Commissioner Zaharieva and industry leaders debated how to turn the EU's bold startup vision into tangible results for European entrepreneurs.
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“We want to make Europe the best continent to do science, to start a company, to scale a company, to create global champions,” opened Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva at Euronews’ latest event, ‘Building a Powerhouse: The European Startup and Scaleup Strategy’.
Held on 15 September in Brussels, as a side event of the European Research and Innovation Days, the event brought together policymakers and startup leaders to explore how the EU’s ambitious Startup and Scaleup Strategy can move from paper to practice.
The stakes are clear: Europe holds just 8% of global scaleups compared to North America's 60%, while capturing only 5% of global venture capital against the US's 52% and China's 40%.
It's against this backdrop that Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva launched the EU's comprehensive strategy earlier this year, backed by a proposed doubling of the Horizon Europe budget for the European Innovation Council.
CTA: Catch up on the debate and get insight on how the EU can build a truly competitive startup ecosystem via the player above.
In her interview, the Commissioner outlined her team's focus on creating connected ecosystems across Europe, working on the European Innovation Act alongside the 28th regime, and implementing the Choose Europe initiative to attract talent. Here are some of the highlights from her interview:
She highlighted early progress including dedicated funding for ecosystem connections and the launch of a Scaleup Europe Fund planned for early next year, while acknowledging that implementation – beyond mere ideas – is key.
The panel discussions that followed brought together three startup leaders with frontline experience: Michael Pinto, Managing Director of Circular Materials; Letizia Goretti, CEO of Alia Therapeutics; and Stefan Drüssler, COO and Managing Director of Rise Europe and UnternehmerTUM. Catch up on their discussion below:
Breaking down barriers
The central challenge emerged early in the discussion: fragmentation. "Fragmentation is at the forefront of everyone's thoughts," said Pinto.
"There's no country in Europe that statistically matters at a global level, and so the only way this matters is if it's for 450 million citizens, not five over here, 60 over there."
Commissioner Zaharieva acknowledged this reality, stating: "What I want at the end of the mandate when I meet the private sector is to tell me it's much easier, faster, cheaper to start and scale business and also to deploy in neighbouring member states. So we are finally a single market."
The fragmentation problem extends beyond bureaucracy into critical areas like talent mobility and employee share options. As Pinto noted, offering equity packages to employees across different EU countries currently involves "wildly different" conversations due to varying national tax systems for the same exact position.
The deep-tech challenges
For companies like Alia Therapeutics, led by CEO Letizia Goretti, the challenges are particularly acute. As the CEO of Italy's first genome editing startup , and potentially one of only two in Europe compared to hundreds in the US,Goretti highlighted the scale problem facing deep-tech ventures.
"Our processes take many years, require lots of funds and are very complex," Goretti explained. "I really wish we can see from this strategy a build-up of critical mass, also the possibility to make mistakes while we build those capabilities, but really to then act as a continent at scale."
The Commissioner responded by outlining the proposed Scaleup Europe Fund, which aims to create "the biggest deep-tech VC in Europe" through public-private collaboration.
The 28th regime: a regulatory revolution?
One of the most significant developments discussed was the proposed 28th regime, which would allow companies to operate under a single European regulatory framework rather than navigating 27 different national systems.
The legal form of the proposal gained particular attention when Pinto highlighted that many recent EU laws consist of directives rather than regulations, requiring individual national implementation.
Pinto observed. "That's not scaleable."
Stefan Drüssler from Rise Europe and UnternehmerTUM emphasised the momentum building around initiatives like EU INC.: "This is the first time I really see there's momentum out of the European startup ecosystem, really engaging in a topic regarding Brussels."
Implementation over ambition
Implementation was one of the key issues raised. Commissioner Zaharieva stressed that “implementation is everything."
The Commission is already taking action, proposing six "omnibuses" packages to cut regulatory costs by €8 billion annually for the private sector. But as Zaharieva noted, this is "just the beginning" of a broader simplification effort.
On talent, Goretti identified a specific challenge: while Europe has abundant highly skilled researchers in academia, it lacks professionals who can bridge the gap between science and business.
"What we miss is those dual citizens or dual language talent that can also speak business and entrepreneurship," she explained, calling for universities to develop entrepreneurial mindsets alongside research capabilities.
This talent gap compounds the mobility problems, as different national regulations make it difficult to move specialists across EU borders where opportunities arise.
Corporate connections and public-procurement
The discussion also addressed the crucial role of established corporations in supporting European startups. In the Q&A section of the discussion, audience member Ricardo Marvão from Beta-i raised the question of how to ensure more corporate-startup collaboration, with Commissioner Zaharieva responding that traditional industries are "absolutely in favour" of greater engagement.
The Commissioner suggested that governments should "lead by example" through public-procurement preferences for European startups, while acknowledging that "the key is also corporations" since government procurement alone isn't sufficient.
Despite the challenges, panellists struck an optimistic tone about Europe's potential. "Take pride in being in Europe and doing it from Europe," urged Goretti.
Drüssler noted that founders consistently tell him they want to stay in Europe, while Commissioner Zaharieva pointed to companies that have left Europe only to return. "Because of the talented people, because of the way of life, because we have excellent scientists," she explained.
Meet the speakers
Ekaterina Zaharieva has made startups and innovation a central focus of her mandate as Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation. In the exclusive interview, she will share insights on the political momentum driving the EU’s startup strategy, and how her team is working to engage entrepreneurs in shaping real policy outcomes.
Joining the panels are three startup leaders with on-the-ground experience navigating Europe’s innovation ecosystem:
Michael Pinto, Managing Director of Italian company Circular Materials, works on sustainable industrial solutions in the circular economy. He can bring insight into how startups in clean tech can thrive, or struggle, within Europe’s regulatory and funding frameworks.
Letizia Goretti, CEO of Alia Therapeutics, leads the first Italian gene-editing company, working on developing novel therapeutic approaches using next-generation, high-precision CRISPR tools. Her perspective highlights both the promise of Europe’s research base and the challenges of commercialising scientific breakthroughs into scalable ventures
Stefan Drüssler, founding member of Rise Europe, leads an initiative that unites leading start-up ecosystem builders from 14 European countries to empower European start-ups. He is also the Managing Director and COO of UnternehmerTUM, one of the leading for innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe. He provides perspective on supporting startups through pan-European collaboration and strong local innovation hubs.