On Wednesday, 28 May, the European Commission launched an EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy to “make Europe a great place for starting and growing global technology-driven companies.” Startups and scaleups drive competitiveness by sparking innovation and sustainable growth, creating high-quality jobs, attracting investment, and reducing strategic dependencies.
The initiative focuses on the science component, promoted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to promote a unified European approach to attract and retain talent, thereby enhancing Europe’s competitiveness.
The key needs of startups and scaleups were identified and organised into a set of actions in five main areas:
- Fostering an innovation-friendly environment: The initiative aims to have less fragmentation, fewer administrative burdens, as well as rules that are simpler and more supportive across the Single Market. A European 28th regime will be proposed to simplify rules and reduce the cost of failure by addressing critical aspects in areas like insolvency, labour, and tax law.
- Driving better financing: The Savings and Investments Union initiative will be key to unlocking more financing and investment opportunities in the EU. The strategy aims to expand and simplify the European Innovation Council, deploy a Scaleup Europe Fund to help bridge the financing gap of deep tech scale-up companies, and also develop a voluntary European Innovation Investment Pact.
- Supporting market uptake and expansion: The strategy will introduce a Lab to unicorn initiative which will help connect university ecosystems across the EU.
- Attracting and retaining top talent: The strategy will introduce the Blue Carpet Initiative, notably focusing on entrepreneurial education, tax-related aspects of employee stock options, and cross-border employment.
- Facilitating access to infrastructure, networks, and service: The strategy proposes to simplify and harmonise diverging access and contractual conditions for startups and scaleups to technology and research infrastructure through a Charter of Access for industrial users.
The EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy signals a push to make Europe globally competitive in innovation. By reducing fragmentation, increasing financing, and improving talent retention, this strategy tackles key barriers. Its success will rely on effective implementation and aligning national interests to strengthen Europe’s startups and scaleups
