Post by AustrianStartups

In 2024, we published the Austrian Startup Agenda with 42 policy measures for the next government. Last week, Mistral AI, Europe's most valuable AI company, published a 22-measure EU playbook calling for many of the same things. Here's where they overlap: 🛂 Talent visas are too slow. Mistral wants 15-day processing via an EU AI Blue Card. We've been calling for a reformed RWR-Karte with a guaranteed 3-week turnaround. Same diagnosis, different scale. 💰 ESOPs need to be taxed at sale, not exercise. Both documents agree. Austria's 2024 Startup Paket moved in the right direction, but the caps remain too tight compared to Germany, which already allows 1,000 employees, €100M revenue, and 20 years. 🏦 Institutional capital is locked up. Over €280 billion sits in Austrian pensions, insurance, and foundations. We called for a national Dachfonds, it's now in progress, operational start planned for 2027 through aws. 🎓 University spinoffs are too few. Austria produces 20 to 25 per year. ETH Zurich alone founded 37 in 2024. We want to triple the FFG Spin‑off Fellowship budget and set a national target to triple the number of academic spinoffs. 🏛️ Regulatory fragmentation blocks scaling. Expanding from Vienna to Paris is harder than entering the entire US market. Mistral wants automatic recognition of corporate acts across all 27 member states and a single EU compliance portal. That's exactly why we've been calling for a strong EU Inc. European AI policy and national startup policy are converging on the same structural problems. 42 measures. 22 measures. The direction is clear. If we turn it into policy, Europe wins. Both documents are linked in the comments. #AustrianStartups #StartupPolicy #EuropeanAI