The European Commission has launched a new strategy to support startups and scaleups throughout their lifecycle. The plan addresses key challenges that many companies face in moving ideas from the lab to the market or scaling up within the EU. The strategy proposes actions in five main areas.
First, it aims to foster an innovation-friendly environment by reducing fragmentation, decreasing administrative burdens, and simplifying rules. Second, it seeks to drive better financing by creating a larger and more integrated EU venture capital market and encouraging greater involvement from European institutional investors. Third, the plan supports market uptake and expansion to help startups grow more quickly.
Fourth, it focuses on attracting and retaining top talent to support innovation and growth. Finally, the strategy aims to facilitate access to infrastructure, networks, and services by simplifying and harmonizing access and contractual conditions to resources that startups need.
EU startup support plans unveiled
The Commission will undertake these actions in the upcoming months. The strategy aligns with the broader initiatives of the Commission, which will report on its implementation by the end of 2027. “We don’t want it to be a drop in the water.
We want it to make a clear difference,” an EU official said about the planned “Scaleup Europe Fund.” The fund, set to launch next year, will have a public component and around four times more private money. It will take stakes in promising companies and be run by a private investment manager. The precise size of the fund is still to be determined, but the official said it would be a double-digit billion-euro amount.
The EU already has plans to steer private savings to investments in business through its Savings and Investments Union, which aims to develop a more expansive private pension industry across the region. The Commission’s strategy also includes proposals to create simpler rules with reduced administrative burdens for high-tech startups, boost participation in public procurement, and fast-track entry for non-EU startup founders. For more information, visit the European Commission’s website.
