The automotive industry is a major pillar of the modern global economy and Europe is one of the key players. It has a unique role to play in Europe in - ployment, manufacturing, R&D, transportation and investment, and there are crucial challenges and opportunities ahead. We shed light on a broad range of issues - globalisation and restructuring, trade and foreign direct investment (no- bly in China and Russia), innovation, regulation, and industry policy - and put a special focus on the new member states. While change may be inevitable, progress is not. This book shall serve as a map to all stakeholders: business executives, policy makers, investors and scholars. th The contents originate from the 8 European Competitiveness Report 2004 p- ject of the European Commission. They document the contribution made at the Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) - Centre for European Economic Resarch - in Mannheim, Germany, in cooperation with several external researchers. We as editors wish to mention and sincerely thank the many persons and institutions who have helped us in this effort. Special thanks go to the c- tributors: Thomas Cleff (Professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Pfo- heim, Germany), Stefan Lutz (then researcher at the Centre for European E- nomic Resarch, Mannheim, Germany), Alfred Spielkamp (Professor at the U- versity of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen, Germany) and Waltraud Urban (Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies in Vienna, Austria)."

There is now a certain tradition of Anglo-German comparative research on new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Two of the most influential studies in this area have both been sponsored by the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of In dustrial Society (AGF). Starting in 1977, the first AGF project on NTBFs, which was carried out by the consultancy firm Arthur D. Little, has been one ofthe most important early contributions in this field (Little 1977). This report was the first public document to use the term 'new technology-based firm' and to provide a definition, which despite its operational limitations subsequently became an es tablished term in the literature. More importantly, this study represented one ofthe first serious attempts to survey the existing stock of this type of firm. The report was critical of the contemporary situation in Europe. (This is a policy area which continues to be hotly debated, see European Commission 1995, Bank of England 1996 and HM Treasury 1998. ) It emphasised that, in comparison with the USA, Germany and the UK were each lagging behind if judged by the rate of formation of NTBFs and in their total contribution to the overall economic activity of both countries. In terms of a policy contribution, this study was instrumental in high lighting the lack ofsupport infrastructures for the genesis and growth of high-tech start-ups in two of Europe's leading economies."

Unternehmensgrundungen, Beteiligungskapital und Fruhphasenfinanzierung werden in ihren vielfaltigen Dimensionen dargestellt. Umfangreiche Adressverzeichnisse erleichtern Unternehmensgrundern den Einstieg in die Geschaftswelt."