Strengthening Startup Competitiveness in Europe

The European Union's president, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasizes the need for Europe to improve its startup scalability in response to global competition. She acknowledges that while Europe matches the U.S. and China in patent applications, only one-third of these patents are commercially applied, indicating a significant gap in the scaling of successful startups. To address this, she has proposed creating a commissioner focused specifically on startups and highlighted the urgency for increased private investment to drive innovative business ideas. This initiative aims to enhance Europe's competitiveness by fostering the development of frontier technologies and scaling innovative enterprises across the EU member states.