Associate & Vice President Business Development at Confidential Private Equity Investment Fund
Anyone with 2 IQ points to rub together who was watching President Hollande promote his program of Innovation and Social Dialog on M6's television show "Capital" tonight must have shared the feeling revulsion. First, as I previously said, it is like the wolf promoting eggs, when his main diet consists of chickens. Second, the focus on Innovation is completely misplaced, since Innovation is not one of the causes of France's negative business environment and perspectives. The inputs to Innovation are money, technology and ideas. The output of Innovation is a patent (or something closely resembling it). Today's problems, in part, result because those who buy the patent do not Implement (manufacture or produce) in France, because of the lack of venture capital and the overall broken system that the PS do not want to replace. When a patent leaves France to find capital outside, the only result for France is revenue from the sale of the patent and/or licensing fees from its usage. These do not create employment, therefore they do not create wealth for France. The focus in Innovation was a simple choice for the government considering its low approval ratings: by focusing on something that France already does very well, they will soon point to the program as an overall success (because it always was), while unemployment continues to rise, capital continues to flow out, and France's brain-drain accelerates.
