Allied for Startups, Startup Foundation, France Digitale, Danish Entrepreneurs, and the Frontrunners Alliance organised the Startup Policy Track at Slush! on 2 December.
Find below the key highlights:
Over the course of 3 panel discussions, startup founders, VCs, ecosystem leaders and policy makers discussed building startup ecosystems, platform governance and data.
Startups are formed and grown in interconnected ecosystems. Building and supporting these should be a key goal of policy makers. A next important step will be to ensure that the multitude of existing initiatives are coordinated and implemented. Panelists pointed to the many positive initiatives in the EU, but also the necessary action. The French Presidency presents an opportunity to ‘walk the walk’.
Many startups are platforms but virtually all startups use platforms to create efficiencies and scale their business. Platform legislation should be all about making sure more startups can challenge big incumbents. The Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act can make a major step towards finishing the Digital Single Market. To do so, they need to be designed from the startup perspective and avoid unintended consequences for interconnected ecosystems.
The value of data is hard to understate for highly innovative startups. In the future, policy making should move to a new consensus that does not understand data privacy and data flows as potential conflicts, but as potential opportunities. In the EU, US and UK, and around the globe, data can be used by startups to create value for businesses and consumers. More can still be done to ensure that this innovation can also spread across borders.
A startup policy wish-tree featured prominently in the Startup Policy Track. Here are some soundbites: “Make policy with startups, not just for them.,” “Add a Scale-Up Test in EU rules going forward,” and “Make policy like startups – look at evidence, be practical and don’t be afraid to iterate.“. Good things happen when entrepreneurs speak to policy makers!”
We look forward to continuing the discussions around policies that empower startups and look forward to welcoming you at Slush! 2022.
Videos from the event can be found here.
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