The European Commission has launched a new EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, called ‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale’, aimed at making Europe a go-to destination for starting and growing technology-driven businesses. This Strategy forms part of the broader "Choose Europe" initiative launched by President von der Leyen, which focuses on science and promotes a unified European approach to attract and retain talent, thereby strengthening Europe's competitiveness.
Startups and scaleups are key drivers of Europe’s future: they fuel innovation, support sustainable economic growth, create high-quality jobs, attract investment, and reduce strategic dependencies. However, despite a strong foundation, too many still struggle to take ideas from lab to market or grow at scale within the EU. The Strategy addresses these challenges by supporting them throughout their lifecycle, from starting up, scaling up, maturing and succeeding in the EU, ensuring that these companies can grow and thrive.
‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale’ puts forward a set of actions in five main areas:
- Fostering an innovation-friendly environment: to thrive, startups and scaleups need a more unified and supportive Single Market with fewer administrative burdens and simpler rules. The strategy proposes a European 28th Regime to simplify rules and lower the cost of failure by addressing critical aspects in areas such as insolvency, labour and tax law. A European Business Wallet will enable digital interactions with public administrations using a unified digital identity for all economic operators.
- Driving better access to financing: startups and scaleups need better funding and greater involvement of European institutional investors. The strategy includes a Savings and Investments Union initiative, key to unlocking more financing and investment opportunities in the EU. To complement this initiative, the Strategy aims to expand and simplify the European Innovation Council, launch a Scaleup Europe Fund to close the funding gap for deep tech scaleups, and develop a voluntary European Innovation Investment Pact to attract large institutional investors to invest in EU funds and unlisted startups.
- Supporting market uptake and expansion: startups and scaleups need a quicker journey from lab to market. To this end, the Strategy introduces the Lab to Unicorn initiative, including European Startup and Scaleup Hubs to connect academic and innovation ecosystems, as well as a licensing and revenue-sharing blueprint for universities and researchers to commercialise intellectual property (IP).
- Attracting and retaining top talent: startups and scaleups need better access to highly skilled individuals. Therefore, the Strategy introduces the Blue Carpet initiative, focusing on entrepreneurial education, improved tax treatment for employee stock options, and smoother cross-border employment. The Commission will also promote the Blue Card Directive to fast-track schemes by Member States to support non-EU founders and innovators.
- Facilitating access to infrastructure, networks and services: to shorten time-to-market, startups and scaleups need better access to high-quality infrastructure. The Strategy will propose a Charter of Access to simplify and harmonise conditions for startups and scaleups accessing research and technology infrastructure across the EU.
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