EU Strategy for Startups and Scaleups - Created to Empower Europe’s Founders, Innovators and Investors

The European Commission presented the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, aimed at positioning the EU as the best place in the world to launch and grow global technology-driven companies.

The Strategy addresses key challenges and outlines targeted actions across five areas:

- Innovation-friendly regulation
- Better finance
- Fast market update and expansion
- Support for the best talent
- Access to infrastructure, networks and services

Progress will be tracked with a Startup and Scaleup Scoreboard and an annual startup and scaleup survey.

The Strategy proposes a comprehensive set of actions to make the EU the best place in the world to launch and grow technology-driven innovative companies.

It focuses on helping innovators, founders and investors to Choose Europe by improving the conditions for startups and scaleups, enabling them to capitalise on new geopolitical opportunities and reducing the reasons to relocate outside the EU. It sets out legislative, policy and financial support measures, at both EU and Member States level, to address the needs of innovative companies throughout their development.

Key actions are focused on fostering innovation-friendly regulation, improving access to finance, accelerating market uptake and expansion, attracting and retaining the best talent and facilitating access to infrastructure, networks and services. 

The Startup and Scaleup Strategy will be closely linked to other flagship actions of the Competitiveness Compass, such as the "Savings and Investments Union", the "Single Market Strategy" or the "Union of Skills".

Why the strategy is needed

Startups and scaleups are amongst the key drivers of innovation, as they often develop and introduce breakthrough innovative products and solutions to the market. A thriving startup and scaleups ecosystem plays a key role in economic growth and market evolution by driving productivity, incentivising investments and creating quality jobs.

EU startups and scaleups have the potential to create new markets in which the EU can take global leadership, while increasing the EU’s competitiveness by closing the innovation gap with its main global competitors.