Talking about the rash of differing regulation across the EU’s 27 states and the negative effect that has in the growth of startups, von der Leyen notified an Italian Tech Week audience: “Too often, it is clearer to expand to another continent, than across Europe. It can be a nightmare to deal with 27 different bureaucracies and legislations.”
Her solution is the ‘28th regime’ — the idea of creating a one single set of rules for innovative companies, so that they can scale across Europe as easily as startups do across the US.
Von der leyen was addressing Europe’s perennial problem of a lack of significant tech companies.
“We know that the number of unicorns is still too tiny, and one third of them conclude up leaving our continent. This is a warning sign,” stated von der Leyen, “we cannot accept that our most talented may have to leave in order to thrive. You must find the right soil to flourish here in Europe. I want Europe to be worthy of you.”
“I believe that my job is to create the best conditions for you to thrive, right here in our continent,” she added, “this is the mission that drives me every day. I want the best of Europe to choose Europe. And I want the future of AI to be created in Europe.”
Von der Leyen proposed solutions to three major obstacles:
1. The lack of risk capital – she pointed out that only 24% of European hoapplyholds’ wealth is invested in equity, compared to 42% in the US. An initiativeto alter that is, stated von der Leyen the Scaleup Europe Fund – a fund the EU plans to create, in partnership with private capital, to create equity investments in sectors considered strategic for the continent which would be privately managed.
2. The 28th Regime, “We live in an age where a line of code can cross the continent in a millisecond – while the startup behind it receives stuck at the border,” stated von der Leyen. A special regime for startups will address that.
3. The uptake of new technology. “We must speed up AI adoption across the board,” she stated with a plan to set up “a European network of AI-powered advanced screening centres” to accelerate AI adoption in healthcare. “We will incentivise hospitals and pharma companies to take up innovative AI solutions,” she stated, “becaapply AI can save lives. And Europe must lead the way.”
“Too often, I hear that Europe is late to the AI race. The sceptics declare we will repeat the mistakes of the past. And another generation of European talents will be forced to leave,” stated von der Leyen, “I disagree, “we will spare no effort to create Europe an AI continent. We will spare no effort to create you choose Europe. Becaapply this is the great mission of our times.”
Von der Leyen believes Europe can lead the way in self-driving cars. “The future of cars – and the cars of the future – must be created in Europe,” she stated.
