venture capital market. i would like to complete my remarks by commenting briefly on the recent emergence of a group of venture capitalists who still consider the early stage of venture capital as an element of their investment strategy. i ’ m talking about the so - called “ corporate venture capitalists ”. they have a longer - term investment horizon which makes them less vulnerable to fluctuations on the stock exchange. as a subsidiary of a large industrial or financial enterprise, a corporate venture capitalist always maintains close financial and business relations with his holding company. this enables him to provide his venture firms with more than the support offered by a traditional venture capitalist. the project is now closely linked to the holding ’ s industry and the innovative ideas are considered to be worth financing. instead of limiting its investment to short - term financial success, the holding company is interested in using the innovative project as an instrument for its own long - term growth strategy. in turn, sustainable growth on the part of the venture project implies a rather long - term investment horizon. the advantages for the funded firm lie in smooth financing over time, backed by stable management support whilst the innovative enterprise comes of age. this new type of investment company has started to change the venture capital landscape in germany. whereas only five corporate venture capitalists were associated with the german venture capital association during the stock market boom, their number is now four times as high. today, about two - thirds of the dax companies have corporate venture capitalists as subsidiaries. i would like to conclude by emphasising that, even if we were to see investor confidence in early stages and high - tech sectors fully restored, much still has to be done to create an innovation - friendly climate. on our way to higher innovation rates, we need a favourable environment for “ grass - root ” activities. whilst the tax exemption of gains from the liquidation of corporate equity holdings was a step towards improved asset allocation, further barriers have to be removed. this includes administrative and tax considerations as well as labour and product market deregulations, thus ensuring a competitive environment. given the impressive list of distinguished speakers and participants i am convinced that this conference is making an important contribution towards our understanding of the financing of innovation. it also demonstrates that we consider this topic an important area for our own research activities. in this context and more generally i would once again like to emphasise that the bundesbank not only recognises but also actively supports the role of economic research for the conduct of monetary policy. we definitely regard economic research

were asked about the term digitalisation. 2 and yet it is plain to see that the digital sectors play a major role in macroeconomic productivity gains. 3 this is the context that comes to mind when i think of central bank digital currency, i. e. the digital euro. our lives are becoming increasingly digital, and in my opinion it is only logical that the central bank should also offer a digital product. this is why the eurosystem is working hard on this issue, as are 93 % of all central banks according to a recent survey by the bank for international settlements. 4 a digital euro would complement cash, and it would be provided to the general public free of charge. people's privacy would be protected and europe's sovereignty in digital payments would be supported, as a digital euro would be built on european infrastructure. in the financial industry, this kind of proposition is increasingly meeting with approval. a survey of experts and managers in this sector by the germany - based center for financial studies shows that most respondents consider the introduction of a digital euro to be desirable, with almost half ( 45. 9 % ) of the respondents expressing this view. 53 % of respondents think that a digital euro should only be issued via credit institutions. only 28 % say that this should be done directly via the ecb. a remarkably high share of 19 % have not yet formed an opinion on the matter. and more than one - quarter of them ( around 26 % ) think the euro area risks weakening its economy if the digital euro were not to be introduced. 5 when assessing a digital euro, the question of who would issue it is of particular interest. in my view, there is a strong case for maintaining the tried - and - tested roles of the central bank and commercial banks, namely that banks and other payment service providers – and not the central bank – are the point of contact for citizens. in any case, legislators will also play an important role in the question of whether a digital euro will be introduced. that said, the ecb governing council will decide in the next few weeks whether to soon continue working on the digital euro project in a preparatory phase. in addition to the green and digital transformations, the restructuring of international supply chains is another major challenge. the advantages of an international division of labour should not be abandoned here. however, given the evident fragility of supply chains, the latter should be made more robust. stronger economic relations with countries such as vietnam, australia or greenland could make