Venture capital and innovation: what's the outlook?

Venture capital has undergone a crisis, due to insufficient returns compared with other asset classes and growing disaffection on the part of institutional investors. Only the best-performing fund managers, or new managers with innovative investment strategies, can hope to raise a new investment vehicle. This phenomenon is contributing to the disappearance of the worst-performing managers and the strengthening of those best suited to the new environment. Against this backdrop, venture capital is receiving a great deal of attention from the public authorities. As part of national innovation systems, venture capital is now becoming an essential element, even if it will remain applicable only to companies targeting very large markets and to certain emerging sectors.