Reading Mario Draghi's report on European competitiveness with great appreciation. Most is right but here are three objections: 1. Higher education is mentioned only once! The poverty of EU universities is not even mentioned: The innovation gas will stay. https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/97e481fd-2dc3-412d-be4c-f152a8232961_en?filename=The%20future%20of%20European%20competitiveness%20_%20A%20competitiveness%20strategy%20for%20Europe.pdf…

2. Draghi advocates even more reliance on the state. The problem with EU venture capital funds is that they are overwhelmingly state dominated. 3. He wants to raise investment as a share of GDP by 5% points, but the US has very little investment, though in the right places.

Draghi has all the right words about the need to complete the fragmented Single Market, rightly referring to Letta's recent report, but he does not trust the private sector to utilize those opportunities but wants the state to help with industrial policy. Really?

Strangely, Mario Draghi, who has his PhD from MIT, does not even mention the role of the outstanding universities Stanford & MIT for the development of leading hi-tech companies. The EU has no such universities, Munich tops as #30! Draghi should advocate top elite universities.

Europe's best entrepreneurs & scholars emigrate to the US not only for better capital markets but also for better working conditions & much higher salaries. Draghi should propose incentives for Europe's best & brightest to stay in Europe.

The only paragraph I find on education states: "It is also essential to establish and consolidate European academic institutions at the forefront of global research." It continues equally vague, only calling for the doubling of the funding, and...

"A new regime for world-class researchers (“EU Chair” position) is also proposed, to attract and retain the best academic scholars by hiring them as European officials." What can be finer than being a eurocrat?! This is how state-oriented the thinking is.