Can the United Europe and United States remain competitive as 3 billion people in Asia rapidly enter the global economy? It's a question asked by many people across market segments, including IT personnel who worry about offshore outsourcing and the jobs threat that poses.

What are the European numbers?

The national academies' report points out that China and India combined graduate 950,000 engineers every year, compared with 70,000 in America; that for the cost of one chemist or engineer in the U.S. a company could hire five chemists in China or 11 engineers in India; that of the 120 $1 billion-plus chemical plants being built around the world one is in the United States and 50 are in China.

Culture

A culture of law and order which values entrepreneurship is better suited to economic growth. Weneed to to be good at catering to the needs of our customers.

Combine that with the best universities, a culture that values entrepreneurship and an economic systems that protects innovation, and you have all the tools that we need to compete credibly with three billion people, however motivated by a desire to escape poverty they may be.

But how motivated are we to combine our European wide innovative forces? Are we able to escape and reach out from our national borders, interests and habits and work together for a new future for Europe?