Chapter 1: Introduction

At the time of writing there is still much hand-wringing over the sclerotic state of the EU economy. Another year of stagnation is forecast, on top of several which have ensued from the onset of the financial crisis on 2008. Policy debate is dominated by two big issues. The first is how best to manage the combination of very low growth with burgeoning public sector debt in many EU member countries. The second concerns the future of the single currency, with the Euro at a nine-year low and renewed speculation about the sustainability of membership by Greece in particular. It is understandable given the major impact the Financial and Euro crises have had on economic performance and, indeed, confidence in Europe. Living standards have stagnated in many countries and there seems to be little relief in prospect. The urgency for an effective policy response is keenly felt. Sight, however, should not be lost of the fact that, in the long run, rising living standards depend on continual innovation. Whilst sound macroeconomic policy can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship by providing a stable economic environment, it cannot, in itself, do much to promote and foster high technology entrepreneurship. Indeed, EU and OECD policy continues to assert the prime importance of innovation for long-run prosperity. The weakness of the policy framework in the EU and in many of its constituent countries has been an abiding theme of the High Technology Small Firms (HTSF) Conference since its inception in 1993. That weakness persists and it is as important as ever that it be addressed if economic dynamism is to be achieved in the EU. More broadly, such entrepreneurship can contribute in every country to rising prosperity and living standards. The fact that rapid growth in economic development in many emerging economies has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of the most abject poverty is testament to the importance of promoting such dynamism.