Shaping Europe’s startup future: Commissioner Zaharieva meets young innovators in Sofia

Young voices took centre stage in Sofia, where they joined European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva to map out a more competitive and innovation-driven future for the EU startup ecosystem. Students, researchers, and early-stage founders shared their first-hand experiences and discussed the concrete support needed to scale up across Europe.

The dialogue explored how the European Union can better assist startups and scaleups by simplifying access to critical growth resources, including funding and advanced technology infrastructures, while fostering closer collaboration between universities and startups. The insights shared during the exchange will feed into ongoing and future EU policies aimed at building a more resilient, inclusive, and competitive innovative landscape.

The discussion was framed around four key areas where young people can drive change:

• Simplifying access to funding and support –Participants recommended the creation of  unified, milestone-based EU funding interface with rapid approvals. They also highlighted the need for balanced regional allocation to ensure that startups- particularly  in underserved member states – can access grants, incubators, and cross-border mentorship without administrative delays.
• Expanding tech infrastructure – To address a fragmented innovation landscape, young innovators called for EU-coordinated physical and digital sandboxes. Recommendations included mapping existing laboratories and accelerators across the EU and decentralising tech-hubs beyond capital cities to give regional startups affordable, on-demand access to experimentation spaces.
• Bridging universities and startups – The exchange highlighted the value of establishing  standardised "one-stop shop" startup offices in universities, embedding entrepreneurship into curricula into early education and linking academic credits to business ventures, while fostering deeper industry collaboration in all higher education programmes.
• Closing the gender gap – Moving beyond quotas, participants emphasised  the need for  a dedicated EU-supported network offering women innovators mentorship and community support. They noted that systemic transparency in funding appointments and consolidated digital outreach are essential to dismantling the structural women founders face. 
• Startups, Research and Innovation Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said:

 "Europe’s position as a global innovation leader relies directly on the vision and ambition of our young people. This dialogue was a valuable opportunity to shape our upcoming policies in close partnership with the next generation of researchers and founders. By aligning their insights with concrete EU support, we are building a more competitive and accessible ecosystem where startups can successfully scale from university labs to global markets."

Next steps

The ideas and recommendations put forward by the participants will be compiled into a dedicated report and used to strengthen key EU initiatives and policy frameworks, including:

• the implementation of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, which aims to create an innovation-friendly Europe, through targeted initiatives like Lab to Unicorn and Blue Carpet to turn research into viable market solutions
• Horizon Europe and future research programmes, ensuring better strategic support tailored to young innovators and early-stage entrepreneurs
• The design of public financial instruments and support measures to accelerate   market uptake of innovative, deep tech products, services, and solutions aligned with EU priorities

More information

Youth Policy Dialogue with Commissioner Zaharieva: Powering Europe's Startup and Scaleup Future

EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy

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