As 2022 comes to an end, we take a look at what an incredible year this has been for startups worldwide. At Allied for Startups we can proudly say goodbye to a year of growth and meaningful policy results that reaffirm our mission as a global startup organisation.
The Policy Corner
We have seen the DSA and DMA come to a close and are carefully following the adoption process. The Data Act has been another main priority for us since its launch by the European Commission in February. The discussions at the European institutions are advancing, and we are closely monitoring their progress and engaging with different stakeholders to ensure that the Data Act will consider startups’ reality and turn it into an opportunity, as it is described in our position.
As part of the European strategy for data, the release of the European Health Data Space proposal in May marked the first domain-specific attempt at legislating European data spaces. We are reaching out to EU policy makers with key asks as outlined in our position to ensure the EHDS is fit for startups.
As for Transatlantic Data Transfers, the European Commission published a draft adequacy decision on a new EU-US Data Privacy framework in December. To ensure that startups can make the most out of the new framework, we have issued a press release welcoming the draft EU-US adequacy agreement and prepared an infographic to explain what this implies and what will follow.
Organisational Milestones:
Startups are global from day one and we as an organisation are no different. This year, our team grew as did our membership, both regionally and in size. AFS landed in Mexico City to enlarge our efforts in Latin America. Since April, we have been fully engaged in the Mexican policy landscape: notably with the Fintech Charter providing policymakers with best practices that benefit the startup ecosystem, and on the Cybersecurity Law with our seat in the working group for the Mexican Congress, where we will keep ensuring startups are included in the conversation, as Alejandra Plaschinski, Director for LATAM expressed.
Our Membership structure was also expanded to meet the growing demand for startup representation at the policy table. We built a new three-tiered approach that added Affiliate Members and a ‘Disruptors Club’ to our traditional member associations. More representation, louder voices, and less hassle. Just what startups want!
In October, the global startup community came together in person for our Annual Summit after two years of virtual meetings. On the agenda, we heard from 9 inspiring speakers for our panel discussions, Ana Petrova from Startup Ukraine shared words of resilience at the Annual Dinner, we presented the 2022 Annual Report, and our Membership voted on our priorities for 2023. It was a real blast!
In 2022 we also strengthened our social commitment. We collected best practices on how to support Ukraine and we achieved the CO2 Neutral Bronze Label!
Digital Health
Our annual healthtech conference is back! On January 25th 2023, we’ll be bringing Europe’s leading digital health startups, ecosystem builders, and policymakers together to bridge entrepreneurial voices in healthtech policy and government for a series of panel discussions and networking activities to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the future of digital health innovation in Europe and beyond. Make sure to RSVP here and join us in-person or online.
With the same enthusiasm as when we started 8 years ago, we will continue to support the startup ecosystem by advocating for entrepreneurship and innovation across borders. Stay tuned for 2023, it comes loaded with new projects and we’re already getting excited!