Virtually policymakers everywhere in Europe are aiming to create their own Silicon Valley but taking on a name (Location + Valley), and perhaps establishing some incubators or supporting a few digital companies is by far not enough. Do we need a direct and more active role for governments, or should we rather rely on the virtues of market forces? Many argue that a startup ecosystem could benefit from government regulation to address market failures and lower barriers to entry, while others argue that regulation itself could pose barriers to entry, such as data and privacy issues. But, how to strike the right balance in regulation? Is it sufficient enough to limit government's role to a catalyst that provides some important element for the startup ecosystems, such as good education and training, favourable tax regime and flexible regulation? And if we leave market forces alone, how could an ecosystem reach the critical mass of startups, accelerators, venture capital funds, and talent that makes a startup ecosystem self-sustaining? How to bridge the growing gap between leading and lagging startup ecosystems when all around the world startups favour a few hubs and also in Europe only a handful of cities hold the vast majority of startups and their funding, giving them tremendous scaling opportunities while the major cities in the Eastern and Southern parts of Europe lag far behind.

Participants

  • Agata Hidalgo (France Digitale, Paris)
  • Michael Crawford (Howard University, Washington)
  • Monika Synoradzka (SpeedUp Group, Poznan)
  • Sandra Miller (Runway Innovation Hub, San Francisco)
  • Mafini Dosso (Joint Research Centre, Seville)