Europe's Mobile Assets
here was a time when the value of a business corresponded closely to that of its buildings, equipment and other physical assets. In today's knowledge economy, however, tangible assets represent an ever smaller proportion of a company's worth. In emerging high-tech sectors in particular, value resides overwhelmingly in human capital - in the knowledge, experience and skills of key staff - which is hard to quantify and harder still to retain.
The mobility of skilled personnel is both a danger and a necessity. In those sectors engaged in the development of Information Society Technologies - the subject of this edition's dossier article - skills shortages are already a constraint on competitiveness and growth, and the situation will get worse before it gets better. While wage costs spiral upwards, the departure of a key developer or manager can make share prices plummet. The recent volatility of high-tech stocks may be very largely due to our inability to value, and to manage effectively, the human capital on which our economies now depend.
But the commercial application of new scientific knowledge which sustains prosperity and employment relies on the unfettered circulation of people and ideas. As highlighted by the European Forum for Innovative Companies, the flow of knowledge and qualified personnel from universities and corporate research centres to new spin-out companies is a critical factor in the ongoing renewal of Europe's industrial fabric. Similarly, collaboration and exchange of good practice between regions is the lifeblood of the European Research Area now under construction. .
December 2000
