The European Commission presented today its startup and scaleup strategy, ‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale‘. It is a plan aimed at supporting the growth of young, innovative companies in the bloc. “With this strategy, we want Europe to be the best place to start, scale, and stay,” stated Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva.
The plan was adopted by the college today and presented in a press conference by Commissioner Zaharieva alongside Commission Executive Vice President Stéphane Séjourné. The strategy, announced at the release of the Competitiveness Compass — the bloc’s economic doctrine for the next five years — comes after a public consultation with stakeholders that concluded in March. The plan aligns with the Commission’s intention to cut red tape and remove barriers hindering the growth of innovative businesses.
Choose Europe to Start and Scale comprises five pillars: innovation-friendly regulation, driving better financing, supporting rapid market uptake and expansion, attracting and retaining top talent, and facilitating access to infrastructure, networks, and services.
The 28th regime
A key pillar of the strategy is the intent to overcome regulatory fragmentation. Among the actions, there is the Commission’s proposal to introduce a 28th regime, a single set of rules for corporates. In addition, the strategy involves the creation of a European Business Wallet, which aims to “establish a digital identity for all economic operators and provide a framework for sharing verified data and credentials.”
The forthcoming European Innovation Act is also part of the strategy. This act will promote regulatory sandboxes, so as to allow innovators to test and develop new ideas.
Improving financing
In addition to regulation, financing is one of the main hurdles European startups face. This is particularly true when looking to raise larger rounds of money. Nearly 30% of European unicorns – companies with a valuation of €1 billion or above – have relocated outside the bloc.
To address this gap, the strategy proposed the expansion and simplification of the rules of the European Innovation Council (EIC). This is the EU’s innovation program focused on identifying and scaling up breakthrough technologies.
Alongside private investors, the Commission plans to work with the EIC Fund to deploy the Scaleup Europe Fund. It would precisely target the financing of deeptech scaleups. “The fund will be market-based and profit-based,” underlined Zaharieva, stressing that the current financial gap can’t be tackled with public money alone.
To this end, in coordination with the European Investment Bank Group, the Commission will work with institutional investors, such as pension funds, to develop a voluntary European Innovation Investment Pact. Another action of this pillar is the creation of new instruments to invest in European security and defense startups.
Speeding up market access
In facilitating startups’ access to market, the strategy launches the Lab to Unicorn initiative, aiming to commercialize research results. Under this framework, it will support leading startup and scaleup hubs, as well as create a blueprint for “licensing, royalty- and revenue-sharing and equity participation for academic institutions and their inventors,” reads the document.
Furthermore, under this pillar, the Commission promises to rehaul public procurement. Specifically, the aim is to simplify rules to streamline access to procurement for startups, taking into account their needs. Dedicated action is promised to revise the EU procurement directive in defense and security.
Talent
As the United States’ embassies pause new student visa applications, in line with the Choose Europe for Science initiative, the startups plan aims to retain and attract top talent to the bloc. Therefore, the Commission intends to launch a Blue Carpet Initiative.
In the coming months, under this umbrella, EU executives plan a number of actions. On top of the list is the strengthening of entrepreneurial education. Then, the Commission intends to create a blueprint for an academic career development framework that rewards research commercialization. In addition, it will explore the best ways to explore employee stock options for startups and remove tax obstacles for remote cross-border employees.
“This is just the beginning, and what matters is to put these measures into action,” wrapped up Zaharieva.
It drives forward calls for reforms by Mario Draghi, Enrico Letta, von der Leyen, EU Inc, and Not Optional to address innovation and competitiveness in Europe.
