EU Launches Ambitious Strategy to Make Europe a Global Startup and Scaleup Powerhouse
On May 28, 2025, the European Commission unveiled the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy aiming to transform Europe into a prime destination for launching and growing globally competitive, technology-driven companies.
Part of the broader Choose Europe initiative led by President von der Leyen, the new strategy focuses on unlocking the full potential of startups and scaleups to drive innovation, economic resilience, job creation, and strategic autonomy in the EU.
Despite Europe’s strong talent base and research capacity, many entrepreneurs face hurdles scaling up within the Single Market. The new strategy seeks to tackle these challenges head-on, with concrete actions across five key areas:
- Fostering an innovation-friendly environment – A proposed “European 28th regime” aims to reduce fragmentation, simplify rules around insolvency, tax, and labour law, and introduce a European Business Wallet for streamlined digital interactions.
- Improving access to finance – The Commission will strengthen the EU venture capital ecosystem through a new Scaleup Europe Fund, enhanced European Innovation Council, and a European Innovation Investment Pact to mobilise large institutional investors.
- Accelerating market uptake – Through the Lab to Unicorn initiative, startups will benefit from a connected network of university innovation hubs, IP commercialisation blueprints, and improved support for academic spinoffs.
- Attracting and retaining top talent – The Blue Carpet initiative will address cross-border hiring challenges, promote entrepreneurial education, and encourage fast-track visa systems for non-EU founders.
- Enhancing infrastructure access – A Charter of Access will harmonise startup access to research and technology infrastructure across the EU to cut time-to-market.
The Commission will monitor implementation progress using global performance indicators and will report results by end of 2027.
According to Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné, the strategy is a pivotal step toward making Europe “the place where innovation thrives.” Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva added that the EU is “ready to scale up” by removing the systemic barriers that have long held entrepreneurs back.
With this strategy, the EU aims to ensure that businesses born in Europe grow in Europe, contributing to the bloc’s economic sovereignty, innovation leadership, and digital transformation.
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