Report from Svenskt Näringsliv October 2009

The report is called A European Paradise and focuses on how the EU by emulating the characteristics of its top performing countries by all states could reach Paradise. The six areas for improving the competitiveness of the EU are: 1) entrepreneurship, where Ireland is the champion; 2) job creation, where the Netherlands is the champion; 3) highly skillled workforce, where Luxembourg is the champion; 4) research, where the United Kindom is the champion; 5)green technology, where Belgium is the champion; and 6) financial markets. A summary is found on page 82 in the report.

There was an interesting graph concerning the venture capital investment in green technology in the US and in the EU on page 59 of the report. In Europe people seem to often point at the US and say they don't do enough for the environment. However, the graph shows that the US invests much more private capital in green technology than does the EU. The US invests more from 2002-2008 but they start to increase in 2004 and in 2007 they invest approximately 7 times more. Data for 2008 are only in for the first 6 months of the year but seems to be greater than from 2007. Sweden is the country in the EU that invests most from the public but private funding tend to mean that you are closer to a product, according to the report. It should also be noted the the total GDP of the US and EU are about the same and that there are 500m people in the EU vs 300m in the US.

Got the reference for the report from the blog of Gunnar Hökmark.