The Hitech Federation’s main objective is to foster the development of the best SMEs into new international market leaders
Print pageEuropean SMEs are smaller and more numerous than American ones.
| Europe | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Average staff | 6 | 19 |
| Share of micro-companies in employment | 34% | 11% |
The growth of European SMEs is blocked by a glass ceiling preventing them to become global players. Since 1980, American SMEs have generated 7 times more new global players than their European counterparts.
| Europe | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| New companies (created after 1980) | 9 | 64 |
| Among world top 1000 (capitalization 1998) | ||
Even though European large scale companies are bigger than the American ones, they are therefore much fewer. There are twice as many large scale companies per inhabitants in the USA than in Europe.
| Europe (15) | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Population 2003 (in millions) | 380 | 291 |
| Number of companies Turn over > 100 M€ | 2006 | 3176 |