Post by The S9+ Coalition

Today at the D9+ Ministerial meeting in Luxembourg, two of our members, Genna Elvin from PULSE — Luxembourg Startups Association and co-founder of Tadaweb and Peter Kofler from Danske Iværksættere - Danish Entrepreneurs, presented a statement on our S9+ Luxembourg Declaration on behalf of startup organisations from Europe’s leading innovation ecosystems. Our message was clear: Europe cannot regulate its way to competitiveness. At a time when the United States and China are accelerating rapidly, Europe risks falling further behind due to fragmentation, slow implementation and growing regulatory complexity. If Europe wants sovereignty, resilience and global influence, startups must be the core of the strategy. The subsequent discussion with ministers reinforced several of the challenges facing Europe’s startup ecosystem. The importance of a strong EU Inc framework was highlighted, particularly the need for attractive stock option schemes to help startups attract and retain talent. When discussing scale-up barriers, both access to growth capital and market fragmentation emerged as key concerns. Too often, European startups that reach maturity find themselves looking outside Europe for funding, while fragmented rules and markets continue to slow growth across borders. The conversation also touched on access to technology and data. The key takeaway was that Europe’s competitiveness will not be determined solely by access to technology, but by how effectively entrepreneurs can apply it to create new products, services and businesses. As the session concluded, the moderator posed one final question: The ministers have one hour left to discuss these issues after you leave the room, what should they focus on? Peter Kofler’s answer was simple: “Think scale-up first in everything you do.” And Genna Elvin left ministers with a final reminder: “Please don’t forget that startups are the future of our economy and future generations.” #D9Plus #S9Plus #Startups #Innovation #Competitiveness #DigitalEurope #Entrepreneurship Adigital & @EsTech, Startup Portugal, Scale-Ups.eu, Dutch Startup Association, Startup Poland, Estonian Founders Society, SISP – Swedish Incubators & Science Parks, Danske Iværksættere - Danish Entrepreneurs, Finnish Startup Community (FSC), Czech Startup Association, PULSE — Luxembourg Startups Association, House of Startups Luxembourg (HoST), Startup Slovenia, Scale Ireland