On 11 December 2025, we presented The Innovation Games: Catching Europe’s Startup Momentum – an event co-organised with The S9+ Coalition representing startup organisations from Europe’s most digitally advanced countries. The event was kindly hosted by MEP Morten Løkkegaard (Renew Europe).
With the EU entering a new parliamentary mandate, and with the upcoming Polish, Danish, and Cypriot presidencies of the Council of the EU on the horizon, the timing of this event couldn’t have been more critical.
Together with a dynamic mix of policymakers, startup leaders, and key innovation ecosystem stakeholders, we engaged in meaningful discussions on the challenges facing Europe’s startups—regulatory fragmentation, funding gaps, and global competitiveness. The focus was on finding bold, actionable solutions to empower the next wave of European innovators.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the incredible speakers for sharing their invaluable insights: MEP Morten Løkkegaard (Renew Europe), MEP Niels Flemming Hansen (European People’s Party), MEP Urmas Paet (Renew Europe), MEP Anouk van Brug (Renew Europe), MEP Paulo Cunha (European People’s Party), Hedi Mardisoo (Cachet, Estonian Founders Society), Michiel Scheffer (European Innovation Council), András G. Inotai (European Commission), and Christian Walther Øyrabø (OOONO). A special thank you also goes to our moderators: Lucien Burm (Dutch Startup Association) and Serena Borbotti-Frison (Allied for Startups).
We would also like to acknowledge the hard work of Simone Skovshoved, Simon Andersen, and Peter Kofler (Danske Iværksættere – Danish Entrepreneurs), Hendrik-Jan Overmeer (Dutch Startup Association), João Silva (Startup Portugal), Miguel Ferrer Jiménez (Adigital, EsTech), Leen Anthuenis (Scale-Ups.eu), and the rest of The S9+ Coalition, including Suomen startup-yhteisö (Finnish startup community), Startup Poland, and SISP – Swedish Incubators & Science Parks, for their contribution in co-organising this event.
Let us seize this momentum and work together to ensure that startups are truly at the heart of European innovation in this new parliamentary mandate.
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