Although there is an extreme lack of experts, particularly in small and medium-sized hightech entities in Germany, the possibilities of recruiting such people from neighbouring countries are not sufficiently made use of. The main reason for this is the fear of language barriers. This fact was revealed by the “Managing Mobility Matters 2006« study conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which was presented in Lille (France) yesterday. more…

A recent industry barometer by the Federal Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media, the so-called BITKOM index, not only measured expectations regarding turnover, but also trends concerning the labour market. According to the BITKOM president, Mr. Willi Berchtold, at the end of 2006 the labour market presents quite a heterogenious picture for the internet and telecommunications industry. more…

Through a “Green Book on the use of satellite navigation” for the Galileo satellite system the European Commission also addresses hightech small and medium-sized entities and think tanks. According to its preamble the purpose of this Green Book is to open a discussion which is to spur the development of new applications in satellite navigation. more…

Germany comes second worldwide with regard to inventions, but ranks only in midfield as far as innovations are concerned. In future so-called clusters between newly- founded companies and market-oriented scientists may help to turn inventions more frequently into innovations which can be commercialized. A decisive disadvantage regarding the commercialization of innovations in Germany is a lack of venture capital. This is one of the first findings of the innovation summit organized by DIW Berlin which recently started in Berlin. more…

There are alarming figures for small and medium-sized hightech entities which play a particular important role in the German economy: Prof. Eike Lehmann, chairman of the association of german engineers (VDI), in his recent presentation of current figures concerning the labour market for engineers laments a substantial shortage of engineers. According to these figures, about 22.000 vacancies for engineers cannot be staffed at the moment. In the short run this shortage could only be compensated for by a better integration of women and older jobless engineers into the market, whereas in the long run better conditions for immigration should be created. more…

In 2006 the German government has increased the amount of money spent on research and development (R&D) by almost 7%. This is the conclusion of the 2006 Federal Report on Research prepared by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) which was approved yesterday by the federal cabinet. more…

A current study conducted by Creditreform has revealed that among the total number of insolvencies there are always more small and very small entities, whereas the percentage of larger enterprises going bust has remained virtually unchanged. According to this survey, the proportion of insolvent companies with a turnover of up to 0.1 million Euro has grown by 2.4 percent to 22.7 percent, while the share of those broke companies with an annual turnover of between 0.1 and 0.25 million Euro has grown by 1.3 percent and currently stands at 24.4 percent. more…

Going public in Frankfurt is much more attractive than in London in particular for small and medium-sized entities. This is the finding of a joint study by the Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS) at the Technical University in Munich (TUM) and the European Business School (ebs) which was presented on the occasion of the equity capital conference 2006. The central question to be answered by the study was the influence of a going public on the costs of capital of a company. more…

The statistical yearbooks published by the Federal Statistical Office are no blockbusters, but quite a useful source of information for planning. So far printed versions have been quite expensive. Even the current edition which costs 84 Euro is not inexpensive. What is new is the fact that these yearbooks may now be completely downloaded free-of-charge from the internet. Another advantage: the PDF format allows a perfect full-text search. Download here.

Venture capital investment is defined as private equity capital used for investing into companies. For small and medium-sized entities access to venture capital investment is highly important with regard to growth and employment. The amount of venture capital being available in proportion to GDP varies in the single EU member states. And this amount is also an important indicator for the financial possibilities of newly founded small and medium-sized companies in their starting and innovation stages. more…