Driven to innovate

Disruptive innovation drives success in a sector where non-traditional competitors and markets are constantly emerging to challenge established leaders and turn their business models upside down… And unicorns are appearing with increasing frequency in European cities.

Perhaps more than any other sector, technology is driven by fast growth. In order to get on the grid in the global race for competitiveness, companies must continually research, create and exploit new technologies, making the tech sector a key driver for wider economic growth. Europe boasts increasing numbers of ‘unicorns’ – billion-dollar tech start-ups – but across the EU, there is an imbalance in spending power, with some countries able to be more aggressive in their tech spending while others are constrained by the need for caution. Yet they all have one key challenge in common: the skills shortage that continues to plague the sector

Sector at a glance

• 84% of tech CEOs have an aggressive growth strategy
• 13 - the number of unicorns in 2014, up from a previous average of 3 per year
• 80% of tech CEOs expect their biggest challenge to be finding people with the right key skills

A showcase for success

> Read what Florence Bindelle, Secretary General of EuropeanIssuers has to say about the role of equity financing in allowing companies to obtain capital.