New EU Strategy Aims to Transform Europe into a Global Hub for Startups and Scaleups

On 28 May, the European Commission launched the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, titled ‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale’, aiming to position Europe as a prime location for launching and growing global, technology-driven companies. This Strategy is part of the broader ‘Choose Europe’ initiative spearheaded by President Ursula von der Leyen, which initially focused on the science and talent pillar—promoting a unified European approach to attract, develop, and retain top talent. The new Startup and Scaleup Strategy builds on this foundation, reinforcing Europe’s ambition to boost innovation, competitiveness, and investment attractiveness for high-growth tech enterprises. 

Startups and scaleups play a vital role in shaping Europe’s future by fostering innovation, driving sustainable economic growth, generating quality employment, attracting investment, and helping to reduce strategic dependencies. However, even with a solid foundation, many of these companies face difficulties in transforming research into market-ready solutions or expanding successfully within the EU.

This Strategy aims to tackle these barriers by offering support at every stage of development—from launch and growth to maturity and long-term success—within the European ecosystem.

It identifies the key needs of startups and scaleups and proposes targeted actions across five main areas:

• Fostering innovation-friendly environment
• Driving better financing
• Supporting market uptake and expansion
• Attracting and retaining top talent
• Facilitating access to infrastructure, networks and service