The secret of success 2014-2015

Europe’s digital icons : transforming our economy

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Welcome to the 2014-15 edition of the ‘Secret of Success’. In the current economic situation, European companies must turn to innovation, productivity, resource-efficiency and high value-added if they want to stay competitive in global markets and to respond to the growth and job creation challenges. Digital transition, which is underway across the global economy, is at the heart of the transformation of European industry. In the context of the Europe 2020 strategy, the EU is implementing several measures with the ambition of creating a wide and strong industrial base conducive to a positive... environment for long term investments; accelerating increases in productivity and job creation; raising EU industrial competitiveness; and bringing the contribution of industry to a level of 20% of the GDP by 2020. Digital technologies are the single most important driver of innovation and growth today; they re-shape entire industries and open doors for a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators. However, Europe is only scratching the surface when it comes to reaping the benefits of digital growth, with only 2% of European enterprises currently taking full advantage of digital opportunities. This is why the EU Digital Agenda and the EU Industrial Policy not only recognise transformative power of digital technologies and their growing impact across all sectors, but also call to integrate new technological opportunities, such as cloud computing, big data and data value chain developments, new industrial applications of internet, smart factories, robotics, or 3-D printing and design into all sectors of the economy. And it does not stop there. The entrepreneurs in this brochure, although diverse in their gender, age, ethnicity and experiences, all have a common thread running through their stories. These should inspire policy-makers and would-be entrepreneurs and help draw conclusions on what it takes to build and grow a successful business powered by advanced digital technologies.