Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, alongside Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva, unveiled a comprehensive startup and scaleup strategy aimed at strengthening Europe's innovation ecosystem and reducing the outflow of promising companies.
\nThe Innovation Gap and Regulatory Challenges\nSéjourné highlighted Europe's innovation challenge compared to the United States, noting a large performance gap in advanced technologies despite more startups being created in Europe. Only 8% of global scaleups are European, and nearly 30% of European unicorns have relocated abroad over the past 15 years, mainly due to regulatory fragmentation and insufficient financing. The strategy aims to unify the internal market for startups by streamlining R&D, market entry, scaling, and financing conditions.
\nConcrete Measures and New Funds\nZaharieva detailed five pillars of the strategy: innovation-friendly regulation, better finance, fast market uptake, talent support, and access to infrastructure. Notably, the plan will create a new “28th regime” offering startups a harmonized set of company rules and seek to enable company establishment within 48 hours. The strategy includes a proposed Scaleup Europe Fund, a public-private equity vehicle targeting high-risk, capital-intensive scaleups in AI, quantum, and clean technologies, closing financing gaps above €100 million. Furthermore, an innovation-focused European Innovation Council will be expanded and simplified.
\nPolicy Orientations and Stakeholder Impacts\nThe strategy signals a move to increase EU regulatory harmonization and expand public-private financial cooperation, emphasizing a stronger EU market identity versus national fragmentation. This boosts regulatory clarity for startups but raises adaptation demands for national authorities. The increased role of EU-level equity investments will improve scaleup financing options, benefiting tech companies and investors. However, startups may face new compliance complexities tied to the "28th regime." The initiative to simplify cross-border employment taxation also aims to enhance talent mobility but requires coordinated national tax rules. Public procurement reforms targeting startup inclusion could favor innovative SMEs but challenge traditional incumbents.
\nOverall, Séjourné and Zaharieva present a strategy with concrete proposals and measurable targets, including new funds and regulatory frameworks, advancing EU integration in startup support and balancing innovation promotion with market openness and investor protection for a dynamic European tech ecosystem.