Dr Aleksej Heinze

The Schengen area has never been tested to the same level as it is now. The unprecedented volume of refugees arriving in Europe has left its leaders struggling to cope. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, issued a sober warning that the crisis puts Schengen into question, while Italy says it is ready to impose border controls and Hungary has sealed off its main train station.

The Schengen Agreement is one of Europe’s most remarkable achievements. Implemented in 1995, it allows free movement of people between member countries – effectively removing border controls. It means that visas, rights of asylum and checks at borders outside the Schengen area apply across member states. Now, some are keen to argue, it is under threat.

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Start up culture (CC) Walter Lim

Silicon Valley has become a synonym for innovation and with its ecosystem of super venture capitalists it is world renowned as a hub for new products and software. However, as we teach on the digital innovation module for The Salford MBA: Digital Business, recent developments suggest that the tide of innovation is turning towards Europe.

Investments such as the £1m raised locally by Wakelet in December 2014  and TransferWise’s $58m in Janaury 2015 suggests that European startups are finally starting to attract interest on a global scale.

Innovation ecosystems and the start up market was studied by the University of Salford for the INNOPOLIS project. A key conclusion from the project and a critical success factor for innovation and startups cultures is the importance of University City Region. These are places where there is a concentration of intellectual capital and high levels of “risk happy” funding.

We line up the US and European situations in a head to head comparison of the key success factors for a startup…

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Simon Ireland

We have recently received great feedback from the British Council on Salford Business School’s Erasmus Intensive Programmes held in April 2014. This is an example of the work undertaken by the Erasmus Intensive Programme team at the Business School and which the British Council has highly commended for producing products of excellent international quality.

The two programmes that were organised by us are Rural Tourism and Destination Analysis.

These programmes were organised with seven European partners attracting visitors from seven countries.

Each programme allows students to study in international groups at a single host University for a 2 week intensive period. The European Union (EU) funding covers the costs of flights, accommodation and subsistence for the programme participants.

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Image (CC) by snickclunk

The current debate over the right to be forgotten, spurred by a European Union ruling that allows people to stop certain web pages from appearing in search results, is proof – if further proof was required – of the distinct form of public life that is being created by the internet.

Our digital identities are shaped by how, when and where we interact online with each action leaving a tiny but permanent digital footprint. The permanency of these footprints is so unlike the presence in public life imagined in 1789 in a central document of the French Revolution called the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”.

So different, in fact, as to almost contradict the 12th article which includes the declaration that “every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom.”

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