Scale-Up Europe has ambitious plans to create European tech champions of tomorrow

EU Reporter met Kat Borlongan of Scale-Up Europe. Initiated by President Emmanuel Macron, Scale-Up Europe looks at the key drivers that are needed to scale: talent, investment, startup-corporate collaboration and deep tech. 

The group is made up of 150+ of Europe’s leading tech founders, investors, researchers, corporate CEOs and government officials around the same goal: accelerate the rise of global tech leaders born in Europe, in the service of both progress and technological sovereignty.

Borlongan worked for more than 3 years as Director of La French, a government-led mission built to bolster France's startup ecosystem. Unlike similar organisations La French had unparalleled contact with the heart of government and to make things happen. When they asked for a change in public policy it would happen. By way of example, when trying to attract the best talent from across the world, they government made it easy for any startup to hire from anywhere in the world, in a matter of days, offering a four year residence permit. The process was straightforward, highly streamlined and shared with the 121 French tech companies across the world. 

Asked what the forthcoming French Presidency of the EU will mean for this field Borlongan is confident that Macron will have ambitious plans: “Macron won’t just take a defensive strategy, he doesn’t want to make the same mistake as were made in the early 2000s when Europe completely missed out on the entire internet revolution. It won’t just be a defensive strategy looking at regulation, competition policy and fiscal policy, it will take the offensive focused on Europe creating its own champions and scaling up.” Borlongan says that he will probably look at four or five key initiatives that will deliver very concrete results. 

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