The 2008 financial crisis crippled the global economy. For Europe, the
recovery has been tenuous, witnessing the lack of confidence in the
sustainability of individual nations, and dwindling trust in the
financial services and banking industry.
While the strategy for economic recovery has focused on fiscal
policy and the banking system, the brunt of the financial burden is
placed on small businesses and entrepreneurs. These groups are left
without funding for their businesses, without the security of a bank
loan, and without access to credit lines from the financial services
industry. To contextualise the gravity of this problem, we would like to
point out that the 23 million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
in Europe represent 99% of businesses. Thus, access to capital for SMEs
is critical for sparking job creation in Europe.
Today one of the most promising tools to help enable economic
growth, job creation, and innovation is crowdfunding. We believe
crowdfunding is one of the most viable means of funding new ideas, small
business and job creation across Europe. It is a highly democratic tool
that is posed to have a disruptive impact on community, start-up and
consumer finance by allowing value creation on many levels, not just
financial.
It must be the civil and ethical duty of European politicians
and citizens to find a solution to the economic crisis. We believe the
crisis provides an opportunity for much-needed change. Change, albeit
disruptive, if managed well, is a guarantor for innovation. Crowdfunding
can play a part in this and we would like to ask policy makers as well
as market players to collaborate in order to enable the provision of
funds and non-financial support to innovative and creative projects,
start-ups and SMEs accross Europe.
For the full paper, please download the PDF document, which I worked on with Dan Marom, Ronald Kleverlaan and Kistof de Buysere and which has seen contributions from nearly 30 industry experts and the support from 30 businesses and organizations, at www.crowdfundingframework.eu and read it, then circulate it.
