On Wednesday, we officially launched our first webinar in our series: #DSA4startups! On this occasion we took a deep dive in the Dutch startup ecosystem. The Netherlands is a leading tech player in the European Union, a flourishing startup ecosystems in its own right. For that reason, identifying what works and upgrading what could be better in the legislative and regulatory environment is a priority for The Netherlands. And the numbers showed…! Over 200 people attended the discussion about the Digital Services Act and its impact on the platform economy.
Speakers for this first webinar included:
- Kim van Sparrentak, MEP GroenLinks
- Jan Middendorp, MP VVD
- Prabhat Agarwal, European Commission
- Judith Huisman, Meetingselect
- Constantijn van Oranje, TechLeap
- Lucien Burm, Dutch Startup Association
- Benedikt Blomeyer, Allied for Startups
The panel discussion highlighted the varying approaches for regulating the online platform economy. Member of the European Parliament Kim van Sparrentak stressed the fact that the DSA has potential to reinforce a strong and open internet. Startup founder and entrepreneur Judith Huisman (Meetingselect) talked about some of the issues her venture could face if the DSA changed its core principles “all innovators want to have the possibility to grow”. MP Jan Middendorp stressed the fact that even smart rules can have unintended consequences for startups and that it is therefore important for startup entrepreneurs to engage now. Finally, Benedikt Blomeyer, EU Policy Director at Allied for Startups, took a deep dive into the three core principles that Allied for Startups has been advocating for:
- Developing a strong intermediary liability regime,
- Strengthening the prohibition of general monitoring,
- Rebuilding the country of origin principle.
The discussion focused on the aforementioned three main issues. Benedikt Blomeyer, our EU Policy Director, stated “The underlying goal of the Digital Services Act should be to make it easier for startup founders to found a platform startup and scale it across the continent.” Prahbat Argawal, acting Head of the Unit responsible for the Digital Services Act in the European Commission informed that “We want to make sure that the Digital Services Act gives startups the possibility to scale in the EU”.
Conclusion: What have we learnt from the Dutch ecosystem?
- Policy makers do want to hear from entrepreneurs!
- The Dutch ecosystem has much to gain from an updated startup-friendly DSA.
- Entrepreneurs are engaged! Check our Community Statement.
We are organising other webinar series in the upcoming weeks:
- 20 May, with Besco and Codette in the Bulgarian and Romanian ecosystems -> register here
- 4 June, with Silicon Allee, in the German ecosystem
- 19 June, with Dansk Iværksætter Forening in the Danish and Scandinavian ecosystems
Allied for Startups