By Martin Banks - 1st July 2010
The survey we've done gives food for thought
Rudi Thomaes
A major business summit in Brussels has been told that a majority of CEOs believe Europe can recover from its current economic turmoil by focusing on innovation and building up the talent and skills of the European workforce.
This was the key finding of a survey by Accenture and INSEAD, a leading international business school, commissioned by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB).
The results were presented at the European Business summit in Brussels, a two-day event which concludes on Thursday.
The summit, “Putting Europe Back on Track,” has focused on how to build a more competitive and sustainable EU.
It aims to provide a "key platform for business, government and opinion leaders from across Europe and the world to explore a way forward to a more competitive and sustainable Europe."
The survey is based on more than 250 responses from chief executives and other leaders from the public and private sectors.
The respondents identified several areas that will impact Europe’s recovery and specific actions that need to be taken to sustain that recovery.
The survey found that:
• Sixty-five percent of CEOs whose companies grew in 2009 believe that Europe can recover from the current economic turmoil and become a leading player in the global economy by 2020;
• More than two thirds of the CEOs said their company’s were looking at innovation as a key to putting their businesses back on track;
• More than two-thirds (70%) of the respondents believe that to take advantage of Europe’s large pool of diverse resources, re-skilling or up-skilling their workforce over the next five years will be critical to Europe’s future business success.
Rudi Thomaes, chief executive officer of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium, said, "The survey we've done gives food for thought to ourselves in the business community and to European political leadership. CEOs are still in doubt on the stability of the financial system.
"They point at the slow pace at which we digitalise our economy and society and at the fragmentation of our R&D efforts. But they are ready to invest in innovation and expansion overseas.
"In that respect the survey clearly indicates that our business needs an extended highway bridge between Europe and Asia."
“To reinforce the foundation of talent in the region, it will be critical for Europe to foster its entrepreneurial spirit,” said Frank Brown, of INSEAD.
“Europe already has success stories for building entrepreneurial skills. However, scaling these successes will require even more ambitious collaboration between the public and private sectors.”
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