"The entrepreneurs who are successful in the US are often considered as heroes. In Europe, most of them hide themselves because success is not something you can show to the same extent, because many people around them start to become jealous.

The image of European entrepreneurs must change. They are creative, they take risks, they create jobs, they put their life and family at risk to start their businesses.

Europe needs more entrepreneurs."

"In Spain, the desired job is that of the civil servant: a job for life, without much risk. According to the monthly CIS surveys, one of the greater problems perceived by our [Spanish] society is unemployment....

The rates of unemployment in the U.S.A. are very low, and it is customary to move around and change jobs periodically. The Americans do not think that they will have a job forever and they always aspire to more, or at least to something different. American workers are dynamic. Due to the Spanish labor situation, I am convinced that the perception in this country is also changing in that sense, although the current situation is perceived as a bad one.

And due to our culture, the current situation really is a bad one: our way of life pushes to us to independence, to marry and to buy a house. In order to buy a house, aside from guarantees, the banks ask for a stable position. Without a stable position, there is no house, there is no family and there is no independence. In other countries the need to buy a house is not as great, and therefore mobility comes more easily.

Europe must change its thinking, not only about entrepreneurs, but about jobs."

"I fully agree with Loic, I think the key for more entrepreneurial activity in Europe is to raise the image of entrepreneurship and to build a society that rewards taking risks. For me this is the biggest difference between US and Europe. People in Europe have to deal with a much smaller risk exposure as they grow up. This is true for positive as well as negative sides of risks. Once people start a job the notion to change and start on your own is more limited. *** Another difference you learn from US is that many people you meet count business as a kind of hobby. Ask German or French folks and if you hear business or even economics you'll be a lucky one."