On the 13th of October, Allied for Startups held its 6th Annual Summit. Our Annual Summit is the highlight of our year as we invite all of our Members from across the globe to Brussels. This year, given the circumstances, we held it online. Despite the new format, we are amazed to see the level of engagement from our Members and how startup communities come together under one voice to support innovation and entrepreneurship. This year, almost 30 organisations from 20 countries and 5 continents participated. 

Although it is a year like no other, summit participants actively exchanged experiences on COVID-19 and other policy priorities, and built a plan for Allied for Startups in the coming year. The three key priority areas for Allied for Startups in the coming year are:

1. Talent, including Startup Visas, Stock Options, diversity as well as the Future of Work.
2. AI & Global Data Flows, the Free Flow of Data, Public Sector Data sharing and eHealth.
3. Online platforms, Intermediary Liability, Copyright, including Digital Services Act.  

In multiple breakout rooms, our Members discussed and debated our 2021 Mandate. When the assembly reconvened, our Members unanimously voted in favour to adopt the updated Mandate. We are thrilled to have a new Mandate co-created by our Members so we can keep empowering startups across the world! From here we want to say thank you very much to all of our Members who continue to come together and guide our activities and priorities. We are hopeful that we will be able to host you in Brussels shortly! 

Here are some of the highlights of the Summit: 

This year, we have witnessed startups rise to the COVID-19 challenge. Innovation and creativity have come to the forefront to address the challenges we are faced with head on and hence we have made it our mission to support them. In May, we formed our COVID-19 Working Group and collected and shared best practices from our Members, whose efforts culminated in our 13 recommendations from startup communities to policy makers. We’ve advocated for flexible EU State rules and heard back from the European Commission with a positive response. 

This year we have also been working on shaping the Startup Nations Standard as we believe in its enormous potential for the green and digital economic recovery.

Against all odds, this year we successfully launched our #DSA4startups campaign to make the Digital Services Act for startups! Our campaign has (virtually) taken us to 5 cities in Europe to support the different startup ecosystems alongside our Members. 

Our DTx platform has become more relevant than ever before to bring together startups, policy makers and healthcare stakeholders. This year we have used this platform to showcase innovation in the face of COVID-19. We presented our report Telemedicine in Europe: Opportunities and Challenges. We have also joined the European Commission’s eHealth Stakeholder Group and partnered the  Patients’ Digital Health Awards.

Daniel Dalton, our Senior Advisor presented our newly-formed Advisory Board. Our majority female Advisory Board draws together leading policymakers, founders and investors from Europe, Africa and America, bringing welcome diversity to guide the policy conversation to help startups. 

You can download our 2020 report in PDF version for more information.