As one of its founding members, the Initiative Start:up Slovenia participated in the official launch of the European Startup Network (ESN), which took place this week in Brussels under the auspices of the European Commission (EC) and high European representatives. Membership in ESN brings numerous advantages and opportunities, for promoting as well as supporting our best startups and the national ecosystem. This is why at such an important opportunity, we also published a brochure and infographic entitled Slovenia, the land of startups, which introduces the most active stakeholders, programmes and achievements of the Slovenian entrepreneurship ecosystem in the past three years.
Representatives of 14 countries, founding members of ESN, in a photo taken at the official launch of the network, together with Guenther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and Kristin Schreiber, Director for COSME programme and SME policy with the EC.
How to get to a unified European market for rapid startup growth
One of the key challenges that the EC is currently facing when encouraging entrepreneurship and startups is establishing a unified European market, where the legislation and regulations of individual member countries wouldn’t hinder the potential for rapid, exponential growth of innovative startup companies. In this light and under the auspices of the European commission, the Start-up and Scale-up seminar took place in Brussels on 6 and 7 September this year. The event was also dedicated to the official launch of ESN.
About effective measures, best practices and their exchange
As the representative of Slovenia, the event was attended by the leader of the Initiative Start:up Slovenia Matej Rus, and he was joined by other representatives of altogether 14 countries, founding members of ESN. With high European representatives – Guenther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and Kristin Schreiber, Director for COSME programme and SME policy with the EC, they mostly talked about how to effectively support startups in the growth stage, while at the same time establish best practices and their effective exchange for strengthening national startup ecosystems.
Mutual advantages of collaboration
Collaboration between the European Commission and ESN guarantees many mutual advantages. This includes conducting research, such as the European Startup Monitor, with which the EC secures access to relevant opinions and actual needs of startups, serving as a basis for European measures and legislative procedures. As Matej Rus said after returning from Brussels, the actual benefits of membership in ESN will also show in improved access that our startups will have to global go-to-market programmes in Europe, the US and China.
Slovenia, the land of startups – brochure and infographics
At this important opportunity of Slovenia entering an influential European network for researching and supporting innovative startup entrepreneurship, we collaborated with our partners and supporters to publish a brochure and infographic entitled Slovenia, the land of startups, wherein we introduce the most active stakeholders, programmes and achievements of the Slovenian startup ecosystem in the past three years. Both publications and our website, as an information platform of the Slovenian startup ecosystem, reaped enthusiasm among ESN members and praise that we are a good example of promoting and supporting national innovative entrepreneurship, which other ESN members can also look up to.
Both publications – the brochure and infographic Slovenia, the land of startups, can be found at this link.
