Entrepreneurship: A way of life

Studies show that entrepreneurship still remains a structural and cultural anomaly in continental Europe. Starting from this hypothesis the authors show how Europe could be made entrepreneurship-friendly.

Rudy Aernoudt studied Economics and Philosophy (KU Leuven) and European Economics (College of Europe). He is Professor of Corporate Finance and Enterprise Policy at the Universities of Ghent and Nancy. He was Director of Cabinet at European level, at Belgian federal level, at Walloon level and at Flemish level. He was also Director-General of One Laptop Per Child, a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Secretary-General for Economy and Innovation in Flanders and Chief Economist at the European Commission. He is a columnist and author of several books and papers in the fields of economics politics and philosophy. His book, Corporate Finance in Practice has become a standard reference text in the area of corporate and entrepreneurial financing.Marc Van Rompaey studied applied economics (KUL). He is a serial entrepreneur pur sang with vast international experience: he is CEO of Gnosis, a pioneer in client-server technology; founded, organised and reorganised many companies to exit in an M&A or IPO scenario (Nasdaq, Euronext); set up a 55 million private seed investment fund; managed a remarkable turn-around in an electronic-payment company; realised a prestigious M&A in the Swiss luxury watch business; and is founder-CEO of a Swiss/Belgian-based biotech start-up company