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Startups and scaleups represent vital components of the EU-wide socio-economic development. Hence, establishment of large-scale European centres of excellence will help startups and scaleups to access infrastructures, networks and services for future growth. Introducing entrepreneurial education and engagement with business at an early stage is also a key element in developing businesslike mindset among young people.
Background
According to observers, the EU is systematically failing to turn innovative ambition into global market leadership. Starting and scaling companies in the EU-27 still remains far harder than it should be, notes BusinessEurope’s recent report.
Presently, the European startups frequently encounter two distinct stumbling blocks: the first occurs when promising innovations fail to become viable and marketable products; the second, and arguably more consequential, appears at the scaleup stage, when growing companies lack the capital, market access and the “ecosystem support” needed to expand Europe-wide and compete globally.
The results are extremely worrying: during 2008-2021, nearly 30 percent of European unicorns relocated outside the EU, and presently only about 8 percent of global scaleups are based in Europe. The EU scaleups raise, on average, 50 percent less capital than their US counterparts, ten years after founding. Although the European technological system has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade – it has grown from a valuation of under $1 trillion to approximately $4 trillion – presently, the entrepreneurial momentum “is clearly building”, notes the BusinessEurope’s report, adding that there were 60 percent more people starting companies in Europe in 2025 than in 2023.
Sources: = Atomico: State of European Tech 2025. European Commission: Startup and Scaleup Strategy. 2025; = European Investment Bank: The Scale-Up Gap, 2024; = Draghi,
The Future of European Competitiveness, 2024. And = https://www.integrin.dk/2026/09/18/european-business-in-the-digital-transition-preparing-for-ais-legal-compliance/
Note. BusinessEurope is the largest regional business organisation and leading “advocate for growth and competitiveness at European level”, standing up for companies across the continent and actively campaigning on the issues that most influence their performance. It speaks for enterprises of all sizes in 36 European countries, representing 42 national business federations as the active members.
Reference to: https://www.businesseurope.eu/publications/priorities-for-european-startups-and-scaleups-a-businesseurope-position-paper/
BusinessEurope: key messages
= Startups and scaleups are indispensable drivers of Europe’s economic future. However, despite the remarkable transformation of Europe-wide digital-technology’s system over the past decade, still starting and scaling companies in Europe “remains far harder than it should be”.
= Europe must create corporate conditions under which private capital flows towards European startups and scaleups are at the volume and stage where it is most needed: “a stronger venture capital ecosystem is one of the prerequisites for retaining and scaling Europe’s most innovative firms”; creating conditions for a better IPO system in Europe is also fundamental”.
= EU’s “coordinating instruments” need to ensure openness, transparency and technological neutrality while facilitating coordination between EU and national governance, including the international cooperation’s regimes “to ensure strong support for startups and scaleups”.
= The public procurement should be used strategically as one of the instruments to grow innovative European startups and scaleups; the EU framework “should focus on streamlining and ensuring their access, not adding new criteria”.
= Identifying, filtering and supporting innovations that are entirely new to the market requires a more agile and open approach than the current European system provides for. A European agency responsible for supporting disruptive innovation and coordinating actions across the EU member states could be considered.
= Regulatory fragmentation and remaining barriers to cross-border business operations in the Single Market must be decisively addressed. Thus, the swift adoption of an effective EU Inc. Regulation is critical to reduce some of the challenges relating to company law.
More on digital aspects in business, in: https://www.integrin.dk/2026/09/18/european-business-in-the-digital-transition-preparing-for-ais-legal-compliance/
= The establishment of large-scale European centres of excellence, that are strategically built around Europe’s existing technological and academic strengths, will help startups and scaleups to access infrastructures, networks and services they need to grow.
= Introducing entrepreneurial education and engagement with enterprises at an early stage is key to developing an entrepreneurial mindset among young people. Beyond education, Europe needs to attract and retain world-class talent.
= Reliable and structured access to intellectual property rights is a prerequisite to allowing startups and scaleups to grow, as for many it is their most valuable asset and therefore a strong precondition for securing financing.
Besides, notes the report, slow market uptake and expansion mean that European considerable research strengths rarely translate into commercial success at scale. For example, only one third of university-filed patents are commercially exploited. And the public procurement, a powerful lever for driving early demand, remains overwhelmingly risk-averse, with only 9 percent targeting innovation since 2021, well below the EU’s own 20 percent target. Hence, outside a handful of high-performing clusters, the links between academia, research institutions and the startup ecosystem remain too thin, argues the report.
The report acknowledges in the conclusion, that “taken together, the modern challenges carry both economic and strategic weight”; thus, “if Europe cannot retain and scale its most innovative companies, it will remain dependent on technologies and platforms developed elsewhere”.
This conclusion comes with profound consequences for the EU’s industrial capacity, digital sovereignty and ability to shape the global economy: “addressing these barriers is therefore not optional, but rather a prerequisite for European competitiveness in the decades ahead”.
Source and citations from: https://www.businesseurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-10-27-Priorities-for-European-startups-and-scaleups.pdf
The AI effect
The Politico argued that “lobbyists are scared of ChatGPT” and other digital tools. The number of amendments the EU-lawmakers (so-called MEPs) have adopted “exploded since generative AI arrived, with key EU laws now facing thousands of proposed text changes”.
However, the European Parliament officials don’t think it is a coincidence: some MEPs are pointing out to amendments written in “suspiciously bot-like language”, and others saying sometimes amendments cite legislation that does not even exist.
Hence, the growing pile of amendments is haunting lobbyists; parliamentary assistants and officials forced to track and sort through it all — along with the fear that AI could eventually replace them.
As Politico notes: “spare a thought, too: for the MEPs who may have to vote through the amendments one by one, with hands raised in plenary”.
Source and citations from: https://www.politico.eu/article/who-is-afraid-of-whom-in-brussels/
However, the European Commission has constantly underlined the importance of digital proficiency; as the “digital education for business” equips employees and leaders with the technology’s skills and operational strategies needed to run modern, data-driven companies.
See, e.g.: https://isbss-edu.org/business-education-and-digital-skills/
Data and digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are powerful drivers of innovation in education, offering transformative opportunities for system and school management as well as for teaching and learning. However, they also create policy issues, such as equity concerns and interoperability, that countries need to mitigate.
More in the “Digital Education Outlook”: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/digital-education.html
For example, the “DIGITAL4Business, D4B” European Master’s Program is a new EU-wide Master’s program aimed at digital upskilling across many industrial sectors; the D4B will promote long-term competitiveness and growth in European SMEs and companies, as well as develop a culture of excellence in advanced digital skills.
Reference to: https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/digital4business
Besides, there are several articles in our Integrin website on these issues: see e.g. the following links:
= https://www.integrin.dk/2025/12/11/ai-in-education-contemporary-european-issues/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2025/11/08/ai-in-education-modern-challenges-for-learners-and-education-providers/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2026/10/08/european-skills-for-the-digital-and-ai-age-challenges-for-national-education-policies/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2026/07/06/ai-and-higher-education-algorithmic-ethics-in-the-popes-encyclical/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2025/07/24/ai-in-education-and-skills-towards-global-digital-literacy/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2025/07/04/responsible-ai-in-education-european-approach/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2025/07/01/skills-for-the-future-global-and-european-transformations/;
= https://www.integrin.dk/2025/05/13/challenges-in-education-the-digital-perspectives/;
And finally: = https://www.integrin.dk/2026/11/02/education-in-the-digital-age-political-economic-and-digital-challenges/.