Newly Developed Education Website Of The Wall Street Journal Europe in Test Phase

The newly developed education website of The Wall Street Journal Europe is ready for some outside-in testing. The site can be found at www.wsje-flp.com. WSJE stands for The Wall Street Journal Europe. FLP stands for Future Leadership Program.
The site features the The Future Leadership Program and focuses particularly on the past and future seminars of the The Future Leadership Institute which is an integral part of the WSJE Future Leadership Program. Besides the seminars the site also collects articles written for the website by distinguished partners in business and academia.

The WSJE Future Leadership Institute and The Lisbon Strategy

The most important goal of The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute is to bridge university and industry. Much of the topics related to this goal are in synchronization with the education goals of the Lisbon Strategy, a strategy of the European Community originally aimed at making the European Union the most competitive economy in the world by 2010 (since then the below is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon). Although there are some inconsistencies with the goals of the Lisbon Strategy and the actions and results achieved on the field, The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute supports the goals of the Lisbon Strategy.

We will look into 5 questions explaining the importance of the educational goals of the European Community related to the goals of The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute.
1. What is the Lisbon Strategy ?
2. What is the Research and Development Programme ?
3. What is the European Research Area (ERA) ?
4. What is the Treaty of Lisbon ?
5. What is the viewpoint of The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute ?



1. What is the Lisbon Strategy ?
During the meeting of the European Council in Lisbon (March 2000), the Heads of State or Government launched a "Lisbon Strategy" aimed at making the European Union (EU) the most competitive economy in the world and achieving full employment by 2010. This strategy, developed at subsequent meetings of the European Council, rests on three pillars:
An economic pillar preparing the ground for the transition to a competitive, dynamic, knowledge-based economy. Emphasis is placed on the need to adapt constantly to changes in the information society and to boost research and development.
A social pillar designed to modernise the European social model by investing in human resources and combating social exclusion. The Member States are expected to invest in education and training, and to conduct an active policy for employment, making it easier to move to a knowledge economy.
An environmental pillar, which was added at the Göteborg European Council meeting in June 2001, draws attention to the fact that economic growth must be decoupled from the use of natural resources.

A list of targets has been drawn up with a view to attaining the goals set in 2000. Given that the policies in question fall almost exclusively within the sphere of competence of the Member States, an open method of coordination (OMC) entailing the development of national action plans has been introduced. Besides the broad economic policy guidelines, the Lisbon Strategy provides for the adaptation and strengthening of existing coordination mechanisms: the Luxembourg process for employment, the Cardiff process for the functioning of markets (goods, services and capital) and the Cologne process on macroeconomic dialogue.
The mid-term review held in 2005, for which a report was prepared under the guidance of Wim Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, showed that the indicators used in the OMC had caused the objectives to become muddled and that the results achieved had been unconvincing.
For this reason, the Council has approved a new partnership aimed at focusing efforts on the achievement of stronger, lasting growth and the creation of more and better jobs. As far as implementation is concerned, the coordination process has been simplified. The integrated guidelines for growth and employment will henceforth be presented jointly with the guidelines for macroeconomic and microeconomic policies, over a three-year period. They serve as a basis both for the Community Lisbon Programme and for the National Reform Programmes. This simplification in programming makes it possible to monitor implementation more closely by using one single progress report.
The Lisbon strategy has defined 8 program area’s:

Broad economic policy guidelines (BEPG)
Employment
Environment
European Employment Strategy (EES)
Globalisation
Information society
Open method of coordination
Research and development

The programme area of interest to The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute is: Research and development


2. What is the Research and Development Programme ?
Research and development policy is one of the European Union's priorities, at the heart of the Lisbon Strategy to boost employment and growth in Europe. Research, with education and innovation, forms the "knowledge triangle", which it is hoped will allow Europe to maintain its economic dynamism and social model. The Seventh Framework Programme for Research (2007–2013) seeks to consolidate the European Research Area (ERA) and stimulate the national investment needed to reach the target of 3% of GDP.
Moreover, the creation of a European Institute of Technology by 2009 should enable European excellence to fully take shape.
Coordination of research and development initiatives within the Community is based on various instruments:
The framework programmes for research and technological development. These multi-annual programmes, introduced in 1984, encompass more specific programmes covering fields as varied as information and communication technologies, the environment, biotechnology, energy (including nuclear power), transport and mobility of researchers. The Seventh Framework Programme (2007–13) has the largest budget since the creation of a European research identity. It responds to the needs of industry and of European policies, placing knowledge at the service of economic, social and environmental progress.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) — the research body which supports the action of the Union — is made up of eight research establishments distributed in the European Community which meet the specific needs of the various policies of the European Commission. It is at the forefront of research in nuclear energy (especially safety) and has diversified into sectors such as materials, the environment, industrial risks and satellites. It is funded through the EU framework programmes for research and by its own earnings from commercial contracts.

European research and development policy is based on provisions in the three founding treaties (ECSC, Euratom and Title XVIII of the EC Treaty). The Single European Act introduced the concept of technology into Community law and the Treaty on European Union (EU Treaty) then developed the Community's objectives in this field.
See: European Research Area (ERA)


3. What is the European Research Area (ERA) ?
The European Research Area brings together all of the Community's resources to better coordinate research and innovation activities at the level of both the Member States and the European Union.
This concept was launched by the Commission in 2000 with the idea of developing truly attractive opportunities for researchers.
Previously, research at European level had faced numerous difficulties: fragmentation of activities, isolation of national research systems, disparity of regulatory and administrative frameworks, and low levels of investment in knowledge.
Through the resources made available, the ERA should make it possible to share data, compare results, carry out multi-disciplinary studies, transfer and protect new scientific knowledge and gain access to centres of excellence and state-of-the-art equipment.
The European research area should thus fulfil an ambition of determining value for the European Union, namely to develop a genuine common research policy.
The above is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon.


4. What is the Treaty of Lisbon ?
Taking Europe into the 21st century
The Treaty signed by the Heads of State or Government of the 27 Member States in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 will provide the EU with modern institutions and optimised working methods to tackle both efficiently and effectively today's challenges in today's world. In a rapidly changing world, Europeans look to the EU to address issues such as globalisation, climatic and demographic changes, security and energy. The Treaty of Lisbon will reinforce democracy in the EU and its capacity to promote the interests of its citizens on a day-to-day basis.

Europe is not the same place it was 50 years ago, and nor is the rest of the world.
In a constantly changing, ever more interconnected world, Europe is grappling with new issues: globalisation, demographic shifts, climate change, the need for sustainable energy sources and new security threats. These are the challenges facing Europe in the 21st century.
Borders count for very little in the light of these challenges. The EU countries cannot meet them alone. But acting as one, Europe can deliver results and respond to the concerns of the public. For this, Europe needs to modernise. The EU has recently expanded from 15 to 27 members; it needs effective, coherent tools so it can function properly and respond to the rapid changes in the world. That means rethinking some of the ground rules for working together.
The treaty signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 sets out to do just that. When European leaders reached agreement on the new rules, they were thinking of the political, economic and social changes going on, and the need to live up to the hopes and expectations of the European public. The Treaty of Lisbon will define what the EU can and cannot do, and what means it can use. It will alter the structure of the EU’s institutions and how they work. As a result, the EU will be more democratic and its core values will be better served.
This new treaty is the result of negotiations between EU member countries in an intergovernmental conference, in which the Commission and Parliament were also involved. The treaty will not apply until and unless it is ratified by each of the EU’s 27 members. It is up to each country to choose the procedure for ratification, in line with its own national constitution.
According to Article 6 of the Treaty of Lisbon, "this Treaty shall enter into force on 1 January 2009, provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited, or, failing that, on the first day of the month following the deposit of the instrument of ratification by the last signatory State to take this step. Currently, 26 Member States have already approved the Treaty and 23 have deposited their ratification instruments in Rome.


5. What is the viewpoint of The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute ?
The essence of the Lisbon Strategy is “ to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. ”
One of the elements to reach the goals of the Lisbon Strategy is “ Modernisation of Europe’s universities [is] a core condition for the success of the Lisbon Strategy [and] part of the wider move towards an increasingly global and knowledge-based economy.”

But what are universities for ?
• The pursuit of knowledge
• Education: the formation of human capital and the engine of upward social mobility
• Scientific research and innovation – through human capital
• Capitalizing university research: the “Entrepreneurial University”

How to measure the impact of universities in the “knowledge” economy ?
• Quantitative:
For example: % of working age population that attained tertiary education:
US 39
Belgium 31
OECD Average 26

• Qualitative:
– Degree production system ?
– What skills? Matching degrees with jobs
– Incentives for rational choice? (bottleneck jobs)
– Education and the entrepreneurial spirit?
– Degrees or PhDs?


Problems with Lisbon strategy:
- National Competencies: EU depends on MS to implement Lisbon strategy
- Several EU-countries struggle with ‘more and better jobs’ guidelines
- Focus on easiest goal: spend more money on R&D (Barcelona R&D target became core of Lisbon strategy)
- Spending target is easy compared to establishing a reform process


Lisbon and the importance on research:

By 2010: 3 % National GDP > R&D
– 1 % government
– 2 % private

Today ?
2005: EU-27: 1,84 % GDP > R&D
2004: US: 2,68 % GDP > R&D
2004: Japan: 3,18 % GDP > R&D
2005: Sweden: 3,86 % GDP > R&D
2005: China: 1,34 % (but comes from 0,95 % in 2001)



Research as % of tertiary education:

PhD participation Total As % tertiary education % Science and Engineering

Belgium 07.014 3,3 0,44
Czech Republic 23.282 7,3 0,51
Spain 76.895 4,2 0,25
Austria 15.524 6,5 0,30
Finland 21.207 7,1 0,40
Sweden 22.460 5,2 0,42
United Kingdom 89.378 4 0,41
Switzerland 15.850 8,1 0,39
United States 375.642 2,2


Financing Universities:

In % of GDP for tertiary education / Research + Education (only education)

2004 2000 1995
• Belgium 1,2 (0,80) 1,3 -
• The Netherlands 1,3 (0,8) 1,2 1,4
• Denmark 1,8 (1,35) 1,3 1,6
• Sweden 1,8 (0,9) 1,6 1,6
• Finland 1,8 (1,1) 1,7 1,9
• Korea 2,3 (2,03) 2,6 -
• US 2,9 (2,03) 2,7 2,4
• UK 1,1 (0,85) 1,0 1,2
• Ireland 1,2 (0,86) 1,5 1,3
• Italy 0,9 (,055) 0,9 0,7
• Switzerland 1,6 (0,93) 1,1 0,9


Reflection:
• Relative expenditures on tertiary education fall back in Belgium, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, UK and Ireland (and remain low in Germany and France)
• Universities are not able anymore to cover all technological and economical developments in society. Knowledge intensive multinationals have outgrown universities. Universities have to be selective and must specialize.
• Relationship between state owned universities and state owned companies has deteriorated.
• Researchers in multinationals have been educated at universities ! (Probably core task of universities)
• Universities in Europe are under-financed.


Critical elements:
• An economy is not a mechanical construction in which an increased input of R&D will lead to an increased output of GDP
• Companies automatically invest in R&D given market conditions. The current level of R&D spending in Europe reflects reality in supply and demand.
• An increase in R&D spending will only lead to more GDP if government reshapes at the same time a set of parameters to make economical climate more attractive for entrepreneurs and investors.
• Ireland: According to Eurostat research: Ireland invested less in R&D than average of EU-15, but became Europe’s richest country between 1997 and 2003. Therefore wealth is not primarily the result of R&D spending, but the result of government actions in reshaping market conditions for innovators and investors (tax system, bureaucracy, procedures, …)
• Innovation is not necessarily linked to R&D. Innovation is often the result of smart thinking in a dynamic organisation, based on existing knowledge. Investing in management, organisation, leadership and labour processes will lead to innovative behaviour (social innovation).


Most important information sources for most innovative companies in EU (Eurostat 81/2007)

Internal University Public R&D Customer
• EU-27 45,7 % 3,6% 2,7% 26,7%
• Belgium 54,7% 3,8% 2,3% 38,9%
• Denmark 56,2% 3,3% 0,5% 33,4%
• Germany 53,3% 3,4% 0,5% 35,0%
• Netherlands 45,0% 2,6% 2,0% 27%
• Finland 56,9% 4,9% 2,4% 38,1%


Relationship universities and innovative companies
Eurostat research 2002 – 2004:
• Industry doesn’t use universities as primary source to innovate.
• Industry claims conferences, journals and associations are more important sources to innovate than universities.
• > Ties between industry and university have to be strengthened !! (See WSJE Future Leadership Institute)
• > Innovations of most companies are not related to R&D, but to social innovations (creativity)
• > Mansfield: 1975 – 1994: R&D at universities was responsible for only 8 a 9 % of all product innovations and only 7 % of all process innovations in US.


Lisbon, research or education ?

• US: SPECIALISATION: 3.300 Universities > 215 have right to issue postgraduate degrees > less than 100 are R&D universities (with public funding) (SELECTIVE structure)
• US Universities: focus on excellence >< Europe Universities: focus on equality
• Europe: 2000 Universities: most of them have post graduate degrees, most of them apply for R&D grants.
• US universities are industry’s primary source of people with research training and experience … universities are the only places where advanced research and education are integrated on a large scale…


Paradise for Brains on the Move

• The global war for mobile human capital
• Science and Technology
– % of foreign science and technology students: US 25 – EU 5
– 400.000 EU S&T graduates live and work in the US
• Human capital makes the difference
– US: 40% of PhDs in 2006 to non-citizens
– Silicon Valley: 50+% of graduating foreign students become involved in start-ups
• Universities: an international challenge!


Conclusions:

• Europe: Strengthen ties between Industry and University

• Lisbon: investing 3 % of GDP in R&D by 2010 will not automatically lead to increase of wealth. Extra measures are necessary such as investment in economical climate, bureaucracy, entrepreneurship.

• Currently EU universities are creating scientists who are leaving the universities to innovate at multinationals. Multinationals have outdrawn universities in the game of innovation, leading to wealth. Increased investment in R&D at universities will not automatically lead to more innovation in society (too much general universities).

• EU Universities are underfinanced compared to US and others

For more information on the Lisbon Strategy and the viewpoints of The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute, contact Gert Van Mol, gert.vanmol@dowjones.com

Vepec evening sponsored by The WSJE Future Leadership Institute

VEPEC, the Belgian Marketing Organization of flamboyant president Jan Bax, organizes every year a series of conferences for her members, most of the time marketing specialists.

The WSJE Future Leadership Institute became a sponsor of the organization because we needed to strengthen relationships with marketing managers and directors as they are the gate to potential sponsorships. I also wanted to learn more about the organization of small but highly qualitative conferences so I could implement the knowledge into our own seminars. Thirdly the Vepec organization allows me to install a WSJE networking table prior to the conference.

Tonight the topic was all about the influence of sensuality and nudity in contemporary advertising. Key speakers were Harm Van Kessel, marketing manager Playboy and James Magazine, Wei-Sen Khor, marketing manager Philips and Siegfried Dewitte, professor marketing of the Catholic University of Louvain. The evening was moderated by Goedele Devroy, a Belgian television news journalist.

I took the opportunity to put a Wall Street Journal Europe copy on all seats in the auditorium before the conference started. The idea was to glue 2 leaflets on top of the cover of the paper to promote the WSJE Future Leadership Institute. Unfortunately I ran out of time to manually glue the 240 leaflets on the paper myself, so I mobilized Vic and Bob, 2 of my children, and my wife to help me put the leaflets on the paper as fast as possible before I took off to the conference. As said, I am a one man company within the company.

We learned from Playboy marketing manager Harm Van Kessel that Playboy has stopped being a magazine, and that it now acts as an advertising agency. From Philips’ Wei-Sen Khor we learned that the least bit of nudity in the environment of a multinational will raise eyebrows but that in the end, they collaborated successfully with Playboy in introducing a bikini-line trimmer to the market. The most exhilarating speech came from marketing professor Dewitte who studied the effects of sensuality into consumer’s behavior. It is actually proven that males with a more than average level of testosterone in their system will become sissies immediately after they see a visual with a sexual connotation. They will loose their normal level of rational and act impulsive compared to their behavior in a non-sexual environment. That doesn’t mean you can sell them a car when it is being promoted by a naked woman. Although they will be in a state of being more open to the suggestion of buying it, it doesn’t mean they actually will buy the car as there are other parameters that influence their decision. They might for example decide at that particular moment to finally buy a car from another brand they saw at another place at another moment.

How do you know you are a male consumer with a high level of testosterone ? Just subtract the length of your ring finger from the length of your forefinger. When the difference is more than 4 mm’s, you have a high level of testosterone and consequently you will be more susceptible for images with a sexual connotation.

Pictures:
above: Jan Bax at Vepec evening
below: Vic and Bob preparing newspapers for the Vepec conference

Preparing Seminar at The London Business School

I'm working together with the Football Club of the London Business School (LBS) to organize a WSJE-LBS Seminar on Football and Business. The seminar is part of the further development of The WSJE Future Leadership Institute. We originally planned to have the 'event' at the final of the Champions League, i.e. May 21, so we could have ended the event with a live session of the final on a big screen. However one of the key note speakers is attached to a club that might end up playing the final. If that would be the case the speaker wouldn't be able to attend. Therefore we moved our seminar to May 29.

In working towards the final the students of the football club asked me to sponsor the games (quarter finals, semi finals etc) leading up to the final. They asked money for each game. I asked why they needed money for each final. "To buy beer", they said. Our policy is not to pay cash for sponsorship deals. But I understood their 'need'. It led me to contact a friend at a Belgian brewery to discuss sponsorship with Belgian beers. I quickly closed a deal, until the moment it became clear the beer had to be delivered in London. The taxes to be paid to import the beer in the UK were so hefty the brewery decided against the sponsoring. But I already had promised the Belgian beer to the students. I had no other choice than to call in a favor of another friend at a beer wholesale factory, hide a superb collection of Belgian beers in the trunk of my car, and deliver the beer myself. In the past, UK customs never ever inspected my car when I used the Eurotunnel so I thought it to be a safe strategy. Indeed, it worked. On the way back to Belgium however I was asked to pull over at Eurotunnel, five custom agents came out and strip searched the car. They even took a drug sample from the seating. Luckily my car was clean...and empty.

(Picture: The President (r) and his team of the London Business School Football Club receiving a collection of Belgian beers)

4th Annual Oxford Private Equity Forum, Said Business School

January 18, 2008: WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Valendar, Germany. The student body organizes their Campus for Finance. At the event I meet an MBA student from Said Business School Oxford University, Sebastian Wilde. He explains to me that the students at Oxford Business School organize a yearly
Private Equity Forum in April. He invites me to collaborate with the WSJE Future Leadership Institute. I end up sponsoring the event with copies and attention in my daily educational box in the newspaper. It is for the first time I see the box work like it was intended to work. In the upper part of the box I can highlight a seminar that perfectly fits the goal of the WSJE Future Leadership Institute, i.e. bridging university and industry, and in the below part I can publish the logo of Vlerick Business School as supporters of our Future Leadership Program. The box looks great.

About the event: Again I am so fortunate to be able to attend such events. My blood itches in my veins when I see students put together a quality event. It reminds me of my days at University. The audience (275) could listen to some very good speakers in the Nelson Mandela Lecture Hall, one of them Khaled Said, son of Mr. Said who gave his name to the Oxford Business School. There were only 2 sponsors, Deloitte and The Wall Street Journal Europe, both of which received a sufficient amount of attention and exposure. All details were being taken care of. The synergy between the WSJE brand and the Said Business School brand is so obvious when you look back at this event.

Europe Unlimited

One of the new sponsors of The WSJE Future Leadership Institute is Europe Unlimited, a Brussels based company bridging SME start ups with venture capital. Today they organized their "Benelux Venture 50" a venture forum where they selected 50 promising companies to present their case to a panel of venture capitalists. It was a good event, a good day, but the day became memorable because of a black suitcase.

At the end of the day Europe Unlimited organized an Award Ceremony. High-growth companies selected from each of the parallel sector review sessions were honored and invited to comment on their key factors of success. While the 9 winners presented themselves I suddenly noticed an abandoned black suitcase against the wall of the auditorium. It was not the suitcase that attracted my attention but the newspaper that was sticking out of one of the side pockets: a folded WSJE!!

After the ceremony I met the owner of the suitcase: Dr. Herbert Koentges, Business Development Director at Medical Device Works NV. It is always awkward to step up to unknown people, but if they carry a WSJE in their suitcase, it creates the perfect excuse to start a conversation with a stranger.

Dr. Herbert Koentges turned out to be an old WSJE subscriber. I had a wonderful conversation with him about the newspaper industry. Just a few elements to highlight the profile of a WSJE subscriber:

Dr. Koentges (ca 55 - 60 years):
- PhD physical chemistry from TU-Berlin
- MBA INSEAD 1973
- Involved in Cordis MBO
- Member of start-up teams 3 medtech companies with IPO on Nasdaq
- Private investor in several medtech ventures
- Funded the start up of Medical Device Works NV together with the current CEO.
- Succeeded in landing 3.5 m Euro from venture capitalists mainly through his INSEAD network.

I asked him if WSJE was his first newspaper of choice:
When I asked this he took the folded WSJE copy from his suitcase, rolled it out and....a IHT copy popped up. IHT is his first newspaper of choice. WSJE is number 2. He reads both newspapers every day.

For world events he reads IHT.
For world business he reads WSJE.

Where does he read the newspapers ?
In the morning in his car, they both lay on the passenger seat and every time he has to stop for a red light he reads a part on the cover pages. In the daily traffic jams around Brussels he continues to read parts of the other stories.

About WSJE:
He likes the compact format, the short and precise articles, the view on world business.

About the IHT:
He is a IHT subscriber for 30 years now. In a former post I wrote about the Paris' soul of the IHT, Dr. Koentges actually doesn't like the Paris link too much. It brings him too much fashion he says. He likes the opinion pages of the IHT the most.

About other newspapers:
He would never subscribe to Financial Times, it is too British, and the articles are too long. He says "most of the FT articles are so big, but of so little importance".

Science + Industry = Sciendustry

The Future Leadership Program of The Wall Street Journal Europe contains now 165 top universities and business schools or 180 campuses. It is by far the newspaper with the strongest campus penetration in Europe. To create extra value on top of the physical distribution of our newspaper into universities, I created The WSJE Future Leadership Institute.

The WSJE Future Leadership Institute is a virtual institute that acts as a bridge between university and industry. More and more I see and experience the differences between the world of science and the world of industry. The difference between both worlds is primarily based on different rewarding systems. He who wants to score in the universitary world has to produce articles, he who wants to score in the industry has to sell products.

It is clear that there is a growing industry to be found on the border of university (science) and industry, bridging both worlds. It is the playing field of the "Sciendustry". (To my surprise the domainname was still for sale, so I quickly cornered the term :-)

More about the "Sciendustry" in posts to follow.

The WSJE Future Leadership Institute

To build further on our physical distribution program towards the universities and business schools I created The WSJE Future Leadership Institute, a virtual institute acting as a bridge between university and industry. With the Future Leadership Institute we target students as well as managers who have come to the point they feel the need to re-educate themselves to be able to move to the next level on the corporate ladder.

For this audience I highlight every day a seminar or educational event that could be of interest to them, in a specially designed educational box on the back page of our newspaper. Except for Thursday's that is, because on Thursday's I am giving away management books via a little book contest. The book to win this week is 'Grande Expectation' about the rise of Starbucks.

The book contest enables me to come into direct contact with our customers. It is one of the best things I did working for The WSJE to reach out and learn about our customers.

Because our audience (at least the managers responding to the contest) is Blackberry-proof it is often very interesting to see how responses come in from countries we are not delivering to. I dare then to ask where they picked up the copy, what is of interest to them in the newspaper, etc... (for example an Amercian COO responding from the US, who picked up a copy at Davos, or a CFO responding from Iraq (!) who picked up a copy on an airline...). Personally it is a lively reminder of my former function at the WSJE where I was responsible for the distribution operations. Back then I knew exactly where the copies were going, but I didn't know who was picking them up.

More details about The Future Leadership Instute will follow in later posts.