Venture capital in Europe - Spice for European economies（一）.pdfVIP

0 6 Venture capital in Europe October 2, 2006 Spice for European economies e g Europe needs more start-ups. Low entrepreneurial activity is one important n reason among others for the lacklustre performance of most European economies. a h Less than 4% of German residents are opportunity-driven entrepreneurs c compared to close to 11% in the US. Start-ups are often more innovative and l a dynamic than incumbent firms and thereby help to rejuvenate the economy. r u t Most European countries have few venture-capital investments. c u European venture capitalists invested around EUR 12.7 bn (0.11% of GDP) in r t 2005 compared to more than EUR 17.4 bn (0.17% of GDP) in the US. But Europe s d is catching up: since 2003, venture-capital (VC) investments have increased by n 23% per year on average compared to 0.3% in the US. Also, Denmark, Sweden a and the UK have a higher share of VC investments – albeit fewer entrepreneurs – y m in relation to the size of their economies than the US (see Figure). o n Germany could boost economic growth by ¼pp if its VC investments o c were just to catch up with the European average. Our analysis suggests e that countries with a higher share of VC investments have higher growth rates on l