Leon Pieters’ Post

The NGEU programme represents the largest EU investment ever made, with €386bn offered as loans to individual member states and €420bn as grants. We surveyed European business leaders to find out how they have used this investment.

🏗️ Europe’s Industrial Future: Investment Alone Won’t Be Enough We need an even more innovative Europe if we are going to have more renewables and more human-centered technology. To get there, Europe needs an industrial policy with big bets on research and innovation. But money alone can't do the trick. It needs the governance structure to back it up. Long-term success means three things: - Building governance structures to manage investment at the portfolio level; - Creating a mandate for risk-taking and risk communication, with the public, and; - Working across borders and sectors to find efficiencies for market integration and scale. Join Maria Koomen and Namita Kambli on OGP Horizons how collaborative governance can shape Europe's - and the world's - future. #EuropeanInnovation #R&D #Governance #PublicPolicy #Sustainability #OpenGovernment

The country overviews of the 2023 edition of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Investment Survey are out! (including for Portugal!) A aggregate investment is more than 10% higher than prior to the start of the pandemic, with all sectors above the pre covid levels. The recovery in investment registered since 2021 was mostly due to an expansion in corporate investment. Public investment growth remained relatively timid even in 2023, with the contribution from the RRF funds. Portuguese firms remain worried about investment conditions for the year ahead. However, they are only more pessimistic than in the previous round for the political and regulatory climate. Firms in Portugal are now less  pessimistic about the economic climate. The biggest long-term barriers to Portuguese firms’ investment are future uncertainty, availability of skilled staff, and energy costs. Business and labour market regulations  remain bigger investment barriers in Portugal than they are across the EU.   The full investment report will be released later next week... stay tuned!

The results of the 2023 EIB investment survey for Ireland have just been published. Some of the key takeaways are: 1.      Firms operating in Ireland held a positive investment outlook in 2023, with a net balance of 21% of firms expecting to increase rather than decrease investment, higher than EIBIS 2022 (11%). 2.      However, there is an interesting contrast in firms’ perceptions. Firms have an expectation that economic conditions will worsen but have a positive outlook for business prospects in their own sector. 3.      Firms in Ireland are as likely as those across the EU to have faced increases in energy costs (97% versus 93%). However, firms in Ireland are more likely to have faced increases of 25% or more than firms across the EU (90% versus 68%). 4.      Ireland continues to lag European firms in some areas of climate, such as building resilience to physical risk and the share of firms investing to tackle climate impacts. However, Ireland is catching up with EU firms in other areas, such as the share of firms setting targets for their own greenhouse gas emissions. 5.      The level of innovation in Irish firms is ahead of the EU and more closely aligned with US levels. The use of advanced digital technologies increased in 2023 (76%) compared to 2022 (64%). In comparison to the EU and the US, Irish firms are making comparatively greater use of Internet of Things but comparatively less use of big data / AI and robotics. For even more details on these trends and a host of other issues, please check out the report.  https://lnkd.in/eyPFgyWp

Investment is the simplest way to gauge Europe’s competitiveness—and the region’s investment pulse is low. We examine a few strategies Europe can use to boost competitiveness, including addressing barriers to investment, such as energy costs and talent shortages. ➡️ https://mck.co/3W3YuyK

In this report prepared for the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024, Maria Demertzis, David Pinkus and Nina Ruer explore how to boost EU strategic investments beyond 2026, when EU member states collectively face a total annual investment gap of at least €481 billion up to 2030. Closing this gap, which is necessary if the EU is to achieve its strategic objectives, will rely on the efficient use of public resources and on mobilising private investment. Read their recommendations in full ⤵ https://lnkd.in/ekaJDpYj

The article highlights how public funds, particularly those from the NextGenerationEU programme, are inspiring European businesses to invest more in innovation, considering these opportunities key for investment. In Italy, for example, 72% of businesses see publicly funded opportunities as essential for investment, alongside traditional forms of financing such as self-financing and banking. This link between public funding and the stimulus to innovation can be interpreted in light of the concept of antifragility. Antifragility refers to the ability of a system not only to resist shocks and disruptions, but also to benefit from them, both becoming stronger and more resilient in the process and managing to generate new development opportunities. In the context of the EU and programs like NextGenerationEU, the idea is that public investments can help make businesses and the economy as a whole more antifragile. In this sense, the strategic use of public funds to stimulate innovation could be a step towards building a more robust European economy that is adaptable to future challenges. The combination of targeted public investments and private initiatives could favor the creation of an economic ecosystem that not only survives crises, but emerges strengthened and ready to face new challenges. https://lnkd.in/dFUe98bR

After months of expert consultation, roundtables and bilateral discussions, the City of London Corporation is proud to be launching the Transition Finance Market Review final findings this morning.    Delivering #netzero by 2050 is a global investment opportunity. Companies and Governments will require almost $200 trillion of transition finance to deliver on commitments and meet Paris Agreement #climate goals. #TransitionFinanceMarketReview ➡️ Download the report now to read the full set of recommendations: https://lnkd.in/eJBYY5TM

Perhaps Ms. Yellin could explain why there is a financing gap of $3 trillion per year in new investment through 2050 for the world's transition to a low-carbon economy if, as she claims, such transition is “the single greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” It would seem that if such a transition were advisable or likely to be realized, capital would flow freely to “decarbonization” projects without government intervention. https://lnkd.in/gvftjygZ

Dr. Tobias Lechtenfeld discusses how Europe can harness private investment to meet the ambitious goals outlined in #MarioDraghi’s report. Lechtenfeld emphasizes that relying solely on public funding is insufficient; instead, mobilizing private capital is essential. He advocates for de-risking investments through strategic financial policies and creating a supportive regulatory environment to foster #innovation and growth in Europe’s green and digital economies. For more details, you can read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3ZWcLkP Energy Resilience Leadership Group