The stock market and science policy

A little over a year ago, some of my scientific colleagues became millionaires. They had the foresight to join a start‐up company that blossomed and eventually went public to raise money on the stock market. A month after their initial public offering, the shares were trading at three times the initial price. Those who knew these entrepreneurs must have questioned their own career choices when they observed their former fellow footsoldiers of research deciding which type of car was appropriate for their newly acquired financial status.Governments worldwide also noted these events. For them, it seemed that unemployment problems could finally be solved by the ‘high‐tech’ sector. Some well‐prepared economies profited enormously, and many regions around universities were transformed by the new high‐tech economy. Politicians cutting ribbons at the premises of biotech and internet companies learned and announced that we were now moving towards a ‘knowledge‐driven economy’. Their advisors and civil servants were also quick to learn, and new schemes emerged based on the credo that ‘the future of our country depends on the …