Monday 16 January 2017

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN BELGIUM

HOW TO STIMULATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN BELGIUM

Innovation is central to economic growth and business competitiveness. Over the past 10 years, Belgium has worked hard to capitalize on its outstanding research and education facilities and highly skilled workforce by encouraging even more R&D activities with fiscal incentives. This has been a great success, with US companies alone investing $2 billion in Belgian R&D in 2012. However, while Belgium excels in R&D, it still needs to take action to foster a true innovation hub by stimulating something far less tangible: its entrepreneurial culture.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes re-emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship in economic growth, saying, “Politicians don’t create jobs, entrepreneurs do.” By using innovative technologies and platforms, app entrepreneurs have created 800,000 jobs in Europe in the past five years alone.