This study gathered and constructed estimates of unit labour costs (ULCs) and real effective exchange rates (REERs) in unit labour cost terms at the 1-digit NACE level for selected broad sectors and at the 2-digit NACE level for manufacturing industries. It used OECD and Eurostat data for the...

Business entry and business exit are natural processes that are inherent to European economic life. In fact, 50% of enterprises do not survive the first five years of their life and of all business closures, bankruptcies account in average for 15%. Even though today's failure can hold the germ...

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) in standards have proven to be an intensively debated issue in industry bodies, in standard setting organisations (SSOs), in academic circles, and - increasingly - in court. While both standards and patents aim to promote innovation and market place adoption,...

Space activities and applications are vital to our society's growth and development and have a direct impact on citizens' daily lives. Our citizens' well-being depends on space policy in areas such as the environment, combating climate change, public and civil security, humanitarian and...

The following introduction to the compilation of papers describes the objectives and first results from projects selected under the first calls for proposals under the FP7 Space Research Programme. It provides a short overview of EU funded space research and the benefits for our society. These...

European competitiveness is at the centre of this annual publication of the European Commission. The Report provides evidence and analysis on economic developments and subjects related to productivity - the most reliable indicator for competitiveness over the longer term - and is prepared in the...

The production of EU industrial structure is a response to the increasing interest in analysing the competitiveness of the EU economy from a sectoral perspective. This publication provides insight into the relative performance of individual industries, and contributes to explaining the...

In 2009, creative and cultural industries firms employed a total of 6.4 million persons in 30 European countries. Regions with high concentrations of creative and cultural industries have Europe's highest prosperity levels. Large urban areas and capital city regions dominate the creative and...

The European code of good conduct for microcredit provision provides a set of standards in terms of management, governance, risk management, reporting, and consumer and investor relations that are common to the microcredit sector in the European Union. These standards are for the benefit of...