EUROPEAN INNOVATION AREA ON THE HORIZON
Inside the EUTOP50
Equality and the ‘new normal’
European Innovation Summit, Brussels
December 2020
INNOVATORS
10.
equality challenge
women need capital fariness
14.
female founders
EUTOP50 candidates
26.
meet the speakers
changemaker insight
CONTENTS
4.
welcome
from our hosts
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INNOVATORS
EDITOR'S NOTE
2020 will leave an indelible mark in the history books of human
civilisation. But it is where we step next collectively that will
decide if the arc of history can still be bent towards a better
future for all. One which is sustainable for people and planet
and delivers societies that view themselves as part of nature,
rather than detached owners free to exploit it. In Europe, those
steps are well underway. The EU Green Deal and goal to be
climate neutral by 2050 - with an economy contributing net-
zero greenhouse gas emissions, are cornerstones of Europe’s
blueprint for that better future.
Realising it though will require a strong culture of innovation
- and current plans for a European Innovation Area can help
nurture this - and turn soundbites like ‘build back better’ into
a reality. To that end, this week’s European Innovation Summit
from Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) will be another stepping
stone towards growing a European Innovation Area. And your
debates and discussions can play a vital part in making the
summit a milestone moment in the journey towards creating it.
At the heart of it will be changemakers like those in the EUTOP50
startup community, some of whom are featured in this special
edition, produced in collaboration with K4I.
The world needs good leadership now more than ever: from
policymakers, entrepreneurs, big business and across society.
Here in Europe, we have an opportunity to show that type of
transformative leadership and become the progressive and
sustainable global capital of a ‘new normal’ that leaves nobody
behind.
Innovators Magazine accepts no responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions. All material is copyright
and reproduction is not permitted without permission. All rights reserved.
innovatorsmag.com | connect@innovatorsmag.com
Editorial Team: innovatorsmag.com/connections
INNOVATORS
Mariya Gabriel
EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research,
Culture, Education, and Youth
Why we need a European Innovation Area
Europe has world class entrepreneurs and innovators. And we must do everything we can to
match their ambitions so more go on to become global innovation leaders. I want us to do that by
building a pan-European innovation ecosystem of support on their doorstep that accelerates their
chances of thriving and making an impact on the international stage.
In echoing the growing calls for a European Innovation Area, this year’s European Innovation Sum-
mit, organised by the Knowledge4Innovation Forum, is shining a spotlight on exactly the type of
big idea we need to deliver for our brightest minds: ‘Towards a European Innovation Area’ is the
Summit’s theme. It is an idea that is very close to my heart and a solution that is being co-cre-
ated with stakeholders from all Member States and the Members of the European Parliament.
In our discussions to date we have envisioned a new European single space for innovators and
entrepreneurs that will not leave any of the 27 Member States behind, and that will have a specific
focus on supporting regions and women and that will provide a pivotal role for Higher Education
Institutions to connect innovation ecosystems across Europe.
With a truly pan-European innovation ecosystem we can create the conditions for new business
ideas to grow like never before. We can also increase our fair share of global tech leaders in-
creasing the number of unicorns that come from Europe, 12% of the global unicorns as of today.
Because in their current form our local innovation ecosystems, though vibrant, are too fragmented
and disconnected to bridge the gaps that exist. It is time to raise the bar now and go much further
in forging a cohesive, interconnected system, where we no longer have a situation where it is easi-
er to contact an investor in Silicon Valley than in Europe.
By taking a decentralised co-creation approach we can develop a European Innovation Area that
is built by innovators for innovators. One which offers equal access to funding and where startups
in one country can easily bid for public contracts in another. Where startups and corporates work
more closely together and where there have strong European associations bringing together all
the actors of the European innovation ecosystems. I want us to achieve this and to nurture a net-
working culture fit for the 21st century, where all players are able to easily connect at a local and
European level. And I also want to see the increased participation of women-led startups.
On the last point, it is great to see the successes being achieved by this year’s EUTOP50 female
founder finalists. Among the most exciting entrepreneurs working in Europe today, they are living
proof that with self-confidence we can do anything. I am truly inspired by their stories, which have
given me the energy to work even harder to empower women in Europe and beyond. They are the
positive role models we need to help motivate and attract more girls and women to innovation
and entrepreneurship.
I urge these female founders, and all involved in this year’s European Innovation Summit - as well
as those in the wider innovation community, to reach out to me and share their actionable ideas
for how we continue to take European innovation forward together.
INNOVATORS
INNOVATORS
The European Innovation Summit reaches its 12th anniversary and represents again
the perfect opportunity to speak about research and innovation, together with the
friends of Knowledge4Innovation and its wide community of partners. We always try to
keep up with the times, but this year is a special one, given the increased digitalisation
of our activities. For the first time ever, we are having a virtual Summit, all online.
The pandemic and the need to recover from all its impacts show once again how
innovation must be a central element in the European answer. Doctors, researchers,
teachers, business owners, and many others, have seen how innovation was the
main resource they had to fight against an unprecedented situation. It is about the
discovery of a vaccine, but also about how to palliate the symptoms or to help those
infected by the virus. It is about finding new ways to communicate with our loved
ones when we could not leave our homes, how teachers could make students engage
from the other side of the screen, or how companies could step up in the digital
transformation to be able to maintain their businesses in a changing ecosystem.
Innovation is the cornerstone of the European plans, but also of the national measures
to implement the recovery package. Innovation is the main driver to achieve the
targets to ensure that we move to a greener and digital society and economy, whilst
ensuring a strategic and open resilience.
Less than one month ago, Knowledge4Innovation organized one of the first events
launching the idea of a European Innovation Area, which will be developed under the
guidance of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. On that occasion, we stressed together
how investing in innovation means investing in the European way of doing things.
We can then be more resilient, autonomous and set our standards worldwide when
it comes to emerging technologies. The 12th European Innovation Summit is devoted
to finding the proper ways to boost the European Innovation Area and make our
European innovators worldwide champions. We will touch upon the role of innovation
in the recovery plan, but also the need to boost it to achieve the targets to reduce
fossil emissions in the proposed timeframe. The construction of an ecosystem where
innovation can flourish is a precious objective that a European Innovation Area can
contribute to. We need to attract talents, to nourish their efforts and protect their
rights to work. Women are particularly disadvantaged as women innovators face
even more hardship to get funds or access to resources and this is why I am glad that
this year we give voice to awarded innovators and other experts that together with
Commissioner Gabriel can explore ways to increase the institutional attention towards
women-driven initiatives, investments and initiatives.
The summit is also about Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, focusing on their impact
on society and developing a positive narrative towards these new technologies
that promise to change our habits but still hold a certain level of skepticism among
European citizens. The topic is very wide and will be tackled in events with specific
angles on health, green transition and competitiveness, but it is through platforms
like the K4I European Innovation Summit, that we can show how artificial intelligence
can have a constructive tangible impact on our daily lives, on our society and on our
overall competitiveness.
Maria da Graça Carvalho, MEP
Chair of the Knowledge4Innovation
Forum in the European Parliament
INNOVATORS
Now is the time to rethink our relationship with nature, putting climate, environment and
natural resources at the heart of future policies. Protecting and restoring nature is the
greatest long-term investment we can make for present and future societies. To create the
impact needed, we must develop and deploy innovative solutions resulting in a sustainable
and circular economy and society.
Covid-19 is a great wake-up call. Not only does it give us an example of what a health (or
climate) emergency can be like. It also shows us it is an opportunity to rethink our way of
life and our economic model. Most importantly however, the crisis showed that we can
mobilize citizens and resources in an unprecedented way to face a common challenge. The
Corona crisis also made clear how obvious the link is between policy and science, research
and innovation. No doubt, economic and political strength will depend more than ever from
leadership in technology and innovation. The US and China are the benchmarks.
Having organized more than 500 debates around innovation related topics, aiming to
make innovation the top priority for Europe and Chefsache, we have seen encouraging
developments in recent years, like one pillar in Horizon Europe being entirely dedicated
to innovation. While this is a step in the right direction it is not enough. For a long time, we
have been thinking of constructs such as a single market for innovation or a European
innovation ecosystem, something that we do jointly across Europe and that helps to
increase Europe’s innovation performance. Now we finally have it: ‘A European Innovation
Area’. While it is still a nice idea and only put forward very recently by the EU Commissioner
for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, it has already
gained traction. During the 12th European Innovation Summit we identified many barriers
and actionable ideas to strengthen the European Innovation Area. And we will continue this
conversation for years to come.
Europe is a knowledge superpower. It has a unique knowledge base developed by almost
two million researchers and an annual investment of 200 billion euro that translates very
successfully into high numbers of patents and scientific publications. Unfortunately, the
great knowledge produced is not sufficiently turned into innovative solutions and fast-
growing, world-leading companies.
Roland Strauss
Founder Knowledge4Innovation
QUESTION: QUO VADIS INNOVATION IN EUROPE?
ANSWER: TOWARDS A EUROPEAN INNOVATION AREA
If we want to overcome Europe’s innovation deficit and improve the impact from our wealth
of knowledge and ideas, we need to improve our support on the journey from knowledge
to innovation and market creation. There are many best practice examples, such as
turning campuses into innovation ecosystems, and connecting students and PHDs with
entrepreneurship centres. However, if we want to tap into the full potential, we need to do
more: we must overcome the innovation divide in Europe which is still very significant.
The other huge potential lies within an increased investment in women-led VC funds, startups
and businesses. I am very proud that we could dedicate our EUTOP50 initiative which started
a few years ago with a pitching competition in a plenary hall of a Parliament, the Hemicycle of
the European Parliament, to demonstrate during a whole day, the power of women in business.
Together with our Chair, Maria da Graça Carvalho, and our political members , the European
Partnerships, EIT KICs, universities and other innovation accelerators, we are keen to work with
Commissioner Mariya Gabriel to make the European Innovation Area a success story for the
benefit of Europe, our citizens, enterprises and common values.
We need a stronger Europe with better
innovation, with mission-led innovation. We
need innovative and diverse innovation.
We are missing opportunities and talent by
excluding women and minorities from the
innovation conversation. The current situation
today that only 2% of women led companies
are receiving funding is unacceptable. We
need to have open, connected, inclusive
innovation ecosystems and need to accept
innovation to be not only technology-driven.
We need women and diversity in all levels
of our European innovation ecosystems, in
funds, VCs, business angels, mentors, industry
Jara Pascual
Founder & CEO Collabwith, Board
Member Forum Knowledge4Innovation,
Co-founder Managing Director TWOO
The Wominvest Observatory
leaders, academic, innovation managers,
business developers, and other ecosystem
supporting organizations. The type of
communication should be considered neutral,
and code of conducts should be mandatory
to increase respect for everyone working
in innovation. We have the responsibility to
balance the unbalance, to bridge the gap of
investment of innovation, because money is
power. If we invest in women, we empower
women. Everyone is creative, and every voice
counts to create a better society and a positive
future in Europe.
INNOVATORS
10
The fact that women
are less involved in
entrepreneurial activities
is well known, as is the fact
that women are less likely to
take up technical education,
which feeds much of our
entrepreneurship and
innovation.
A wide range of policy
actions have been
developed and deployed
over the years to address
the inequality: in the form
of awareness campaigns,
community building,
networking, highlighting
role models, nominating
ambassadors, as well
as direct facilitation and
support. Some of these
initiatives have been more
effective than others, but
what is worrying is that it
seems to always come in
spurts, when a continuous
and consistent action is
needed. It is telling that the
most recent large statistical
studies date back to before
2016.
While the broader topic of
women entrepreneurship
is on the radar, the blatant
inequality in investment in
women led startups and
scaleups is much less so.
It took a talk show on Dutch
national tv in 2018 to make
me aware of the extremely
low levels of investment in
women lead startups and
scaleups. Much quoted
is the 2% venture capital
Women innovators
being short-changed
investment allocated to
women led companies. It
was a shocking eye opener,
and after doing some
research, I began engaging
in more discussions on
the topic. The first push for
sustained action came
at the K4I AI and Big data
summit at the end of 2019,
which was followed up
by an excellent debate at
the European Innovation
Summit in February 2020,
which mobilised strong
political support in the
European Parliament.
The more the topic was
discussed the more the
complexity became clear,
and at the same time the
lack of general awareness
as well as the limited
and highly fragmented
information and knowledge
were painfully prominent.
These are the main reasons
why we founded the
Wominvest platform and
its observatory, together
with Jara Pascual and
Carol Tarr. The main goal
is very ambitious: to start
a movement for cultural
change leading to equal
opportunity for investment.
The main activities are to
build a cross stakeholder
community – entrepreneurs,
teachers, investors, policy
makers – to boost broad
awareness, and reduce
fragmentation by bringing
together ongoing activities
and policies, mobilise
decision makers to foster
change, and develop a
comprehensive knowledge
base. At the moment the
work is done entirely pro
bono, with the help of
volunteers. We hope to
attract sufficient sponsoring
to scale and further
professionalise our activities.
It is good to see that we
are certainly not the only
ones actively engaged in
addressing the investment
inequality. Across the
board in Europe, change
is happening. In terms
of policy, the European
Commission is making
headway; while in politics,
the European Parliament is
doing likewise; and within
finance, the EIF and EIB
are taking much needed
action. So we are seeing
this increased attention,
with concrete actions and
studies appearing, and
the momentum definitely
picking up. Most activities
are what I would call
downstream, developing