On 4 June, our Director-General Serena Borbotti-Frison spoke at the panel “Scaleup hubs – what’s in it for European startups and scaleups” at the EIC Summit, alongside Francesca Natali (META Group) and Sven De Cleyn (imec.istart), moderated by Eliza Kruczkowska (Think Tank The Company, EIC Board).
The panel explored how to turn local hubs into a more connected European ecosystem, supporting companies across the full journey from research and startup creation to scaling and cross-border expansion (“soft landing”). This is also the ambition behind the newly launched European Startup and Scaleup Hubs initiative.
Serena highlighted the importance of being honest about why founders leave Europe, pointing to structural issues that still need to be addressed. She underlined that despite strong EU initiatives, local fragmentation remains a barrier, and that scaleup hubs could help better connect Europe’s ecosystem.
Thank you to the European Innovation Council and the Cabinet of Commissioner Zaharieva for the invitation, and to all speakers for the discussion, with a special mention to Sven De Cleyn for his leadership in building one of Europe’s leading startup hubs.
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