Innovation and entrepreneurial activities have become increasingly important elements for economic growth and are also decisive factors in a country's level of development. As regards the scope of this work, the European region as a whole occupies the top positions in most of the technological indicators. Entrepreneurial activity plays a significant role for the economy of a country owing, among other matters, to its effects on the labour market and economic growth. Apart from fomenting job creation, the presence of entrepreneurs may be related to the structure and performance of a country's economy. The main purpose of this work is to analyse what relationship exists between technological availability and the presence of entrepreneurs in European countries.

The promotion of efficient and sustainable means of transport has been a key issue of public debate across the European Union (EU). Particularly, transport needs in peripheral and remote areas have a great importance for EU transport policies in order to ensure the mobility of goods and persons in these regions, and thus to achieve greater territorial cohesion in the member states concerned. Despite the remarkable efforts to improve the competitiveness of aviation in the EU single market, certain regional routes have traditionally suffered a lack of scheduled air routes. The internal market, once liberalized, has provided an instrument in order to ensure adequate transportation for the carriage of goods and persons in special cases. When this occurs, according to Regulation (CE) no. 1008/2008, national civil aviation authorities may impose a public service obligation (PSO) on specific air routes. In addition, this form of public intervention can lead to restriction on market access to one carrier, and even to the payment of compensation to the awarded airline through the launching of a tendering procedure for the operation of the required air service. In the case of Spain, this type of administrative concession has been shifting towards e-procurement processes by providing transparent electronic portals. This research aims, precisely, at encouraging a better understanding of how information technology may have systemic benefits to public bodies aiming to efficiently conduct a digital procurement ecosystem. To do this, the authors have analyzed the 23 PSO routes imposed so far, and the corresponding administrative procedures. The findings suggest that e-procurement has led to greater public transparency.

In economic literature, the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth has been widely discussed for some time now. In addition to the different theoretical approaches, a considerable amount of empirical works in recent decades have sought to verify the direct link between both variables by analyzing datasets from several distinct geographic areas. On one hand, it highlights the absence of a common indicator to measure entrepreneurship in practice relating to a country’s economic growth; on the other hand, it shows a great diversity of factors determining them. With the aim of providing new empirical evidence in the field of European entrepreneurship, this paper has analyzed data relating to 31 European countries over the last decade by introducing self-employment as an empirical proxy of entrepreneurship. In particular, this study contrasts the positive effect of public expenditure, investment, human capital, and entrepreneurship on economic growth for a wide range of countries and examines the impact of some economic and educational variables on self-employment, such as unemployment, taxes, education, and early school leaving. The estimation method used in this research had to consider the Ordinary Least Squares through a multiple regression model of constant coefficients based on annual Eurostat statistics for the period of 2010 to 2019. The results obtained verify the positive effect of public expenditure, investment, human capital, and entrepreneurship on economic growth. Moreover, the analysis of other factors affecting entrepreneurship, segregated by gender, shows how unemployment and the level of education have a positive impact on self-employment, while significant increases in the tax rate on capital and early school leaving harmed such variable. No significant differences were found between males and females.

Mediterranean islands of the European Union (EU) have traditionally suffered from a lack of regularity in supplying public transportation due to the high seasonality of the demand for scheduled transport services. The insular fact forces people and goods to be carried either by sea or air, and therefore needs to actively stimulate interest in operating specific routes by proper carriers. As regional economies on insular territories also have a tight dependence on tourism, it is vital to achieve an appropriate balance between the need for effective public transportation and sustainable means of transport. This paper aims to provide an approach to the Public Service Obligation (PSO) system imposed on air routes serving the regional transport needs of the Balearic Islands. This study has analyzed data relating to freight and passenger traffic in the period between 2004 and 2019 from scheduled air services linking Palma de Mallorca with Ibiza and Menorca, as well as those between Menorca and Ibiza, and to their respective short-sea links. Results obtained in the research suggest that PSO impositions, together with significant improvement in the resident subsidy schema (from 50% to 75%), have recently led to a sharp increase in the demand for passenger air services on these routes; thus, avoiding the tender for the award of a public contract. However, it has led to a dramatic fall of freight transport on air routes concerned, as such, public intervention on the air market has only sought to ensure the mobility of passengers.

This article will analyze empirically the relationship existing between economic growth and entrepreneurship at a European level, using the self-employment variable as an empirical proxy. To do so, the writer studies the existing bond between economic growth and certain determining factors such as public expenditure, investment, human capital, and entrepreneurship and also analyses the effects on entrepreneurship caused by such factors as unemployment, taxes, and education. This article uses data from twenty-one European countries, during the period from 2001 and 2011. The results obtained show a significant relationship between entrepreneurship and the three determining factors analyzed.