European Innovation Area

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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

Innovators Magazine is a OnePoint5media publication

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

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