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• 

  Mapping, analysis and characterization of "space hubs" in the EU
  Final report

  The European space sector is facing increasing global competition, as well as significant technological challenges in the context of the New Space economy. The EU space flagship programmes, including EGNOS, Galileo and Copernicus, are key assets to deliver on the EU’s future objectives in areas ...

  The European space sector is facing increasing global competition, as well as significant technological challenges in the context of the New Space economy. The EU space flagship programmes, including EGNOS, Galileo and Copernicus, are key assets to deliver on the EU’s future objectives in areas such as sustainability, safety and security, prosperity, cultural development and geostrategic outreach, as underlined in the March 2017 Rome Declaration. To face these challenges, Europe needs to maintain and strengthen its world-class capacity to conceive, develop, launch, operate and exploit cutting-edge space systems, by relying on a more risk-prone and innovative space industry. In this regard, the Space Strategy for Europe, adopted on 26 October 2016 underlines the need to encourage a business and innovation-friendly ecosystem at the European, regional and national levels by establishing space hubs that bring together the space, digital and user sectors. Given the initiatives of the EU to support European clusters and space hubs, and the current landscape of the space hubs ecosystem in Europe, several challenges and opportunities must be taken into account to foster and build the capacity of the space hubs ecosystem.

  • Published: 2019-07-24
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (European Commission) ; PwC
  • Subject: aerospace industry, business policy, competition, innovation, report, space policy, space technology
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  European Innovation Council
  Empowering European innovators : business acceleration services : corporate days 2017-18

  The European Innovation Council pilot (EIC Pilot) supports top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies and scientists with bright ideas and the ambition to scale up internationally. The EIC Pilot brings together the parts of Horizon 2020 that provide funding, advice and networking oppor...

  The European Innovation Council pilot (EIC Pilot) supports top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies and scientists with bright ideas and the ambition to scale up internationally. The EIC Pilot brings together the parts of Horizon 2020 that provide funding, advice and networking opportunities for those at cutting edge of innovation.

  • Published: 2019-06-04
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Research and Innovation ; Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (European Commission)
  • Subject: business policy, entrepreneur, information network, innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, start-up
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  EU policy framework on SMEs
  State of play and challenges

  Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of the European economy, accounting for 99.8% of total enterprises. They employ more than two thirds of the EU labour force, contribute to more than half of EU value added and have played an important role in the recovery since the financi...

  Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of the European economy, accounting for 99.8% of total enterprises. They employ more than two thirds of the EU labour force, contribute to more than half of EU value added and have played an important role in the recovery since the financial and economic crisis. SMEs in the EU, however, face barriers and challenges that hamper their full potential for growth and job creation. For example, they suffer from a low capacity to compete and grow internationally as their small size as well as their lack of financial and human resources prevent them entering new markets. They mostly operate in sectors which do not require intense scientific knowledge or intense technology so have limited research and development capabilities. In comparison to large enterprises, they have lower turnover and value added as well as limited strategic planning and managerial skills. The inclusion of a strong SME dimension in the EU policy is therefore of particular importance. However, to fully unlock SME growth potential requires a strong horizontal policy approach that helps them surmount existing barriers. Based on desk research and structured interviews with selected Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) this report identifies key challenges currently faced by European SMEs, analyses the evolution of EU policy initiatives since the introduction of the Small Business Act (SBA) and formulates policy recommendations to strengthen the role of LRAs and SME policy in the post-2020 period.

  • Published: 2019-07-29
  • Corporate Author(s): European Committee of the Regions ; Spatial Foresight ; t33 Srl ; ÖIR
  • Personal Author(s): Valenza, Alessandro ; Dallhammer, Erich ; Salvatori, Giacomo ; Sabine Zillmer ; Alessandrini, Michele ; Gaupp-Berghausen, Mailin ; Gramillano, Andrea ; Zingaretti, Chiara ; Derszniak, Martyna ; Holstein, Frank
  • Subject: administrative formalities, assessment, business policy, corporate finance, economic growth, EU policy, fund (EU), labour force, regional and local authorities, small and medium-sized enterprises
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  Debt overhang and investment efficiency
  

  Using a pan-European data set of 8.5 million firms, this paper finds that firms with high debt overhang invest relatively more than otherwise similar firms if they are operating in sectors facing good global growth opportunities. At the same time, the positive impact of a marginal increase in de...

  Using a pan-European data set of 8.5 million firms, this paper finds that firms with high debt overhang invest relatively more than otherwise similar firms if they are operating in sectors facing good global growth opportunities. At the same time, the positive impact of a marginal increase in debt on investment efficiency disappears if firm debt is already excessive, if it is dominated by short maturities, and during systemic banking crises. The results are consistent with theories of the disciplining role of debt, as well as with models highlighting the negative link between agency problems at firms and banks and investment efficiency.

  • Published: 2019-04-26
  • Corporate Author(s): European Investment Bank
  • Personal Author(s): Barbiero, Francesca ; Popov, Alexander ; Wolski, Marcin
  • Subject: banking policy, business policy, indebtedness, investment policy, monetary crisis
• 

  Can survey‐based information help to assess investment gaps in the EU?
  

  Information from surveys can be used alongside macroeconomic indicators to provide a better understanding of the obstacles to investment faced by firms. This study uses merged firm level data from the European Investment Bank Investment Survey (EIBIS) and hard data from firms’ balance sheets and...

  Information from surveys can be used alongside macroeconomic indicators to provide a better understanding of the obstacles to investment faced by firms. This study uses merged firm level data from the European Investment Bank Investment Survey (EIBIS) and hard data from firms’ balance sheets and profit and loss information to investigate how well survey results correlate with macro-based hard data. Firms’ perceptions of impediments to investment tend to be related to firms’ specific characteristics: firms that are smaller, more indebted, less profitable or with less liquidity, tend to report more impediments. Nonetheless, after controlling for firm specific characteristics, the investment gaps reported by firms remain correlated with the reported impediments.

  • Published: 2019-06-17
  • Corporate Author(s): European Investment Bank
  • Personal Author(s): Maurin, Laurent ; Dejuan, Daniel ; Alves, Pana
  • Subject: balance sheet, business policy, corporate finance, Corporate Governance, economic analysis, investment, investment policy
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  Smart guide to entrepreneurship support through clusters
  

  The purpose of this Smart Guide is to stimulate policy learning and provide guidance in designing and implementing programmes that accelerate the creation of start-ups, spin-offs and scale-ups through a cluster approach. The focus of this Smart Guide is on innovative entrepreneurship as a key dr...

  The purpose of this Smart Guide is to stimulate policy learning and provide guidance in designing and implementing programmes that accelerate the creation of start-ups, spin-offs and scale-ups through a cluster approach. The focus of this Smart Guide is on innovative entrepreneurship as a key driver of change in declining industries, as a development lever in emerging industries, and as a source of innovativeness and dynamism in mature industries. The guide offers practical help by outlining some of the distinguishing features of growth-oriented entrepreneurship policies, presenting examples of good practices of entrepreneurship support programmes delivered through a cluster (i.e. systemic) approach or by a cluster organisation.

  • Published: 2019-08-30
  • Corporate Author(s): Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (European Commission)
  • Personal Author(s): Amichetti, Clarissa ; Delponte, Laura ; Spinoglio, Mark
  • Subject: business cluster, business policy, common strategy, entrepreneurship, guide, industrial policy, small and medium-sized enterprises
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  Corporate taxes
  Less is more, study says

  • Published: 2019-07-26
  • Corporate Author(s): European Economic and Social Committee
  • Subject: business policy, corporate finance, corporation tax, energy policy, fiscal policy, serial publication, small and medium-sized enterprises, tax system
• 

  Table of radical innovation breakthroughs
  

  This report describes 100 Radical Innovation Breakthroughs. They are potentially important cross-cutting, disruptive innovations that may exert strong impact on global value creation and offer important solutions to societal needs. This set of emerging developments was developed through procedur...

  This report describes 100 Radical Innovation Breakthroughs. They are potentially important cross-cutting, disruptive innovations that may exert strong impact on global value creation and offer important solutions to societal needs. This set of emerging developments was developed through procedure combining machine learning algorithms and human evaluation. After successive waves of selection and refinement, the resulting 100 emerging topics were subjected to several assessment procedures including expert consultation and analysis of related patents and publications. Having analysed the potential importance of each of these innovations for Europe, their current maturity and the relative strength of Europe in related R&D, some general policy recommendations are made. The collection of Radical Innovation Breakthroughs constitutes important intelligence material that can inform strategic planning in research and innovation policy, industry and enterprise policy, and local development policy.

  • Published: 2019-06-26
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
  • Subject: business policy, development policy, EU research policy, innovation, research and development
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  Innovation investment in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
  Building future prosperity and setting the ground for sustainable upward convergence

  Building on firm-level data from EIBIS, this paper analyses innovation performance and financing in the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The rise of digital technologies has brought about rapid changes in the way innovation is created and diffused, redefining entire indust...

  Building on firm-level data from EIBIS, this paper analyses innovation performance and financing in the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The rise of digital technologies has brought about rapid changes in the way innovation is created and diffused, redefining entire industries. This paper investigates the role that innovation plays in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE), analysing the innovation performance and investment efforts in different countries in the region. Building on firm-level data from the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS) and complementary data sources, the paper dives deeper in analysing the financing conditions of investment in innovation as a key driver that may explain differences in investment patterns compared to the rest of the European Union (EU).

  • Published: 2019-03-25
  • Corporate Author(s): European Investment Bank
  • Personal Author(s): Weiss, Christoph ; Correia, Ana ; Kollar, Miroslav ; Bilbao-Osorio, Beñat ; Gereben, Aron
  • Subject: applied research, business policy, Central and Eastern Europe, digital technology, EU financial instrument, European Investment Bank, financing, innovation, investment, research and development
• Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The Single Market in a changing world — A unique asset in need of renewed political commitment’(COM(2018) 772 final)

  Latest edition.
  • Published: 2019-05-15
  • Corporate Author(s): European Economic and Social Committee
  • Subject: business policy, capital market, consumer protection, cross-border cooperation, economic growth, EU banking union, EU market, EU strategy, gross domestic product, single market