this massive intra - industry productivity differential dwarfs inter - industry differentials. for comparison, firms active in the tradable sector are on average around 50 % more productive than those producing mainly nontradables. how, then, can we improve the diffusion of innovation from the frontier to the laggard firms, especially within sectors? research suggests three main areas that will improve the capacity of, and incentives for, firms to adopt new technology : ( i ) investing in human capital and managerial ability, ( ii ) investment in intangibles, and ( iii ) improving economic dynamism. investment in human capital and management 5 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches first, there is now an extensive literature on the complementarities between technology and workforce skills, and on how better human capital increases the capacity to absorb technologies. 7 human capital includes not just formal education, but also on - the - job training and job security – firms with a large proportion of workers on temporary contracts underperform in terms of innovation. 8 managerial ability is also key for the adoption of technology. new technologies often require new structures and a reorganisation of production to maximise efficiency gains. while managerial quality is hard to quantify, the existing studies find a statistically strong correlation between a firm ’ s managerial quality and its total factor productivity. 9 one of the channels through which managerial practices enhance firm performance has been found to be the increased capability of firms to absorb new technologies. 10 certainly there is potential to improve education systems in the euro area and thereby to give greater numbers of graduates the necessary technical and scientific skills. our co - hosts today, mit, came top of the latest qs world university rankings. there are nine uk universities and two swiss universities in the top 50 of those rankings, but only one euro area university. 11 and education is not just for the young. improving the provision of life - long learning and retraining programmes will aid the flow of skilled labour towards more productive businesses. investment in intangibles second, numerous studies have shown that firms which invest more in intangibles are in a better position to understand and benefit from new technologies. 12 such investment includes conducting their own r & d and developing their own intellectual property, as well as investment in branding, software and databases. investment in intangibles also appears low in the euro area compared with a number of other advanced economies, although it has been on an upward trend. the aggregate number also masks a wide country

luis de guindos : macroprudential policy after the covid - 19 pandemic panel contribution by mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, at the banque de france / sciences po financial stability review conference 2021 “ is macroprudential policy resilient to the pandemic? ”, 1 march 2021. * * * introduction it is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon and share some thoughts on the future of macroprudential policy in the euro area after the coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) pandemic. about one year ago, the euro area was hit by a major unexpected shock : the covid - 19 pandemic. while this health and economic crisis has had, and continues to have, a severe impact on european citizens and businesses, the euro area banking sector has so far weathered the crisis well. rather than being part of the problem, it has been part of the solution. the banking sector has managed to support the economy through continued lending, including to the sectors most affected by the lockdown measures. compared to past crisis episodes, there are two main reasons why banks have played a different role in this crisis. first, in terms of capital and liquidity, the euro area banking sector was much better prepared than it was before the great financial crisis. this was not least due to the progress made over the past decade in strengthening the regulatory standards for banks and moving towards the banking union. second, credit provision during the pandemic has been aided by decisive government support measures, such as public loan guarantees and direct and indirect support to firms, and by relief measures taken by micro - and macroprudential authorities. specifically, ecb banking supervision allowed banks to temporarily operate below the level of capital defined by pillar 2 guidance and the combined buffer requirement and recommended that banks refrain from dividend payments and share buy - backs. on the macroprudential side, several national authorities either announced a full release of countercyclical capital buffers or revoked previously announced increases to these and other buffers. together, the micro - and macroprudential measures were a strong signal to banks that they should make use of their existing capital buffers to continue to provide key financial services and absorb losses while avoiding abrupt and excessive deleveraging that would be harmful for the economy. in my remarks today, i will focus on two key challenges which have become increasingly relevant in recent years and which should be