May 02, 2004

Video clip of my rant on the Future of Business in Europe panel at the World Economic Forum

Posted at 03:04 in Europe, Politics, World Economic Forum | | 11 Comments

Loic Le Meur at the World Economic ForumSo, after a session to prepare for my first Plenary at the World Economic Forum, I asked for your suggestions on how to prepare it and I thank you for your ideas, for those of you who just want the summary I wrote one 20 minutes before my speech and I have read my blog post in front of the European leaders (and gave your comments to them in print - quite fun !), I was quite scared but I think it went Ok, but please please please let me have your comments about my speech (streaming Real Audio and Windows Media player) which is available on the World Economic Forum Website.
The questions I had were very interesting:

Antiglobalization and Social Entrepreneurs: how do feel about that ? Excellent questions, I talked about my good old and close Social Entrepreneurs friends, Ethan Zuckerman (blog Africa and Geek Corp), Daniel Lubetzky (One Voice) and Mel Young (The Homeless World Soccer Cup).

Tax issues in the EU: we (the 15 Old Europe countries) should really adapt to the new 10 ones "hunger to succeed" and not the opposite. I even said "I feel more European than French" and criticized France's 35 hours a week maximum work time law strongly. Somebody told me on the panel "be careful France will not allow you to get back in your Country"

Last question was: you have great suggestions but how do you make them happen... Well, I guess we tried to get our points understood by politicians in the room but I agree, nothing will probably happen.... How should we actually make it happen ?

Anyway, yeah, I really have a French accent, and what do you think about my speech ?

I was very impressed with your presentation. I may be a little new to the subject, but I think you did a very excellent job. So, as one random blogger who ran into this via Joi, my compliments to you, my interest is quite sparked.

Andy Smith, May 02, 2004 at 03:52

Hell Loic,

Congratulations on surviving the ordeal! Clearly the five minute time limit was a severe constraint on what you could achieve and made your task that much more difficult.

One of the points I heard you mention often was the need to promote centers of excellence in Europe around particular industries (telcom, retail, fashion) and promote people moving to them. The benchmark used was of course Silicon Valley. I think this idea is actually a bit outdated and increasingly besides the point. In the era of the Internet folks needn't actually relocate anywhere. Silicon Valley continues to lose it's importance as thousands of Internet spawned blossoms bloom across the planet.

Yes of course, regulations need to be streamlined.

The social/cultural stigma of failure in Europe will take generations (if ever) to change.

Structual and procedural changes like blogging and websites by State institutions are probably the accelerator that will help most.

Anyway, well done indeed.

Hey, checkout my link when you get a chance, let's do some business.

Cheers,
Douglass Turner
voice/sms: +354 895 5077

Douglass Turner, May 02, 2004 at 11:07

Thank you Andy and Douglass for your good comments !

Loic, May 02, 2004 at 11:27

The debate was very interesting, I agree that clusters are very important for creating specific knowledge, however disseminating it might prove to be challenging. I only hope that the "what" involves more action and less words - actually I believe that each entrepreneur should be the first to evangelize the benefits of taking more risks and getting more things done.

Congratulations for a job well done!

Dragos, May 02, 2004 at 13:08

the question was not on the content, but on Loic's performance ;-) I would say that the French accent is bearable, even enjoyable, and that the "presentation" was very clear. If you were scared to death it absolutely doesn't show. Maybe a small hesitation in the beginning and then the train was forging ahead at full steam (French inspired expression, of course).

lionel, May 02, 2004 at 13:40

hehe, thanks Dragos and Lionel !

Loic, May 02, 2004 at 16:13

Sort of related to your remark about your accent:

Isn't indeed one of the factors holding Europe back versus the US the factor of language?

Case in point:

If I were to start a media venture -- be it a magazine, a newspaper, a movie, a music album or a blog -- in the US market, I'd write it in English and be accessible to the entire nation all at once.

In Europe, however, there are many government incentives around in most countries that encourage you to write in "your own language". This goes for France in particular, but I know it also applies to my Norway and I'm sure other European countries as well (Germany etc.)

This is most obviously ridiculous when observed in the EU parliament, with its many official languages and interpreters.

Isn't it about time the common market is also applied to the language itself and not just the arena for the language? I know this sort of thing can't (and shouldn't be) enforced top-down, but it's certainly a ground-up factor to consider. You write your blog in English, I do too with mine, thus we both reach audiences beyond our national borders.

Fred., May 02, 2004 at 17:48

fantastic! it saddens me greatly that people are afraid to let the past be the past and build towards a new future. working together in europe and promoting what makes europe great does not mean that we have to merge and loose our cultural identity.

i look forward to the day that we become europeans first, dynamic in response to the world business events, and dutch, french, german etc second.

ps
your french accent is a fantastic example how the internet makes us one as europeans while in real life we are still culturally different and unique. you can be an integrated european without loosing your french uniqueness.

Gerard van Schip, May 02, 2004 at 21:56

Wow, 35 hours maximum a week. I think a lot of North Americans would love something like that!

Steve, May 02, 2004 at 23:08

Don't worry about your accent: you mentioned London in your speech; there accents matter so much less than results...

I like the rethorics of you present:
- good structure and easy structure to follow
- good *personal examples*, makes so much less dry
- good facts examples.

1 great idea you should really follow upon:
- a European Entrepreneurship day
you can make it really happen. And use your line as a motto: 'protect our future, not our past !'

Keep up the good work. Let's talk more at our upcoming lunch ! :)

Rodrigo Sepulveda, May 02, 2004 at 23:57

Loic, very inspiring talk. I'd like to echo the sentiments of both the last speaker (polish) on your panel and one of the responses above. The idea that you need "centers" is probably not useful in the geographic sense; however, it is extremely useful to draw attention to core competencies such as you those you mentioned with international trade in London, cellphones in Nordic region, etc.
The other thing is that while it must be extremely frustrating to deal with the bureaucracy that is the legacy of Europe, you can also turn that legacy to an advantage. As the polish woman said, there is a history that can be drawn on which helps to inform Europe as a whole. It strikes me that the advantage Europe has is that it is a positive model for globalization. In fact I think one of the reasons the US administration seeks to destabilize the EU is because it fears that if it were ever to become truly united it would rival the US for world leadership.

ps. something funny just happened to the codec while watching the clip which made everyone's voice (including yours) sound like Mickey Mouse!

Kevin Barron, May 03, 2004 at 09:27

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» Loic's rant at the European WEF (Davos) meeting from Joi Ito's Web
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» Loic Le Meur Blog: Speech on the Future of Business in Europe from Ecademy Blogs
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Welcome to my blog. Based in San Francisco, I am an entrepreneur and a blogger. I just started my fifth startup, Seesmic, a community driven video social software. Here is what TechCrunch says about it.

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