The European Commission is launching a platform for successful entrepreneurs to tell their stories of inspirations and frustration.
The Startup Europe Leaders Club, which represents the first part of Startup Europe, the European Commission’s 6-part plan to accelerate and connect local entrepreneurship ecosystems in Europe to help tech start-ups to start and grow in Europe and to scale up to a global level, aims to “wake-up” and inspire young Europeans and leaders to the potential of entrepreneurial careers.
Commenting on the initiative, Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President, said: “Europeans need to be creative and fearless. That’s how dozens of the world’s most exciting web and tech companies were born in the EU, and I want the world to know it.
“I want young entrepreneurs to have role models, and for them to have a real digital single market to grow their ideas in”.
ìParticipants include Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon of online music streaming service Spotify, Kaj Hed of Rovio (Angry Birds), Zaryn Denzel of Tuenti, Niklas Zennström of Skype (in photo), Reshma Sohoni of SeedCamp, Lars Hinrichs of HackFwd, Joanna Shields of London’s Tech City and Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten of the TheNextWeb.
Speaking about them, Kroes added “These people didn’t just talk about doing something, they went and did it. That’s why young people and leaders should listen to them”.
In addition to the Startup Europe Leaders Club, the other elements of Startup Europe are:
– The Startup Europe Partnership, to unlock expertise, mentoring, technology and services
– EU Accelerators Forum to increase awareness of the existing accelerator programs
– EU Crowdfunding Networks, to link up existing crowd-funding platforms, especially those specialised in Web start-ups
– Making Venture Capitalists more aware of Web Business by sharing success stories and through networking activities
– Fostering Web Talent by:
a) Expanding the role of online education platforms (such as “Massive Online Open Courses”) to combat the shortage of Web developers;
b) Using barter platforms as marketplace for sharing and trading skills Europe-wide among Web entrepreneurs; and
c) Exploring the viability, at European level, of twinning senior, experienced people with young entrepreneurs to share ideas and experiences.
FinSMEs
24/03/2013
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