The digital future of European entrepreneurship

Innovation in the digital field is a fundamental element for our future, and we have become more aware of it in these days of forced isolation: using the words of Diva Tommei, director of EIT Digital, “digital makes us resilient, as a society and as a community: it gives us the opportunity to be connected even if we cannot see, touch or hug each other, and at the same time it allows the economy to continue to run and stay afloat”.

To maintain its position of global relevance, Europe cannot fall behind in the field of new technologies. If on the one hand research must find new methods and techniques, on the other entrepreneurship, in all its forms, must find ways to create new services and products based on those technologies. With this in mind, the 2020 edition of EIT Digital starts.

The five strategic areas identified by the Strategic Innovation Agenda 2020-2022, Digital Tech, Digital Industry, Digital Cities, Digital Wellbeing and Digital Finance, are the same on which the initiative’s work program will focus, which aims to be a pre-incubator for startups with high technological content. The aim is to improve the global impact of the European digital industry, stimulate sustainable economic growth and improve the quality of life of citizens.

The call, already active with deadline on May 7, is aimed at business, scaleups, large companies, universities and research centers that intend to start a digital startup or provide training in digital technology. Pre-incubation support will be provided to the winners of the call: the selected activities will be integrated into the European ecosystem and will receive a financial co-investment to develop their technology and attract investors and customers.

“Deep-tech technology will have an impact on all aspects of our economy – explained Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT Digital – To place itself in a strong position in the digital world, Europe must increase the production of high-impact innovations , to launch and grow more innovative companies and train an even greater number of entrepreneurial talents that the market needs in the technological field “. Not only Deep Tech: one of the aspects that will make the difference in the selection, in addition to the use of innovative technologies will be the team spirit: “the team is very very important – underlined Diva Tommei – when investing money in a idea, after evaluating it you must also evaluate the quality of the team and the desire they have to change the world”.