Loic has a nice piece of the state of entrepreneurship in Europe. He is proposing several initiatives to promote entrepreneurship here:

"-increase awareness on why entrepreneurship is good for society (taking risks, creating jobs, success is good, anybody can do it) -talk about success being good and that "you can do it" -talk about failures, explain why and what failed and make people aware that failure is part of the risk -we could create a day of the entrepreneurs in Europe, like for the day of music, to promote their role, hold conferences, have companies open their doors, make the public understand that it is not that difficult to create a company, give everybody the will to take risks"

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. The GEM is distinguishing between necessity and opportunity driven entrepreneurs. Certainly social security has its great benefits but it also decrease the numbers of necessity entrepreneurs. 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.

Another example for me and the political end is arnold schwarzenegger. You might like him or not, but the reason for getting votes was:

"They (inexperienced politicians) overflow with self-confidence - sometimes too much, critics say - and are risk-takers, willing to ignore the naysayers who question their qualifications. They also tend to focus on the big picture rather than the details of governance."

Imagine a movie star campaigning for presidential elections in Europe. Hardly this would be rewarded. Arnold is fared well so far in California as he does things different and at least unspoiled from dozens of years wandering through the ranks of a political party.

So how to change this notion of many European states? Don't subsidize another costly program teaching entrepreneurs to take risks and make another business plan competition. Instead simply give people choices and expose them to risks on a small scale every day. This will make them aware of what it means to risk and to see rewards.