On 23 December 2004, the Director of the Foundation signed a research agreement with Professor Luis Rubalcaba to carry out research entitled "Services in the European Economy: Challenges and Policy Implications".
The overall objective of the proposed research was the study of service activities in Europe which presents, in a comprehensive, clear and rigorous manner, the situation, prospects and challenges of the sector in the European economy, as well as the relevant implications for European economic policy.
The research carried out was characterised by the following strengths and novelties in relation to other work carried out in the service sector:
- comprehensive, covering all the services and issues that affect them, which are currently very dispersed and in no clear order.
- economic approach as opposed to more geographically or regionally oriented research.
- presentation for the first time of many newly developed data and statistics and of work in progress
- European approach (enterprise, competition, single market, innovation...)
- emphasis on the entrepreneurial nature of services and the need for economic policy to respect market freedom. Critical view of inefficient regulation that impedes competition in many services markets.
The content of this research materialised in the book "Services in the European Economy: Challenges and Policy Implications" published in 2007.
