugal David Willetts Minister of state for Universities and Science of the United kingdom Figure 19:

-driven entrepreneurship in your economy: More than 20 million SMES in Europe have a key role to play in fostering innovation.

Fostering Innovation-driven Entrepreneurship in Europe 35 Toomas Hendrik Ilves President of Estonia The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy:

of Finland The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy: Innovation-driven entrepreneurship is one of the key focus areas in the Finnish government's economic policy.

Most of the economic policy measures that the government takes include the aspect of supporting innovation.

Forty-six per cent of all Finnish enterprises had innovation activity related to products and processes in 2008-2010.

Kroes Vice-president and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, European commission The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy:

It's quite simple it's about growing the economy and solving our social challenges.

Sass Larsen Minister for Business and Growth of Denmark The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy:

Entrepreneurs play a key role in securing competition and innovation in the economy. In recent years innovation-driven entrepreneurship has become an important part of Danish policy.

and act as an engine for innovation in the global knowledge economy. Open and innovative large companies play a vital role in the emergence and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Fostering Innovation-driven Entrepreneurship in Europe 39 António Pires de Lima Minister of Economy of Portugal The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy:

the Portuguese economy suffered structural changes: becoming a highly exporting, increasingly innovative and entrepreneurial economy.

Our exports have grown significantly (at the fastest pace in EU15, and have increased their technological profile).

Portugal still struggles to extract economic value out of its scientific excellence, and Portuguese business innovation lags behind its European peers in technological outputs of the innovation effort.

and an enabling business regulatory environment. 40 Enhancing Europe's Competitiveness Mark Rutte Prime minister of The netherlands The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy:

thereby making a significant contribution to the Dutch economy. Among the innovation-driven economies in the EU-28, The netherlands is the most entrepreneurial economy in terms of new and nascent entrepreneurship according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

A recent success in fostering entrepreneurship: Recent successes by The netherlands in improving the conditions for innovation-driven entrepreneurship are the top sector approach, valorization grants and an action plan for skilled technical workers.

To achieve this, there is an ongoing dialogue with the relevant stakeholders to discuss factors that hamper growth

Fostering Innovation-driven Entrepreneurship in Europe 41 Bohuslav Sobotka Prime minister of the Czech republic The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in your economy:

Innovation-driven entrepreneurship is one of the most important drivers for sustainable development of the economy in the Czech republic.

This needs the cooperation of several stakeholders, mainly the media, but also other actors who can motivate highly-skilled people to found an innovation-driven company,

e g. for academic spin-offs. 42 Enhancing Europe's Competitiveness David Willetts Minister of state for Universities and Science of the United kingdom The role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in the economy:

Over time, on an economy-wide scale, innovation has contributed as much as 70%to the UK's economic growth.

including the economy, taxation, regulations, competition and cash-flow issues. There were also a number of barriers that innovative SMES experience over and above those that do not innovate:

and momentum by connecting stakeholders better Together, focusing stakeholders on what works at scale, connecting actors and developing effective partnership approaches can lead to a more integrated innovation ecosystem that can contribute to growth in European industries

needs, preferences and locations of relevant stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, interested businesses, civil society stakeholders, investors and potential mentors.

Emerging examples of resources and partnership networks are detailed below. Partner: Developing entrepreneurship initiatives that achieve both scale

and momentum by connecting stakeholders better The ultimate goal of this report is integrated a more European innovation ecosystem that supports serial entrepreneurs.

and followed by active partnerships between stakeholders. Linking stakeholders and programmes across countries, sectors, industries and areas of focus can help activities that produce tangible results achieve greater scale and momentum.

Fully 80%of project survey participants see significant potential to improve the level and impact of collaboration between entrepreneurs, universities, large companies and academic institutions (Figure 23.

The key to success of this agenda is mobilizing stakeholders who are willing to promote it in multiple contexts.

the World Economic Forum is working with constituents to create momentum for the agenda among various stakeholders across Europe.

Caroline Jenner, Chief executive officer, Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe Various forms of women-led economic activity are important to the growth agenda.

Jimmy wales, Founder and Chair Emeritus, Board of trustees, Wikimedia Foundation We need to rethink education of the next generation of entrepreneurs to encourage market-generating innovation as a basis for sustainable economic growth.

European stakeholders must prepare for new public and private-sector activities that will unleash future waves of innovation.

as an example, how the advent of the sharing economy (in the form of Airbnb and Uber) is challenging government

in European economies. Understanding, anticipating and shaping these shifts will be critical to ensuring that Europe prepares ecosystems ready for the next decade of breakthrough innovation.

Today, with the need to invest in innovative economies and innovative governments higher than ever,

governments need strong support from various stakeholder communities (including business and civil society), because the duration of the policies required will exceed often that of their electoral mandate.

businesses and citizens would best fit in a future global knowledge economy. For example, a key issue to be considered in such a context is that of talent:

As engines of economic growth, innovation and technological progress, they have brought much good to humanity. But as the financial crisis of 2008 has demonstrated,

a change of external relationships between traditional and nontraditional stakeholders and the environment, and a change of outlook among the top management.

In 2030, the world's largest corporations are those that harness Swarm Economics, with hundreds of thousands of individuals coming together to solve the highest value problems,

From Fortress Firms to Cambrian Corporations Mark Esposito, Associate professor of Business and Economics, Grenoble Graduate school of Business, France,

and Instructor, Harvard university Extension School, USA Olaf Groth, Professor for Global Strategy, Innovation, Management and Economics, HULT International Business school, USA Fostering Innovation-driven

This has continued the trend of large, developing economy multinationals finding advantage in harvesting opportunities in diverse parts and corners of their economies.

markets and stakeholders as a Coral reef consisting of diverse pockets of opportunity. Such organizations have mastered the ability to spark,

Meanwhile, Cambrian Corporations need to remain closely connected with their stakeholders and broader society. New social and economic challenges will emerge,

misalignment and realignment between these corporations with other sets of stakeholders that are contributing to

or are impacted by convergence issues. 54 Enhancing Europe's Competitiveness Realizing scale economies will have to happen through shared infrastructure systems with other corporations

The achievement of scale economies across these different parts of the Coral reef and the different convergence spaces will be highly challenging and non-trivial.

and capturing value from new economic activity. The future shape of the global corporation will require a redefinition of

In this way, problem stakeholders can become solution co-innovators in a sustained fashion and the role of the corporation will have morphed from one of an agent of volatility to that of an agent of stability.

Stakeholders should tap into this motivation at scale to create the most supportive environment possible for each life cycle phase,

stakeholders need to focus, connect and partner, creating greater transparency and increasing collaborations across sectors.

European stakeholders must be prepared to harness these shifts, rather than block them, to ensure that Europe regains its position at the innovation frontier

please email europeentrepreneurship@weforum. org. 56 Enhancing Europe's Competitiveness Endnotes 1. The entrepreneurial life cycle is defined here as including the factors influencing an individual to turn an idea into economic activity or join a start-up as an employee,

Diedrichs, E. 2013), Do SMES lose their appetite for innovation during the economic crisis? Blog on Innovationmanagement. se. 16.

Adecco, INSEAD, Human Capital Leadership Institute (2013), Global Talent Competitiveness Index Barclays report, written by The Economist Intelligence Unit (2014), Start me up:

Young Global Leader Paul Campbell, Chief executive officer, Start-up Genie, USA Cross-report contributors Olaf Groth, Professor for Global Strategy, Innovation, Management and Economics

, HULT International Business school, USA Mark Esposito, Associate professor of Business and Economics, Grenoble Graduate school of Business, France,

Faxander, President and Chief executive officer, Sandvik, Sweden Blair L. Fortner, Global Chief Economist, Monsanto Company, USA Hamish Forsyth

Communication Networks, Content and Technology, Belgium António Pires de Lima, Minister of Economy of Portugal Benoit Potier, Chairman and Chief executive officer, Air liquide, France Subramanian Rangan

Lead Economist, Office of the Chief Economist for the Europe and Central asia Region, World bank, WASHINGTON DC Maria Fanjul, Chief executive officer, entradas. com, Spain Charles Grant, Director, Centre

ESADEGEO-Center for Global economy and Geopolitics, Spain Mark Spelman, Global Managing director, Accenture, United kingdom Pawel Swieboda, President, demoseuropa-Centre for European Strategy Foundation, Poland

Nicholas Davis, Director, Head of Europe Caroline Galvan, Economist, Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network Peter Gratzke, Senior Project Associate, Investors Industries Team Thorsten


Enhancing healthcare delivery through ICTs 2008.pdf

and is characterized by uncertainty, complexity, time delays and competitive stakeholder viewpoints. ICTS offer a platform for health education which plays a major role in the prevention of many diseases.

resources and lack of coordination among key stakeholders (Fraser and Mcgrath, 2000. The use of ICT technologies may increase the quality of health service delivery by providing reliable information and efficient use of resources (Rwashana and Williams, 2007.

3. Who are real stakeholders in the immunisation system? 4. How should such an immunization system work?

and capture different viewpoints of stakeholders. It is evidently that the issues that pose most challenges are systemic in nature

From the causal loop diagram, a broad integrated view of the system is provided for the stakeholder to prioritize and set policies.

Various stakeholders who are important as far as the immunisation system is concerned were interviewed. The following themes were used to study the processes

The immunisation system diagram shows the number and types of different organisations or agents, key processes, activities, stakeholders and flow of information.

In a resource constrained economy like Uganda, the responsibilities for planning, resource mobilization and allocation, management immunization services, storage and distribution of vaccines, supplies and equipment to the units under their supervision


Enhancing the Competitiveness of SMEs in the Global Economy Strategies and Policies.pdf

NON CLASSIFIE UNCLASSIFIED Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques 2000 ENHANCING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SMES IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY:

WK1 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS SME INNOVATION IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY...3 Introduction...4 Globalisation Challenges...4 Globalisation...

32 WK1 3 SME INNOVATION IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY*This paper serves as the background document for the Workshop on Enhancing the Competitiveness of SMES through Innovation at the Bologna conference.

and help reduce the disadvantage of scale economies which small firms face in all aspects of business.

This explains why economists have reopened the debate on whether some market and systemic failures disproportionately affect small firms,

Globalisation Challenges 3. Both scale economies and research and development have become more important instruments for competitiveness in the global economy.

which span a broad range of economic activities in a disparate set of industries across different countries. 4. This section briefly explains

what triggered the wave of globalisation reshaping the economy at the end of the 20th century. To understand globalisation's impact on SME innovativeness

One of the most important implications of globalisation is that the comparative advantage of OECD nations is shifting away from traditional factors of production, such as land, labour and capital, towards knowledge-based economic activities.

Globalisation 5. Perhaps the most radical change in the economic landscape of the end of the 20th century has been the shift in economic activity away from a local or national sphere toward a much more international or global.

The measures of transnational economic activity which prove there has been a strongly positive trend toward greater global activity include:

The Economist recently proclaimed The Death of Distance on its front page. 2 While the telecommunications revolution has brought the cost of transmitting information across geographic space to virtually zero,

and (5) shift into knowledge-based economic activities. 8. While some firms fell victim to the first strategy, many of the firms from OECD countries that have restructured successfully resorted to alternatives 2,

This alternative involves shifting economic activity out of traditional industries, where the high-cost countries of the OECD have lost their comparative advantage,

and into those knowledge-based industries where comparative advantage is compatible with both high wages and high levels of employment knowledge based economic activity.

Emerging comparative advantage that is 2 The Death of Distance, The Economist, 30,september 1995. 3 The Downsizing of America

By contrast, the rest of the economy experienced fairly steady growth at around 3%over this period. 5 Innovative activity of in the United states has jumped

Given the shift in comparative advantage towards more knowledge based economic activity, many scholars have predicted the demise of SMES.

But in fact, the share of economic activity accounted for by SMES has risen in most OECD countries.

or even enhance their competitiveness in a globalizing economy. This background paper discusses some of the strategies open to SMES as they try to become more productive and shift more knowledge-based activities.

whereas the R&d-sales ratios of the largest corporations fell from 3. 5%to 3. 1%.4 The Valley of Money's Delights, The Economist, 29,march 1997, special section, p. 1. 5

This is consistent with economic theories of innovation and technical change where inputs to the innovative process are understood to be heterogeneous

government policy can do much more to help the majority of SMES manage the transition to a global, knowledge based economy.

Which metaphor is most apt depends on a given industry's underlying technological conditions, scale economies, and demand.

Where scale economies are important, the revolving door model is more common. While start-ups and new entrants may not be deterred by the presence of high scale economies,

a process of firm selection ensures that only those firms that grow will be able to survive beyond more than a few years. 36.

and depending upon the severity of the other selection mechanism-the extent of scale economies-may ultimately be forced to exit out of the industry.

and experimentation that otherwise would remain untapped in the economy. The Information technology Strategy 37. A second strategy SMES can use to improve their competitiveness in global markets involves the application

or the level of output required to reach scale economies. This notion has received considerable attention in the popular press.

"10 10 Tom Peters,"New Products, New Markets, New Competition, New Thinking,"The Economist, 4 march, 1989, pp. 27-32.

In the physical world, scale economy and standardisation plays a major role. The digital world enables individual product customization The customers will directly interact only with the intermediary,

and business partners that they are committed to the local economy. The Mittelstand companies also espouse a strategy

Jacobs thus develops a theory about how a greater variety of industries within a geographic region promotes knowledge externalities, ultimately innovative, activity and economic growth. 14 50.

) WK1 16 because it maximises the ability of firms to appropriate economic value accruing from their investments in new knowledge,

) Results of a study by Feldman and Audretsch (1999) indicate that a region characterised by a diversity of firms engaged in complementary economic activities,

While the marginal cost of transmitting information across geographic space has been reduced drastically with the telecommunications revolution, the marginal cost of transmitting knowledge,

and knowledge developed for a particular application can have economic value in very different applications. As Glaeser et al. observed, intellectual breakthroughs must cross hallways and streets more easily than oceans and continents..

An emerging economics literature demonstrates that knowledge spillovers are constrained indeed geographically. Data constraints can be overcome to study the extent of knowledge spillovers

There is considerable evidence that the transnational economic activities of SMES have been increasing over time. Not only has the absolute value of foreign direct investment activities by small and medium-sized enterprises increased over time,

In particular, SMES are disadvantaged clearly by scale economies and other size related ownership-specific advantages.

clearly makes FDI an important element of the panoply of strategies open to SMES who want to remain innovative in a global economy.

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