Startups ‘made in Europe’ have new plan for success

Startup ecosystems spread across 14 European countries have come together to form the ‘Rise Europe’ initiative whose goal is to give the continent’s early stage companies the tools to compete on a global stage.

The new collective wants to improve the pipelines of talent and capital available to startups and give global exposure to the best new ‘made in Europe’ innovations. The individual local ecosystems will combine, Rise Europe says, to ‘contribute to faster and better solutions to major societal challenges’.

UnternehmerTUM – the center for innovation and business creation at Technical University of Munich – are behind the team Europe approach and last week held the inaugural Rise Europe summit in the Bavarian Alps.

“With Rise Europe, Europe has a new impulse generator that will contribute to overcome global challenges and shape a transnational understanding of the importance of sustainable entrepreneurship,” said Professor Helmut Schöneberger, Founder and CEO of UnternehmerTUM. “In everything we do, we want to put people and Europe’s values at the center. I am very pleased to be able to work so closely together with our friends and dedicated colleagues as part of Rise Europe.”

Ideas

The special digital edition we produced for the 4YFN and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year – developed in partnership with the K4I Forum in the European Parliament, showcased the scale of ambition being shown by Europe’s young companies and universities as part of a more coordinated push by the continent to rival the US and China as a global capital of startup innovation.