In Paris on Tuesday, Europe’s digital economy ministers will meet to discuss the future. Their agenda should be obvious. The internet has been the bright spot in an otherwise bleak EU economy. The eurozone economy is expected to contract by 0.4 per cent in 2013. By contrast, the internet economy in the G20 countries is forecast to grow by 8 per cent each year for the next five years.
The internet has lowered barriers to entry and made it easier than ever for people to set up their own businesses and to become entrepreneurs. In Europe, we already have best-in-class tech businesses such as Swedish music streaming service Spotify, Finnish games developer Supercell, French display advertising business Criteo and British companies such as Just Eat, Mind Candy and Zoopla. The “internet economy” is also much broader than many people realise. Every business is an internet business to some extent. Many of our best-known, global companies are using digital innovation to bring better products and services to their customers.
The agenda for European governments should be clear: concentrate on policies that enable new business creation and encourage established businesses to innovate through technology. Create incentives for risk-taking to counter the worrying decline in venture capital investment. Make it quick and easy to start your own company and take the stigma out of failure by creating incentives that encourage entrepreneurs to try again. Embrace trade and fair competition and back innovation.