Brussels, 23/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the World Economic Forum in Davos on 23 January, Commissioner for the Digital Strategy Neelie Kroes, presented two new initiatives to support the development and growth of start-ups in Europe. The Commissioner stated: “Europe needs thriving start-ups and global internet companies to become a global growth centre again”. The first initiative is a new accelerator - the Start-up Europe Partnership - and the second is a new think tank - the European Digital Forum. Founding partners of these projects are: Telefonica, Orange, BBVA, European Investment Bank, Cambridge University, IE Business School, Humboldt University, the Lisbon Council, Nesta and Mind the Bridge Foundation. The commissioner welcomed this commitment and noted that “politicians don't create jobs, entrepreneurs do. We're going to support that mindset and push European start-ups beyond their comfort zone. And then we're going to get out of the way. Sometimes the best thing a political leader can do is get out of the way”;
The Start-Up Europe Partnership (SEP) seeks to help start-ups break through their national glass ceiling into global maturity. The SEP will build bridges between Europe's startups, corporate and investment communities to help EU start-ups raise funds and beat language barriers to reach maturity as global champions. The vision is that European corporations - large and middle size - as well as European universities have to be active key players in this process. They can both help the growth process of start-ups (business partnerships and strategic corporate investments) and have access to the best technologies and talents (acquisition and acqui-hiring). Its secretariat will be led by the Mind the Bridge Foundation, a non-profit corporation and Nesta, the UK's innovation foundation. The European Digital Forum will give entrepreneurs a voice in policy debates and aims to become Europe's leading think tank and policy network on digital entrepreneurship. It will give a stronger voice to the Europe tech scene by placing its achievements and challenges in their proper overall economic context, rather than in a niche. Designed as an “open church”, the Forum will be open to all industries, companies and stakeholders. It will also produce an annual Digital Economy Index to measure how friendly Europe is to the mind-set required to succeed in the digital era. Its secretariat will be led by the Lisbon Council in collaboration with Nesta. The Start-up Partnership and Digital Forum are the Commission's first concrete initiatives to deliver new business conditions in Europe following delivery of a Manifesto by the Start-up Europe Leaders Club to Europe's Prime Ministers and Presidents in October 2013 (see EUROPE 10950). (IL/transl.fl)