Wharton : Where Entrepreneurs Learn the Business of Business

After more than 20 years in R&D management positions – the last eight as chief technology officer and member of the board – Jürgen Götzenauer, PhD started his own advisory company earlier this year.

Such a move might be unremarkable in the United States, where almost 14 percent of those who are working age are running their own businesses, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study. But the average for the European Union is just over 7 percent, and according to the European Commission, only 37 percent of Europeans would like to be self-employed (as opposed to 51 percent of Americans).

But the EU numbers are on their way up: Götzenauer has joined a growing number of European entrepreneurs who have left the corporate world to go solo. According to the GEM report, societal attitudes about entrepreneurship