The Strategy aligns with the broader ‘Choose Europe’ initiative, launched by President von der Leyen. This initiative focused first on the science component promoting a unified European approach to attract and retain talent, thereby strengthening Europe’s competitiveness.

This initiative focused first on the science component promoting a unified European approach to attract and retain talent, thereby strengthening Europe’s competitiveness.

Startups and scaleups are essential to Europe’s future, driving innovation and sustainable growth, creating high-quality jobs, attracting investment and reducing strategic dependencies. Yet, despite strong foundations, too many still struggle to take ideas from lab to market or grow at scale within the EU, the European Commission states.

Actions in five main areas

The Strategy addresses these challenges by supporting them throughout their lifecycle, from starting up to scaling up to maturing and succeeding here in the EU. It identifies the key needs of startups and scaleups and is putting forward a set of actions in five main areas: Fostering innovation-friendly environment, Driving better financing, Supporting market uptake and expansion, Attracting and retaining top talent, and Facilitating access to infrastructure, networks and service.

The next steps

The progress will be monitored using global key performance indicator, states the Commission. It will report on the Strategy’s implementation by the end of 2027.