Lessons for ICT Innovative Industries: Three Experts’ Positions on Financing, IPR and Industrial Ecosystems

Why is it that European firms are less present as leading innovators in new ICT sectors? The most common factor raised in the literature to explain the differences in dynamic structure between the US and the EU is a greater willingness on the part of the US financial markets to fund projects in new sectors. The more fragmented nature of Europe’s product markets has also been cited as potential barrier to innovation in the region compared with the United States. For new sectors, this is particularly true of markets where early users are willing to take up and co-develop innovations. In addition, the lower exit and re-entry costs for firms and the greater mobility in the US labour market are factors which would encourage the emergence of new industries and new firms in the US. Nonetheless, part of the story is also the failure of the EU’s innovation “ecosystem” to effectively link its innovation actors. The current report aims to help address these issues – through the point of view of three separate experts - , by providing their specific understanding of emerging innovative ICT markets and what role government policy could play. Using an in-depth analysis of specific new emerging ICT technologies and markets and a detailed examination of the evidence for the ability of European firms to enter and grow into leading innovators in these sectors, the report identifies several implications for EU policy making on how to better leverage its innovation capacity in ICT markets.