Close
Enter your
text here

RAISE

European Village Startup Forum
 European Village Startup Forum 1 1 RAISE fosters startup growth and scale-up within and across Europe

The European Startup Village Forum is part of a larger vision for the development of rural areas in the European Union (EU). In 2021, the European Commission launched the Long-Term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas, which outlines a set of actions aimed at making rural areas stronger, more connected, resilient, and prosperous by 2040. The Vision recognizes the vital role of innovation in empowering citizens and entrepreneurs to seize opportunities arising from societal, environmental, and digital transformations. To this end, the Vision includes a flagship action on Research and Innovation for Rural Communities, which aims to foster a robust ecosystem that brings together public and private actors to promote the thriving of rural communities and to make them attractive places for innovators to live and work.

Against this backdrop, the annual European Startup Village Forum seeks to foster knowledge exchange and cooperation among stakeholders and to provide an open platform for institutions and experts to meet, discuss, and shape initiatives that promote startup-driven innovation in rural areas. In its 2023 edition, the Forum will explore the main elements and enabling factors of the Startup Village concept through a genuine science-for-policy interaction, which will facilitate the identification and analysis of the triggers of innovation and startup creation in rural areas. Participants are also expected to debate and propose concrete actions on how the Forum can enhance its role as a linking device to connect existing initiatives and stakeholders around the challenge of startup creation in rural areas and the importance of building effective place-based innovation ecosystems.

The Forum will also offer an opportunity to discuss several ongoing experiences related to Startup Villages and supporting tools, both developed by the European Commission and other stakeholders. For example, some support measures for promoting innovation and startup creation in rural areas and improving the framework conditions included in various EU policies and programs will be presented.

The Forum aims to identify a few themes for a research and knowledge exchange agenda on the Startup Village concept, whose findings will inform and guide the next edition of the Forum. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre will support the Forum through scientific analysis and knowledge exchange, in coordination with the activities of the Rural Observatory.

The 2023 edition of the Forum will be chaired by European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica, along with Commissioners Elisa Ferreira, Mariya Gabriel, and Janusz Wojciechowski, as well as the Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas. It will provide a platform for a science-for-policy exchange to explore the main elements and enabling conditions of the Startup Village concept and support the identification and analysis of triggering factors for innovation and startup creation in rural areas.

During the in-person event organized by the JRC, called The European Startup Village Forum, Abel Fernández, a team member of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN), presented the Startup Village Forum initiative. The Forum’s flagship action on Research and Innovation for Rural Communities aims to contribute to the development of a strong ecosystem that brings together public and private actors to foster rural communities’ growth and attractiveness for innovators.

“Through the Startup Village Forum, villages and rural areas with big dreams can share their ideas,” pointed out Gabriel Mariya, European Commissioner for Innovation.

MEP Maria da Graça Carvalho was one of the speakers, alongside Commissioners Mariya Gabriel, Janusz Wojciechowski, and Elisa Ferreira. In her speech, Maria da Graça Carvalho emphasized the importance of research and innovation in rural areas, highlighting the need for creating conducive conditions to attract innovators and prioritizing rural-related research and innovation topics. She also stressed the relevance of synergies of funds and provided two successful examples from Portugal, namely a pilot project in Alentejo and the Madeira Project – Ponta do Sol.

Leading the New Wave of Deep Tech Innovation
 Leading the New Wave of Deep Tech Innovation 1 1 RAISE fosters startup growth and scale-up within and across Europe

The European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) programme, which is part of Horizon Europe, seeks to foster more connected, inclusive, and efficient innovation ecosystems and promote the growth of companies, as outlined in the New European Innovation Agenda. The primary aim of the EIE programme is to bring together individuals and organizations focused on innovation and to facilitate connections between various resources, such as funds, equipment, and facilities, as well as organizations, such as higher education institutions, research and technology organizations, companies, venture capitalists, and financial intermediaries, investors, and policymakers.

The New European Innovation Agenda, adopted on July 5, 2022, aims to establish Europe as a leader in the new era of deep tech innovation and startups. Building on Europeans’ entrepreneurial spirit, scientific excellence, the strength of the single market, and democratic societies, the NEIA aims to improve access to funding and innovation framework conditions, strengthen and better connect innovation players across Europe, attract and retain talent in Europe, and develop policymaking tools.

This document showcases the projects funded under the European Innovation Ecosystems work programme, which support the implementation of the New European Innovation Agenda objectives and, more specifically, its flagship initiatives related to “Funding for deep-tech scale-ups,” “Enabling deep tech innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement,” and “Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide.”

On January 26, 2023, project coordinators and their partners presented their initiatives in a workshop titled “Projects under the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme in support of the New European Innovation Agenda.” The project coordinators provided an overview of their activities and connected them to the objectives of the relevant NEIA flagships, namely Flagship 1 on “Funding for deep-tech scale-ups,” Flagship 2 on “Enabling deep tech innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement,” and Flagship 3 on “Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide.”

The New European Innovation Agenda Flagship 1 seeks to improve access to finance for European startups and scale-ups by mobilizing untapped sources of private capital and simplifying listing rules. The European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme of Horizon Europe and the Startup Europe initiative, supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC), contribute to the Agenda by facilitating the adoption of deep tech innovations and supporting the next generation of innovative companies whose solutions will lead to a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Leading the new wave of deep tech innovation : projects under the European innovation ecosystems work programme in support of the new European innovation agenda, Publications Office of the European Union, 2023, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/111976

RAISE at the European Angel Investment Summit 2022
 RAISE at the European Angel Investment Summit 2022 1024 763 RAISE fosters startup growth and scale-up within and across Europe

RAISE is working on the creation of collaboration space to help raise startups and scale-ups: Open Startup Forum. The RAISE project team will present the Forum at the European Angel Investment Summit 2022, organised by the RAISE project consortium partner – EBAN.

We invite you to join our community of interested peers ‘Open Startup Forum’. Workshops, matchmaking events, speed dating with investors, acceleration programmes, business mentoring will be some of the opportunities that will raise from our ‘Open Startup Forum’.

Every startup will have an equal chance at success, with access to top-quality information and training. They will be given all the possible tools to grow, and finally, all the players in the EU startup ecosystem under one umbrella will be linked to help them scale up.

Join our Forum to build collaboration amongst key players of the innovation ecosystem, and create a joint agenda that will contribute to the growth and scale-up of start-ups. Want to find out more about this? Write to us at info@theraise.eu or visit us at the European Angel Investment Summit 2022.

The European Angel Investment Summit 2022, taking place in Brussels on 11-12 October, is the annual conference where early-stage investors, entrepreneurs, and change-makers get together to fuel Europe’s growth.

The EAIS will allow participants a glimpse into the future, a chance to influence the course of tomorrow and a unique opportunity to connect meaningfully with other international colleagues that enable innovations to come to life. During this 2022 edition of the Summit, we will be discussing topics that go from how startups and investors can leverage science to build global companies, to what angel investors can do to foster more interconnected and inclusive innovation communities.

This event is a must-attend for business angels, but also for any other early stage investment actor, supporter of entrepreneurship or innovation at large.

The audience is typically made up by 50% business angels, 20% VCs, CVCs and PEs; 10% startup entrepreneurs; 10% policy makers; 10% other startup ecosystem stakeholders.

The RAISE project consortium partner – EBAN is partnering with the InvestEU Portal, the European Commission DG GROW and DG ECFIN, and the Enterprise Europe Network for the event. 

The RAISE Project launched
 The RAISE Project launched 1024 683 RAISE fosters startup growth and scale-up within and across Europe


In June 2022, SERN kicked off another project – RAISE: The Regions Alliance for Interconnected Startup Ecosystems!

The main goal of the project is to contribute to the development of a new, sustainable, and integrated framework of support that fosters startup growth and scale-up within and across Europe in all its dimensions: from initial funding and research support to public incentives and internationalization.

To meet this ambitious goal, SERN is leading a consortium composed of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN), the European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA), the Foundation FUNDECYT Scientific and Technological Park of Extremadura (FUNDECYT-PCTEX), and International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICoRSA). All organisations are active at the European level spanning the whole spectrum of startup support and growth: access to public funding, business angels, research & innovation.

The consortium is starting by setting up the Open Startup Forum to connect the stakeholders in a common space and start creating the conditions for further exchanges and cooperation.
The idea is to build on that platform to create links between the different stakeholders, and then design, implement and track pilot Actions for the promotion of startups and scaleups in the EU.

We keep you posted about RAISE impacts!

Privacy Preferences

When you visit our website, it may store information through your browser from specific services, usually in the form of cookies. Our Privacy Policy can be read here.

Here you can change your Privacy preferences. It is worth noting that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our website and the services we are able to offer.

Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking code.
Click to enable/disable Google Fonts.
Click to enable/disable Google Maps.
Click to enable/disable video embeds.
Our website uses cookies, mainly from 3rd party services. Define your Privacy Preferences and/or agree to our use of cookies.