Startup Europe

Startup Europe initiative

Startup Europe is an initiative of the European Commission to connect high tech startups, scaleups, investors, accelerators, corporate networks, universities and the media. It is supported by a portfolio of EU funded projects and policy actions such as the EU Startup Nation Standard, Innovation Radar and the Digital Innovation and Scale-up Initiative (DISC). It is fully aligned with the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) strategy of the European Commission. 

EU Startup Nation Standard

European SMEs and startups face several challenges as they pursue ambitions of securing market opportunities and growing their revenues. The European Commission in 2020 launched the EU Startup Nation Standard to mobilise EU member states to implement best policy practices that support startups in challenges such as venture creation, and attracting and retaining talent. This political initiative has to date secured commitments from Ministers in 26 EU countries to implement such practices at regional and national levels. The initiative focuses - for example - on delivering policies that: make it easier to launch a startup and expand across borders; streamline visa and residency applications for third country talent; make granting of employee stock options more attractive; and, increase access to finance for scaling-up. 

To support EU countries in delivering on the commitments made, the Europe Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA) was established in December 2021. This first-of-a-kind operational entity provides support to policy makers in EU Member States and facilitates the identification, sharing and implementation of best policy practices for startups. 

Innovation Radar Platform

The Innovation Radar is the European Commission’s data-driven initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation projects. Its goal is to allow every citizen, public official, professional and business person to discover the outputs of EU innovation funding. Innovation Radar is supported by the Dealflow.eu and Innovation Radar Bridge support actions. 

StepUp StartUps

The EU funded 'StepUp Startups' initiative aims to accelerate the growth, and impact of Europe's startup ecosystem by delivering evidence-based recommendations for policy makers. By the end of 2025 the initiative will deliver 12 data-driven deep dive policy reports on key issues and challenges facing the EU's Startup ecosystem. 

Digital innovation and scaleup initiative (DISC)

Digital startups in the central, eastern and south-eastern Europe (CESEE) region face an investment gap compared to innovators in other European regions. To address this gap in a geographically targeted way the digital innovation and scaleup initiative (DISC) was launched in 2019 by the European Commission in cooperation with several other international institutions. DISC pursues these aims by addressing the existing market gap, enhancing investments and strengthening technical assistance programs focused on digital innovations and the scale-up of digital startups in the CESEE region.

Read a short note on DISC (.pdf)