In this article we investigate – both conceptually and empirically – the relationships between three interconnected elements of the Schumpeterian “engine of progress”: the ability of industries’ R&D efforts to turn out successful innovations; the ability of innovations to lead to high entrepreneurial profits; the commitment of industries to invest profits in further technological efforts. We build a simultaneous three-equation model – with appropriate lags – and we test it at industry level – for 38 manufacturing and service sectors – on eight European countries over two time periods from 1994 to 2006. The results show that the model effectively accounts for the dynamics of European industries.