ABSTRACT
The “new economy” sector has been regarded as the most important growth machine of recent times as well as a big hope for many regional economies that are attempting to become centers of new growth. However, it does not yet have a precise definition. The new economy sector is frequently defined as including the broad range of information and communication industries and services as well as other “knowledge based” industries. This particularly comprises knowledge based and innovation driven sectors like the manufacturing of ICTs, the software industry (which is frequently regarded as part of the advanced producer services), the media industry with its growing sub-sector of “new media” and the Internet business and the contemporary “life sciences” sector with its sub-sectors of biotechnology and medical engineering. All these sectors recorded considerable growth in the period up to the year 2000. However, the real economic expansion of the various knowledge-based and innovationdriven industries should not be confused with the speculative exaggeration of their potential within the stock market which came to a sudden breakdown in 2000. The question “what is left of the new economy?” is related to the recent collapse of the new economy’s stock market prices, in which many actors seemingly lost a tidy sum of money. However, a statement to one of those who endured considerable losses as a result of the 2000 new economy crash reveals that this is not the entire story. One of his professional colleagues said “don’t worry, my friend-your money has not really vanished, it just belongs to someone else!” Indeed, those well versed actors who sold their new economy assets at the stock market’s peak managed to achieve incredibly high financial returns.
