EC Creates Corporates+Universities Group And A Thinktank To Help EU Startups
We’ve already covered the set of initiatives the European Commission plans to roll out in order to address the pressing need to support tech startups in Europe. Today in Davos, at the World Economic Form, Vice President Neelie Kroes has announced the launch of two initiatives inspired by that work. (Note: See Update below)
The first is the Startup Europe Partnership – effectively a project to help startups in Europe scale globally. This will be led by the Mind the Bridge Foundation, a non-profit corporation which runs an accelerator programme andNesta, a UK charity which funds innovation.
The other founding partners of this project are: Telefonica, Orange, BBVA, European Investment Bank, Cambridge University, IE Business School, Humboldt University and the Lisbon Council.
The idea is that the Startup Europe Partnership (SEP) will “build bridges” between Europe’s startup, corporate and investment communities to help EU startups raise funds and beat language barriers to reach maturity as global players. It hopes to do this in three main ways: by creating events which match startups and corporations to encourage corporates to procure and invest in startups; mapping the hottest startups, hubs and success stories; sharing startup related best practices to reduce the cultural divide and favour cross-fertilization. The vision is that European corporations – large and middle size – as well as European universities have to be active key players in this process.
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