European Commission

Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz says, “We need to transform our economic system from dependence on fossil fuels to renewables and to do that we need rapid innovation” and calls for a new partnership between the public and the private sector.

This year’s Schumpeter ‘Innovation in Enterprise’ Lecture was given by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Winner and Professor at Columbia University.

Professor Stiglitz’s lecture covered topics such as the problems caused by the emphasis on markets without sufficient government regulation markets; the economic effects of the COVID pandemic and the effect of cutbacks in science budgets; the rise of the tech giants; the role of innovation in  transforming our economic system from dependence on fossil fuels to renewables; and his hopes for the new US administration.

Speaking on the balance of markets and government, Professor Stiglitz stated that “in recent decades we’ve lost that balance under neoliberalism under the ideas of Thatcher and Reagan, we put all the emphasis on markets but without government, without government investment, without government regulation, markets don’t work well. In fact, we saw in the 2008 crisis how poorly they worked. The financial sector even though it was absorbing 8% GDP up from 2.5% of GDP,  wasn’t allocating resources more efficiently, it wasn’t creating higher growth, it was creating more instability and so it was the absence of government regulating the market that led to the disastrous outcomes we saw.” 

Professor Stiglitz also addressed the COVID pandemic, describing it as a ‘natural experiment’ of ‘historical proportions’. Speaking about the pandemic he went on to say that “it’s becoming a field for social scientists, for economists, for epidemiologists, as they study what kinds of actions led to controlling the pandemic and controlling the economic aftermath of the pandemic.” 

He closed the lecture by speaking about Schumpeter and his vision of what a dynamic market economy was like.

“Thank you for inviting me to address you in this Schumpeter lecture, Schumpeter had a vision of what a dynamic market economy was like, it was a good vision, that dynamism leads to the flourishing of the human spirit.

That entrepreneurial spirit has the potential, as it has in the past raising standard standards of living for all, but we won’t live up to that potential unless we have the right balance between the government, market and civil society. A new social contract which embraces public investments, strong regulations, including on the environment, and the right rules. We are at a critical point in time, we are recovering hopefully from the pandemic or we will be in the not too distant future, we should have learned a lot of lessons and among the lessons are the importance of science, the importance of good institutions, the importance of global cooperation, the importance of innovation and as I emphasized those things which made for success in addressing the challenge of the pandemic I believe will also make for success in achieving long-term shared prosperity. “

Watch the Schumpeter Lecture in full:

The SME Assembly 2019 is getting closer and it is time to meet this year’s Schumpeter Lecturer, Mariana Mazzucato! Read on to find out who she is and about her extensive work around entrepreneurship.

Who is Mariana Mazzucato?

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). IIPP is dedicated to rethinking the role of public policy in shaping both the rate of economic growth and its direction—and training the next generation of global leaders to build partnerships that can address mission-oriented societal goals.    

She is winner of the 2014 New Statesman SPERI Prize in Political Economy, the 2015 Hans-Matthöfer-Preis, the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought and the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values.  She was named as one of the ‘3 most important thinkers about innovation‘ by the New Republic, and is on The Bloomberg 50 list of ‘Ones to Watch’ for 2019. As part of her work, she advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth including in her role as Special Advisor for Carlos Moedas, the current Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.

Mariana Mazzucato – The author

In addition to a prize-winning thinker on innovation, Mariana is also the author of two acclaimed books:

• The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013)
• The Value of Everything: making and taking in the global economy (2018)

Her second book from 2018, which brings value theory back to the center of economics in order to reward value creation over value extraction was a 2018 Strategy & Business Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year prize.

This year’s Schumpeter lecturer is not only inspiring but very accomplished, which made us wonder, where does she draw inspiration from? What influences Mariana Mazzucato’s thinking? We asked her what her favourite book was and why to which she answered:

“My favourite book is ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I love this quote in the book: ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea,’ because it perfectly sums up how I feel about missions (where multiple state and private sector actors collaborate to achieve a shared mission) and the importance of mission-oriented innovation policy as the means to tackle societal challenges, which is the focus of my work at the Institute that I founded at UCL.”

To find out more about Mariana, her work and the Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose, be sure to visit be sure to visit her institute website and follow her on Twitter (@MazzucatoM).

To follow her Schumpeter Lecture on Day 1 of the SME Assembly 2019 on 25 November, make sure you are following @EEPA_EU & #SMEAssembly2019 on Twitter for live coverage and that you have subscribed to @PromotingEnterprise on YouTube to be notified when her lecture is available online.

Watch Mariana Mazzucato’s Schumpeter Lecture here:

The Schumpeter Innovation in Enterprise lecture is one of the highlights of the SME Assembly and is given by a different guest lecturer each year. This year Professor Jan Fagerberg, from the University of Oslo gave a lecture on the current status of European innovation and how this is closely related to the issues of economic transformation and climate change.

CoCreativeFlow.com, Sabine Soeder

According to Professor Fagerberg, Europe is stuck in a partially self-inflicted stagnation and needs to transform accordingly. The European stagnation can be explained by globalisation, and the differing responses of European states, leading to a lack of homogeneity. The Euro in particular, meant that there was no specific need for policy coordination, which led to increased unemployment and different austerity policies. These outcomes mean that something must change, in order to rise out of stagnation, the economy must radically transform.

The need to transform the economy is particularly linked to climate change. European emissions are still at high levels, and must decline much faster than their current rates. This is where the link to renewable technology becomes relevant, both environmentally and economically speaking. Not only is it the answer to cutting down on emissions but due to: rapidly declining costs, unlimited availability, broad applicability and pervasive effects, it could arguably transform the current economy into a more sustainable model.

As both challenges are heavily influenced by each other, they require a coordinated policy response which should specifically have innovation policy at its heart. This entails innovation policy working across fields to promote, explore and provide opportunities in fields related to renewables. Through ICT and renewable technology there is a chance to not only transform the economy, but do so without causing further harm to the climate and possibly even remedy the current effects.

For photos from the lecture, please see the Flickr album.

For more information on his work and publications, please visit his website.

The first day of the SME Assembly 2020 opened with an address from Minister Peter Altmaier, who reflected on the problems SMEs have faced during the COVID pandemic and emphasised that liquidity assistance has been provided efficiently so far but needs to continue. He also discussed the recovery plan for Europe and discussed the German government’s position, which supports investment related to climate neutrality and digitalisation.

The Assembly then gave the floor to Commissioner Thierry Breton who stressed the importance of SMEs in driving a sustainable and digital European recovery. He spoke about the SME Strategy and its significance as a tool in helping the EU achieve autonomy in strategic sectors. Commissioner Breton also spoke about the importance of fighting against late payments and the need to work on helping our SMEs become more resilient. In addition he touched on the importance of our Single Market, calling it one of our biggest assets and the need to keep our borderless markets open.

As part of the opening plenary our SME Assembly host Shona Murray interviewed Fiona Candon, Deputy President of Chambers Ireland and Matilda Mielind, Board Member of SMEunited.

Throughout the morning sessions, delegates learnt about the SME Envoy Network, about what it does and the crucial role it plays in making sure that the voices of small businesses are heard at national and EU level. The session on digital sovereignty highlighted the importance of developing collaborative attitudes and leaving behind the silo mentality. Over in the session on keeping businesses afloat during times of crisis, speakers stressed the need to focus on SME resilience and to focus the creation of recovery instruments on existing practice.

Opening the afternoon was the highly anticipated awards ceremony featuring the winners of the European Small and Mid-Cap Awards, and the European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA). The highly coveted EEPA Grand Jury Prize was awarded to French Project Le Portail du Rebond, which has created a unique online platform for entrepreneurs to access all the different national services and bodies to help them get back on their feet and bounce back. Watch the EEPA winning moments of all of the deserving winners right here and consult the European Small and Mid-Cap Awards press release for more information.

After the excitement of the awards Nobel prize laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, gave this year’s Schumpeter Innovation in Enterprise Lecture. Professor Stiglitz spoke about the problems caused by the emphasis on markets without sufficient government regulation markets; the economic effects of the COVID pandemic and the effect of cutbacks in science budgets; the rise of the tech giants; the role of innovation in transforming our economic system from dependence on fossil fuels to renewables; and his hopes for the new US administration. More information about the 2020 Schumpeter lecture can be found here.

If you missed Professor Stiglitz at the Assembly you can now watch his lecture online:

Optimism characterised afternoon sessions on disruptive technology, circular economy and leadership. Innovators are often driven to create by the worst situations, technology and eco-friendly innovation are the way to environmental harmony, and leaders should not be afraid to be human to connect with their workforces.

Closing sessions offered insights into female entrepreneurship during the crisis, access to finance for SMEs and plans for support and what is in store for the future of the workplace. Themes of collaboration and ‘seeing a silver lining’ came through. Encouragement to see the pandemic as an opportunity to explore new working models, increasing access to resources for female entrepreneurs to help entrepreneurs overall and bringing EU tools to SMEs to help them prioritise digital transformation.

Day 1 of the Assembly was full, but it’s not over yet! Make sure to join us for Day 2 and follow the live coverage over on Twitter @EEPA_EU and don’t forget to use #SMEAssembly2020 for a chance to be featured on the event feed.

Haven’t registered yet? Last minute registrations are still possible but be quick! You can register here.

The SME Assembly 2020 is getting closer and still accepting registrations. Make sure that you don’t miss out on the online edition taking place from 16-17 November and register now to secure your place.

This year’s programme promises to be high-level and diverse with many famous faces such as Peter Altmaier, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany, and Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, and renowned economist Maja Göpel.

Here on the News Portal we have already introduced our distinguished 2020 Schumpeter lecturer Professor Joseph Stiglitz, and looked into the joint EEPA and European Small and Mid-Caps Awards ceremony. But what else is on the programme?

There’s truly something for everyone in the range of policy workshops and masterclasses that will be on offer, with topics ranging from SME’s leading the EU’s digital sovereignty to discussions about Women Entrepreneurs in times of COVID. As always, each session will see leading European experts convene to discuss the matters at hand from a specialist perspective. The highly anticipated Youth Essay Competition finals where our top three finalists will compete for YOUR vote will also be taking place LIVE as part of this year’s programme.

The SME Assembly 2020 will also offer networking opportunities, to ensure that the valuable conversations between delegates and the connections built throughout our Promoting Enterprise community are not lost. Make sure to register as soon as possible to secure your chance to network in dedicated online spaces and sessions during this year’s Assembly.

In addition to traditional networking there will also be ‘Virtual Worlds’ available for a small number of Assembly attendees to experience an innovative and immersive networking session. These sessions will transport participants to other worlds and demonstrate how SMEs can use ground breaking opportunities that the digital and technology expanse offers for economic growth and resilience. In order to secure one of these additional limited places first, register for the SME Assembly event, then contact the SME Assembly Secretariat with VR Event as the subject line to register your interest. Please note that only registered delegates will be able to secure spots for the VR sessions.

Register for the SME Assembly 2020 and join us for THE event for SMEs and those who support them.

As you are probably already aware, U.S. economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz will be delivering the Schumpeter ‘Innovation in Enterprise’ lecture at the SME Assembly 2020, to be held online on 16 and 17 November during European SME Week. This promises to be a riveting address, so if you haven’t already saved the date, make sure to do so immediately. Ahead of the Assembly we are publishing a short introduction to Mr Stiglitz and his work on the Promoting Enterprise News Portal.

Joseph Stiglitz is an American economist, public policy analyst, and a professor at Columbia University. His CV is formidable – he is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chair of the US president’s Council of Economic Advisers. In 2000, Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), a think tank on international development based at Columbia University, where he has been a faculty member since 2001.

Stiglitz has also served as chair of the international Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, appointed by President Sarkozy of France, and currently serves as co-chair of its successor, the High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. In addition, from 2011 to 2014, Stiglitz was president of the International Economic Association (IEA).

Excellence rewarded

In addition to his impressive work Stiglitz is the recipient of a long list of international awards. Chief among these are the John Bates Clark Medal, which he was awarded in 1979 by the American Economic Association, and later, in 2001, he was recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Stiglitz received the Nobel Prize along with George Akerlof and Michael Spence for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information.

The economic theory of asymmetric information proposes that an imbalance of information between buyers and sellers can lead to market failure. Analysis of these markets looks at questions such as why interest rates are often excessively high on local lending markets in Third World countries, or why rich landowners don’t bear the entire harvest risk in contracts with poor tenants.

Stiglitz and his co-laureates proposed a common explanation and extended the theory, augmenting it with the realistic assumption of asymmetric information: agents on one side of the market have much better information than those on the other side – tenants know more than landowners about their work effort and harvesting conditions, for example. For more information on markets with asymmetric information, check out the Nobel Prize site.

Stiglitz is also the author of several books, most recently The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future. His other books include People, Power, and Profits; The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them; Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity; and Globalization and its Discontents.

Don’t miss out!

In 2011, Time magazine named Stiglitz as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Delivered by such a formidable keynote speaker, the Schumpeter ‘Innovation in Enterprise’ lecture at this year’s SME Assembly is a not-to-be-missed event that promises to be full of valuable insights for innovative businesses. 

Register for the SME Assembly and contact the SME Assembly Secretariat for more information.

In the interests of the safety and wellbeing of our community, the decision has been taken by the German Presidency of the Council in cooperation with the Commission to transform the SME Assembly 2020 into an online event.

The SME Assembly 2020 will feature a combination of high-level panels and interviews, expert roundtables, interactive workshops, informative masterclasses, and innovative networking opportunities to help answer the difficult questions facing our community post-COVID.

Top speakers, such as Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, have already confirmed their participation in this year’s event. We are delighted to inform you that Professor Stiglitz will deliver the 2020 Schumpeter ‘Innovation in Enterprise’ Lecture from New York.

We will also be joined by many other top speakers such as Commissioner Thierry Breton, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier, the distinguished economist Dr. Maja Göpel, and many more.

So, if you haven’t already, SAVE THE DATES in your diaries.

You can start following the SME Assembly 2020 conversation and join in by using #SMEAssembly2020 on Twitter and by following @EEPA_EU, or by heading over to Facebook and following the @PromotingEnterprise page. Other updates on the SME Assembly 2020 will also be posted right here on the News Portal.

We look forward to seeing you online on the 16th and 17th November for this exciting virtual version of SME Assembly 2020!

For any questions on this year’s SME Assembly 2020 please contact the SME Assembly Secretariat and don’t forget to register.

It is the last day of 2019 and what a year it has been for Promoting Enterprise! Here on the News Portal we have been very lucky to meet some inspiring individuals in the world of entrepreneurship, who have taken the time to share their valuable insights and experiences with us. As this year draws to an end we have taken some time to look back on some of the highlights from 2019.

The year started off with a bang with the launch of the highly anticipated European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA), which went into their 13^th edition. This year saw some fierce competition with the announcement of a stellar EEPA shortlist, that went on to compete to become the EEPA Class of 2019 at the SME Assembly in Finland. You can find out more about all the projects in the EEPA 2019 Compendium.  

The Youth Essay Competition ran again for the fourth consecutive year and shook things up with two challenging questions for participants to answer, and asking for their speech as the next Commissioner. The standard of entries was very high, and the jury struggled to narrow the entries down to the top four finalists Radu Dumitrescu, Enzo Ercole Ribagnac, Estelle Beuve and Aureliano Ulndreaj. Our top four took on their final challenge, presenting and speaking at the SME Assembly 2019, where our delegates chose Radu Dumitrescu as this year’s winner. Congratulations Radu!

2019 also saw the launch of the next edition of the Secrets of Success brochure, “Entrepreneurs of Europe – Connecting, Sharing and Innovating”, featuring previous Ideas from Europe winners with cutting edge innovative ideas and businesses.

The SME Assembly 2019 was the flagship event of the year and took place in Helsinki, Finland under the Finnish Presidency of the European Commission. This year’s Assembly featured many inspiring and well-known speakers, including famed economist Mariana Mazzucato, the 2019 Schumpeter Lecturer, Professor Daniel Isenberg, the 2019 keynote speaker, Alberto Onetti, Chairman and Founder of Mind the Bridge and Petri Peltonen, Finland’s Under-secretary of state. If you missed out on our live coverage of the Assembly you can still read the Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 summary posts right here on the News Portal. You can also continue the conversation in the Online SME Assembly LinkedIn group and get involved in the ongoing SME Strategy Exchange.

We hope that you have enjoyed following us in 2019 and see you in 2020!

The SME Assembly 2019 might be over, but the conversation is still going!

This year the SME Assembly 2019 was an important contribution to the upcoming SME Strategy from the European Commission. During the Assembly delegates experienced the enterprising nature of Finland with a visit to Team Finland, and an entrepreneur expo throughout the event. In addition attendees of the Schumpeter lecture listened to a passionate Mariana Mazzucato give an inspiring lecture the importance of state finance, particularly patient finance and the importance of government support for SMEs willing to innovate. The following days of the Assembly brought delegates together to discuss, hack and innovate in support of the upcoming SME Strategy and provide valuable input for its creation.The results of the Assembly will be shared in the ‘Online SME Assembly’ LinkedIn group which is open to all delegates, speakers and stakeholders.

Be sure to watch the SME Assembly 2019 highlights, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the outcomes of the SME Assembly, upcoming EEPA winner interviews and exciting updates! Enjoy the newsletter and do not forget to submit your news, articles and updates to be featured in an upcoming issue.

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The third and final day of the SME Assembly started with an overview and discussion on the future roles for regions and cities in promoting both entrepreneurship and SMEs. The session was opened by Kristin Schreiber, Director for SME Policy and Entrepreneurship, European Commission:

“I believe we achieved a lot through the single market and now we to build on this momentum. I’m counting on you to come up with bright and innovative ideas for the new SME strategy”.

It was then time to review the annual performance of Europe’s SMEs for 2019, with the SME Economic Performance Review, led by Kristin Schreiber – Director for SME Policy, Ben Butters – Eurochambres, and Jan Bormans from the European Startup Network. For more information and to read the review and accompanying report in full, have a look here.

The highly anticipated Youth Essay Competition session kicked off with inputs from members of the jury, including Kristin Schreiber from the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, and Marija Elena Borg, last year’s competition winner. Congratulations to the three runners up, Estelle Beuve, Enzo Ercole Ribagnac and Aureliano Ulndreaj who gave excellent speeches to the SME delegates, and special congratulations to Radu Dumitrescu for being crowned this year’s winner!

The Assembly closed with a look at the future of sustainable SME Growth, and the contributions from this year’s participants towards the new SME Strategy. The winner of the best tweet competition, was also announced and received a signed copy of Schumpeter Lecturer Mariana Mazzucato’s book “The Value of Everything”. To close the SME Assembly, it was time to handover the torch to the next host presidency, Germany, who will be hosting next year’s Assembly in November in Berlin.

That’s a wrap for the 2019 SME Assembly! See you next year in…Berlin!

The SME Assembly may be over, but the discussion continues! Keep sharing your ideas on Twitter with #SMEAssembly2019 and by tagging @EEPA_EU and don’t forget to join and post in the LinkedIn group “Online SME Assembly” to keep the conversation going.

Watch the SME Assembly 2019 highlights: