7 ways to boost digital innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe: Key messages from the European innovation policies for the digital shift project

Abstract

This report attempts to summarise findings and conclusions of over 30 studies published within the EURIPIDIS project (European Innovation Policies for the Digital Shift). The objective of EURIPIDIS was to better understand how digital innovation and entrepreneurship work; to assess the EU's digital innovation and entrepreneurship performance; and to suggest how policy makers could make digital innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU work better. Because digital technologies facilitate the modernization of firms and economies, digital innovation and entrepreneurship requires a comprehensive policy response. The current report focuses on 7 issues. (1) Digital innovation and entrepreneurship require skills and capabilities ranging from technical, managerial and financial; entrepreneurial culture; failure acceptance; large funding and innovation-friendly regulatory environment. Capacity building and specific policies are needed in all those fields. (2) Resisting digital disruption and protecting the status quo is likely to be a short-term strategy. Negative social and economic effects need to be mitigated. (3) The ecosystem of digital innovation and entrepreneurship consists of a wide range of different players. Policy responses need to address this heterogeneity. (4) Digital innovation and entrepreneurship takes place through collaborative interactions between various players. To facilitate collaboration, knowledge flow and spillovers need to become a more central focus of public policies. (5) In addition to increasing funding for innovation, closer attention needs to be paid to the availability of funding for scaling-up of digital enterprises. (6) To guarantee technological interoperability and create technology-related network effects, coordination between various players to, for example, set technological standards is needed. (7) Technological complexity combined with the cumulativeness of digital innovation requires a balance between two conflicting goals: the provision of incentives to create new products and the stimulation of knowledge dissemination.