Take a look, this is great and a true story too...

Seen from a more humorous side...

The Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2008 competition has been started in France. Goal is to run as far as possible with just one liter of gasoline. This year with gasoline prices three times higher than just a few years back this event will draw even more attention. That Shell is sponsoring it is a clever marketing coup it seems as they of course have profited from the rising prices the most. The vehicle designs are optimized to reach just this one goal within a set of regulations such as min. average speed of 30km/h, which makes sense, as otherwise with solar panels one might be able to run forever. Last year's winner made it 2791km on one liter of fuel. Once again this year you will find fuel cell technologies - plus, of course, totally stripped down vehicle designs that are highly aerodynamic. The drivers are girls as they are lighter, better fit into the vehicles and probably are better at enduring the physical stress of being squeezed in for that long. The teams have lots of fun, it seems, which is great. Maybe one addition should also be to build vehicles that could be used in daily life by adding certain constraints, so that one day maybe Shell might have to rethink sponsoring as it has real impact on fuel savings. Right now it is a nice marketing event.

This video here is maybe something to show in some low entrepreneurial spirit countries in Europe. Then of course with European stories...

This French website lists stolen pictures and provides as such a service for owners of stolen pictures to publish rewards; it is also an archive to look over before buying any pictures offered to you.

I think this is a great idea, and makes good business sense too. Interpol estimates the yearly market for stolen art at 4bln EUR.

What have Australia and Switzerland in common in this year's IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook which displays the relative economic competitiveness between 55 countries? Both improved their relative positions by about the same (Australia from rank 12 to 7 and Switzerland from rank 6 to 4). How much practical value this Yearbook has I don't know but I am sure that politicians in each country will be able to use it accordingly. Overall I think it is foremost a great PR campaign to self-promote the business school. What suprised me a bit is the lead the US still has. That both Singapore and Hong Kong are in the top makes a lot of sense though. Now with regards to Switzerland one can feel good living in such a high-ranking country and the number one in Europe. Some of the reasons IMD mentions are:

• the world’s 3rd largest current account surplus (16.8% of the GDP) and an increase in inward direct investment flows
• labor relations are generally productive (2nd)
• workers are highly motivated (2nd)
• investment incentives are considered to be attractive to foreign investors (3rd)
• attractiveness of the fiscal policy continues (2nd)
• the Swiss are conscious of being able to benefit from an excellent quality of life (1st)
• languages skills are meeting the needs of enterprises (1st)
• knowledge transfer between companies and universities obtains the 3rd rank
• availability of skilled and specialized labor, having competencies in finance and international experience

Now on the downside for Switzerland are (not surprisingly either): "entrepreneurship is not particularly widespread (27th compared to 6th last year); ageing of society - a possible obstacle to economic development – is becoming a concern (18th); weak representation of women in leading government and business positions (47th); a high cost of living (50th)"

The entrepreneur part I consider as a challenge where also lots of government money invested in the past has not brought any bottom line results so far. The ageing society should not be such a huge problem for an attractive country like Switzerland, though. The increased costs is relative, I think, as outside of the big cities (just a few km away) costs come down substantially and I even see it as a plus since investments in real estate are a very safe bet unlike in the US.