TIME EUROPE
June 19, 2000, Vol. 155 No. 24
To Our Readers
Old World Meets New Economy
In 1969 French author Georges Perec published La Disparition, a postmodern mystery thriller. The book is remarkable not only for its compelling plot and literary virtuosity, but because in all its 300-odd pages the letter e does not occur a single time. This week's special report on the Internet in Europe could not have been produced under a similar constraint. Over the past six months, Time correspondents have been scouring the Continent — from a remote island off the coast of Estonia to the living room of a German entrepreneur — to chronicle how e-commerce and the wireless Web are changing the ways Europeans live, work and play.
Typical of our approach is the triptych of profiles that kicks off the e-Europe special report. Senior technology writer Jennifer L. Schenker followed an entrepreneur as he struggled to get his start-up off the ground; staff writer Jennie James shadowed a venture capitalist as he sized up potential investments; and Romesh Ratnesar, also a staff writer, took a ringside seat during lastminute.com's IPO, one of the highest profile public listings in Europe. Their assignment: get inside the lives and minds of these individuals to discover how they are putting the Web to work.
Schenker, who has been covering the European tech sector for the past 15 years, got to know her profile subject — Kristian Dicke, ceo of Matchbid.com — in March while munching on tapas at a Barcelona restaurant. The occasion was the European Investment Academy, a kind of boot camp for European Internet entrepreneurs. Schenker was interested in Dicke because "he and his family neatly illustrate Europe's transition from the old economy to the new." Dicke passed up the chance to take over the family firm, a screw manufacturer in the heart of Germany's Ruhr Valley, to create his own Internet company, a business-to-business exchange for the industrial sector. "Companies like Matchbid, which combine old economy expertise with the efficiencies of the Internet, show promise," Schenker says.
Spotting promise is the business of venture capitalist Michael Whitaker, ceo of NewMedia Spark in London. Jennie James followed Whitaker through investment pitches and strategy sessions to explore the role of the VC. "The venture capitalist is the unsung catalyst," James says. "It's the VC who sources the funding and screens entrepreneurs — and then brings the two together."
The goal of this matchmaking is an initial public offering, a harrowing process that Romesh Ratnesar witnessed up close with Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox, the founders of lastminute.com. Ratnesar hooked up with lastminute just as the U.S. high-tech bubble reached the breaking point. When the market started to burst, lastminute's prospects exploded too, reminding everyone just how much the fortunes of Europe's dotcoms still depend on those in the U.S. "It's remarkable that when I started reporting this story," Ratnesar says, "lastminute was the toast of Europe's dotcom scene, and now its stock is in the gutter."
Art director Paul Lussier used the sizzling illustrations produced by London-based Why Not Associates to give the package a fresh, sparkling look to match the dynamism of the subject matter. We think — and we hope you'll agree — that this week's special report captures all the energy and excitement of Europe's new economy.
James Geary, Editor, TIME e-Europe
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June 19, 2000
SPECIAL REPORT
e-Europe
TIME chronicles how the Old World is helping to shape the new economy
EUROPE
Voting under the Gun
Municipal elections in Montenegro turn into a mini-referendum on the Yugoslav republic's future
Goal Rush
Football fever grips Europe as the game's itinerant stars return home to shine on the national stage
Just Arrived
Alongside the familiar faces, members of football's next generation will also display their skills at Euro 2000
The Empire Strikes Back
Soccer violence continues to be England's ugliest export
BUSINESS
Turbulence Ahead
The continuing controversy over Milan's Malpensa Airport clips the wings of state-run carrier Alitalia
Brussels Decrees An E-VAT
The European Commission wants to tax content sold by foreign firms on the Web — but can it?
THE ARTS
Shock of the Nouveau
Streams of visitors to a new exhibition of sensual decorative art indicate that the form may be making one of its regular comebacks
DEPARTMENTS
Olympic Monitor
Techwatch
To Our Readers
World Watch
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