Future-orientation or innovativeness is a leading credo in
the EU’s economic policy agenda of the 21 st century. It
started in the year
2000 with the Lisbon Agenda, the first 10 years plan in which Europe
should
have become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic
region in
the world. And, it continued in 2010 with the second 10 years framework
program
“EU 2020” which again is concentrating on research
and innovations in the technological,
but also in the social (political) and ecological field. The evolving
quantitative
and qualitative effects summarize under the strategy of
“smart, inclusive and sustainable
growth” (European Union, 2010).
The aim of our study is to deal with these grand
European visions and to focus on the “emerging
future” of the EU countries. How
do the EU member states handle their economic future? Does there exist
a certain
pattern of future-orientation? Can specific similarities or
dissimilarities between
the single countries be observed and satisfactorily explained?
To give an
answer to these questions we use an empirical indicator approach
combined with cluster
analysis. This approach, however, has to be based on a specific model
of future-orientation
or economic development. Such a model determines the theoretical
scaffold of the
study and provides the necessary ingredients for an empirical
application.
In our
study we will use “Comprehensive Neo-Schumpeterian
Economics” (CNSE) as an analytical
framework (Hanusch and Pyka, 2007a). This approach is based (a) on the
principle of innovation as the main driving force and the engine of
development
coupled (b) with the notion of future-orientation penetrating all
spheres of
socio-economic life in developed as well as in developing countries.
JEL: B52, C8, O57