[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6570\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u2018Made in Europe\u2019 label could help EU competitiveness \u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We can create a label \u0022Made in Europe\u0022, and this will not only be a commercial label it will also mean that social and environmental issues are respected,\u2019 Inge Geerdens, founder of online recruitment firm CVWarehouse told European Industry Day in Brussels, Belgium, the first in a series of regular events looking at how the EU can help industrial firms, the EU workforce and citizens.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt comes as Europe works to increase its competitiveness against countries such as the US and South Korea.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite being the world\u2019s biggest market with half a billion consumers, European companies often struggle to compete with low-cost and high-tech imports.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We need Europeans to buy more European products,\u2019 Professor Jerzy Buzek, chair of the influential Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) committee at the European Parliament, told the event. \u2018After our crisis of 2008, 2009, we have got not enough internal demand in the European Union.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018\u0022Made in Europe\u0022 means we are proud of our activity.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe benefits of a \u0027Made in Europe\u0027 tag would be that it highlights the positive effects of European regulations, which make products safer and less damaging to the environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBest or nothing\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECarlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, told the event that Europe needed to show a clear benefit to citizens and businesspeople, and \u0027Made in Europe\u0027 could help with this by demonstrating the quality of European products.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If we want people to believe in the European project, we have to be the best, or nothing,\u2019 he said. \u2018That is our bet, the \u0022Made in Europe\u0022 label continues to be seen as a guarantee of quality, whether we are talking about steam engines or shoes.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Research Commissioner Moedas says that a \u0027Made in Europe\u0027 tag would be a guarantee of quality. Image credit: European Commission\/ Jennifer Jacquemart\u0022 height=\u0022379\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/Moedas%20at%20Industry%20Day.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Research Commissioner Moedas says that a \u0027Made in Europe\u0027 tag would be a guarantee of quality. Image credit: European Commission\/ Jennifer Jacquemart\u0022 width=\u0022640\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EResearch Commissioner Moedas says that a \u0027Made in Europe\u0027 tag would be a guarantee of quality. Image credit: European Commission\/ Jennifer Jacquemart\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Europe to ensure that its companies make products that people want to buy, it also needs to build its own high-tech firms that can rival the US technology giants Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, according to an EU \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bookshop.europa.eu\/en\/science-research-and-innovation-performance-of-the-eu-pbKI0415512\/?CatalogCategoryID=Gj0KABst5F4AAAEjsZAY4e5L\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ereport\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite having many of the world\u2019s top universities, Europe lags behind the US and China when it comes to the number of start-up companies valued at more than USD 1 billion, known as unicorns, according to Fortune magazine\u0027s influental \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/fortune.com\/unicorns\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EUnicorn List\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the biggest problems is that growing firms often cannot access enough financing in Europe.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px;\u0022\u003EIn fact, in 2015 the amount of venture capital (VC) funding available in Europe was around EUR 5 billion, while in the US it was EUR 26 billion.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0027s partly because, at the moment, VC funds in Europe are often too small for big investors. To address this, the EU is launching a fund of funds, which will commit public money alongside private cash to create a fund that is big enough for large investors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The European Commission now provides a lot of money directly to start-ups, they also provide quite decent amounts to the VC funds, but I think they (the European Commission) need to also make a step to stimulate the private investment capacity,\u2019 said Tatiana Issaeva, a partner at Fluent Digital Capital, an investment firm.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018For example the first initiative of Carlos Moedas on this pan-European fund of funds is an excellent initiative,\u2019 she said. \u2018These initiatives have capability to actually scale the VC industry, so private capital, to the magnitude of where it is competitive to US and China.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, the solution does not just lie in high-tech start-ups. The manufacturing sector in the EU is responsible for 33 million jobs and over 80\u0026nbsp;% of exports.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018\u0026quot;Made in Europe\u0026quot; means we are proud of our activity.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Jerzy Buzek, MEP\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPart of the problem is that there are too few EU champions, with most successful companies being the product of one Member State.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne exception to this is aerospace firm Airbus, which was formed jointly by the British, French and West German governments in 1970.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We consider ourselves a leader here, bringing a lot of volume because we have an enormous supply chain,\u2019 said Dr Silvia Lazcano from Airbus. \u2018We are also pulling (creating demand for) a lot of the technologies, so I think this is good value for Europe.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px;\u0022\u003ECliff\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn order to succeed, companies in Europe need to work across national borders and sectors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, at the moment differing interpretations of EU regulations across Member States can make this harder than for companies in the US or China, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Gauchet, chief executive of chemicals group Minafin, told the event.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Don\u2019t believe that China or the US don\u2019t want to be at the top, they will be at the top, but they take the stairs,\u2019 he said. \u2018European regulation are asking us to go (up) the cliff.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo solve these issues, many European industrialists called on the EU to have a dedicated overall policy towards Europe\u2019s industrial sector, bringing together the policy strands that already exist.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018To really make a difference, we need truly visionary policies for industry, across all areas, brought together in this real \u2026 EU industrial policy,\u2019 said Tomas Hedenborg, president of Orgalime, the EU engineering industry association. \u2018Let\u2019s hope that today\u2019s event is just the launch pad for this.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-ipbweki3m-v1nfrea87q9-aqkq5xo1svtwgu5kk7wpy\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-ipBWeKi3M_v1NFrEA87Q9_aQKq5Xo1sVtWGU5Kk7WPY\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]