research and innovation, €100 billion was
proposed by the Commission, with the
European Parliament likely to suggest an
even higher budget. While the support from
the next European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Policy, which
has helped create 140,000 start-ups and
brought 15,000 new products to the
market, is expected to be even more
game changing. The Common Agricultural
Policy, the other big budget line, is likely
to increase with substantial investments in
agricultural innovation.
EUtop50 Founders
& Tech Festival
The EUtop50 annual festival is going to
celebrate and support young founders
from all over Europe by bringing together
the continent’s leading innovation actors,
technology developers, incubators and
accelerators, investors, corporate venture
organisations, family ofces and all those
who contribute to the development of
a globally competitive entrepreneurial
ecosystem. Learning from last year’s
EUtop50 event, and to achieve maximum
impact, the 2018 edition will be built around
young founders, R&D innovators from
Horizon 2020 and university technology
developers from across Europe. A particular
highlight this year will be a selection
of Europe’s future innovation leaders,
young talented entrepreneurs who have
developed breakthrough technologies
and raised substantial amounts of venture
capital. That’s because accessing funds is a
critical step for young pioneers delving into
the jungle of innovation fnancing in Europe
to get right. The challenge is to make sure
enough capital is available during the
diferent cycles of company development;
from the early stages, through growth
stages that can reach the ultimate unicorn
market capitalisation level. This is why
we decided to dedicate an
important part of the
EUtop50 programme
to the subject of
innovation fnancing.
When it comes to
the early stages
of innovation
fnancing, there
are an abundance
of resources in
and across Europe.
The problem is that the various funding
opportunities are scattered around European,
national, regional and local funds making
it very difcult, in particular for SMEs and
start-ups, to fnd their way. What is currently
available just isn’t ft for purpose; a simplifed,
open alternative, is desperately needed. So
we are currently discussing with the European
Commission ways we can efectively join
forces to make it easier for innovators to
navigate through the funding jungle.
Take Silicon Valley type ecosystems, like
we have in places like Berlin, London, Paris,
Stockholm and Madrid. The recipe for their
success is the proximity to, and availability
of, the most important ingredients in the
innovation kitchen cook book: talent,
university technologies, large corporations
and venture capital: all working
together in an atmosphere where
everybody wants to invent
the next Google. In this
sense, Europe still sufers
from a lack of venture
capital and scale-up
capital in general, along
with a reluctance to
take risk. Therefore, the
support and freedom
for Europe’s founders and
young entrepreneurs to try out, fail and start
over again is very important and will be
championed by the EUtop50 festival, which
will take place over two days at the Palais
des Academies, located near the European
Parliament. Event partners can actively
shape the programme. Booth space is made
available for start-ups and corporates, while
1:1 appointments can be made through
our matchmaking application. Start-ups
and tech innovators are invited to apply for
a mentorship programme, run by Europe’s
innovation leaders, throughout the year.
The real strength of our EIS and EUtop50
networks is that we are connecting the dots
across Europe, and along the value chain
through our events, while also providing
intelligence for knowledge owners and on
innovation funding and fnancing sources and
instruments at EU, national and regional levels.
About the author
Dr Roland Strauss is the Co-
Founder and Managing Director of
Knowledge4Innovation, which spearheads
the European Innovation Summit and
EUtop50 festival. An impactful and results-
driven platform, it also brings together
innovation leaders from the private, public
and academic sectors. Roland is also a
business entrepreneur, and managing
partner at Incubator Europe, a knowledge
hub striving to pave the way for solutions to
humanity’s most pressing challenges. He also
runs EU Innovation Trends, a news and events
platform covering EU funding, technology,
innovation and digital transformations.
EU Top 50 2017, European Parliament, Brussels
Listen
to Roland speaking
about the EUtop50
Founders + Tech Festival.