Tech-optimism from the heart of Europe. Bridging EU policymaking with Europe's tech entrepreneurs. By @KayJebelli and @patrickgrady_

Joined September 2025
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๐Ÿš€ ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Welcome to DG Progress! ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ ๐Ÿš€ The European Commission doesnโ€™t yet have a Directorate-General dedicated to Europeโ€™s economic, social, and consumer progressโ€”so weโ€™re filling in. DG Progress is here to help bridge the gap between Europeโ€™s builders and our policymaking bubble. We will shed light on Europe's strengths, advocate for what its innovators need to make the next great leaps, and share ways to get involved. ๐Ÿ“ฌ Subscribe here: dgprogress.eu/
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Europe's AI potential? โ‚ฌ1,65 trillion ๐Ÿš€ That's according to a new study by Implement Consulting Group: cms.implementconsultinggroupโ€ฆ ... but that potential depends on whether frontier models and European AI applications can continue to leverage large and diverse data sets. Without this access, models show a 50% drop in complex tasks.... which would ultimately put up to โ‚ฌ600 billion of Europe's opportunity at risk. ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ The authors recommendations for the EU? 1. Keep the current text-and-data mining exemptions 2. Keep opt-out practical, with standards like robots.text 3. Let voluntary licensing regimes grow Europe has the research capacity, talent, and industrial base to be competitive in AI. What it needs now is legal clarity.
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'We lost social media and search... but quantum computing isn't settle yet' โณ Arm's co-founder lays out the opportunity for Europe and how the new Scale Up Europe Fund can help us get there ๐Ÿš€ Super interview by @etnshow
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Europe produces more startups than the US, yet every one of the 12 unicorns backed by $ARM Co-Founder Hermann Hauser ended up in America: "We produce more startups in Europe than the US." "Out of the 12 unicorns that I've been involved in, every single one of them ended up in the US." "We've just launched the Scale Up Europe Fund... We want to keep them in Europe." "Quantum computing isn't settled yet. The next generation of AI when we're moving to world models is not settled yet... it's all up for grabs."
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DG Progress is hosting its first event! ๐ŸŽ‰ ๐Ÿฅ‚ Join us on the 23rd June to celebrate European tech progress โ€“ย and the start of European summer โ˜€๏ธ Sign up here ๐Ÿ‘‰ forms.gle/4QBp6nrGVkmzQyCL6
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"There has never been a better time to build or join a tech startup in Europe" ๐Ÿš€ That's the message from the Built In Europe campaign by Balderton Capital. The campaign celebrates European entrepreneurs at startups like Proxima Fusion, MistralAI, Wayve, Revolut, Synthesia, alan, Lassie, Moonhub, Lovable, Hived, Voi, ElevenLabs, Quantum Systems, and more. Not waiting for permission, just building ๐Ÿ—๏ธ The campaign is helping founders discover accelerators and incubators ๐Ÿ‘‰ builtineurope.com/build And directing talent to startups that have open roles ๐Ÿ‘‰builtineurope.com/jobs ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ It's up to the EU now to help companies like these scale. The proposed EU-Inc initiative, if designed right, is a good place to start.
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Martin Scorsese โ€“ย yes, that Martin Scorsese! โ€“ย has become a partner at one of Europe's leading AI startups, Black Forest Labs ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช ๐Ÿ’ฌ "Thereโ€™s always been this problem of, how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew? There are some things you have to see and feel... " ๐Ÿ’ฌ "... with this tool, I can share what Iโ€™m visualizing more clearly and efficiently to my creative teamโ€”the production designer, art designer, and cinematographer." Scorsese has departed from Hollywood's pessimistic view of technology, and chosen to work with a European AI lab ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ ๐Ÿš€
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๐Ÿ’ฌ "Despite the gloom about its place in the digital economy, Europe has produced tech leaders. Their experience should inform Europeโ€™s policies to support competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship." New piece by the Centre for European Reform takes the unpopular position: lets not criticise Europe's tech sector, but learn from it. ๐Ÿงต
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Lesson 3: R&D is vital ๐ŸŒ Europeโ€™s tech champions like ASML succeeded through decades of publicโ€‘private R&D partnerships across the EU and beyond. ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ State support, research institutions, and private capital are essential. The EU should boost R&D funding, and use tax incentives and highโ€‘tech sector support to help the bloc reach its 3% R&D target.
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Europe has the capability to build tech champions. The challenge is creating the conditions that let more companies scale ๐Ÿš€ Read more about the recipe for success here: cer.eu/insights/europe-has-pโ€ฆ
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๐Ÿ’ฅ Another win for European competitiveness! As reported by POLITICO today, the EU is now proposing to affirm that AI companies can process data, using GDPR's 'legitimate interest' basis, to train their models. ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ The uncertainty over whether companies can train on personal data is the why so many AI products and services arrived late to Europe โ€“ย or not at all. Some countries (looking at you, Italy!) banned AI models as early as 2023, while others fast-tracked adoption. We suffered almost three years of uncertainty, slow adoption, and damaged trust in AI since. Thankfully, the EU is now putting this right ๐Ÿ™ (Story by Ellen O'Regan pro.politico.eu/news/218782)
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๐Ÿช The cookie crumbles! The EU is looking to reduce the number of cookie banners users in Europe face online. These banners aren't working for businesses (who don't want their customers to face hurdles) or users (who find them annoying and often mindlessly click through). ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ The Commission has now proposed removing the need for banners for instances where privacy risks are now and where user consent is unnecessary. That's according to today's reporting by Euractiv. The EU's ongoing efforts to simplify the digital rulebook are key for Europe's competitiveness ๐Ÿ“ˆ
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๐Ÿ’ฌ โ€œWe didnโ€™t start running, we didnโ€™t start even walking, and we already had in front of us all the obstacles to not be able to make even the first step.โ€ Strong words from Christophe Fouquet, the boss of ASML, Europe's largest company, in an interview with POLITICO. ๐Ÿ”น Fouquet said the EU's AI Act could encourage European companies to develop AI outside the bloc "If they cannot do it hear, they will do it elsewhere". ๐Ÿ”น But what about the Commission's simplification push? โ€œThe idea that you make something very complex, then simplify it, and that you end up with something good โ€ฆ is a bit strange." Lesson here: don't make regulation complex in the first place. ๐Ÿ”น Should governments favour European companies in public procurement? Probably not. "No country will ever have it all... to have preference, you first have to have something you can prefer.โ€ The solution? Create the conditions that create AI demand, and leave it to the industrial sector to respond and build out infrastructure ("because they know how to do it"). Let industry cook! ๐Ÿš€ pro.politico.eu/news/218727
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๐Ÿ›ฃ๏ธ On 3 June, the EU will publish its Tech Sovereignty Package, a strategy to build sovereign AI, chips, and cloud. ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Europe's startups need the best tools available to build and compete globally, so we hope the Commission takes inspiration from the UK (Europe's leading tech & AI hub). James Wise - who chairs the UK's Sovereign AI Unit - outlines the UK's approach to sovereignty, and makes the case to look outward not inward to build AI capacity: ๐Ÿ’ฌ "It would be incredibly short-sighted to say Brits shouldn't have access to the best software because we don't like some of the shareholders on the cap table of these companies." Check out the full conversation with the FT's John Thornhill for Sifted's Startup Europe podcast ๐Ÿ‘‡ podcast.sifted.eu/1877446/epโ€ฆ
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๐ŸŒ‰ We spoke with Tom Wehmeier, Partner and Head of Intelligence at Atomico, a European venture capital firm that produces annual State of European Tech reports, about Europe's tech ecosystem. โ“๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง 11 ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ง ๐“๐ž๐œ๐ก ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž? ๐€๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž๐ง? ๐ŸŽค "Eleven years ago, a billion-dollar European tech company was exceptional. Today, weโ€™re tracking a path toward trillion-dollar outcomes. That shift in the ceiling is reflected throughout the ecosystem โ€” in the scale of entrepreneurial ambition, the calibre of talent willing to commit, the conviction of capital behind it..." โ“๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ญ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ž. ๐ˆ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐›๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ? ๐ŸŽค "Iโ€™d start with the friction we still see in the system. Nearly 70% of founders say the regulatory environment is too restrictive. Europe must make it easier and faster to build, grow and sell across borders, at scale. One rulebook, one market, one standard. The upcoming EU-INC proposal is one important step in this direction, but the true prize remains delivering a true single market..." โ“๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ญ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ก ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ? ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐›๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ? ๐ŸŽค "Fortunately, I see this gap as narrower than itโ€™s ever been. Thereโ€™s genuine alignment now on the problem statement โ€” whatโ€™s required to make Europe the best place to start and scale entrepreneurial innovation. More policymakers get what needs fixing..." Read the full interview here ๐Ÿ‘‰ dgprogress.eu/p/dg-progress-โ€ฆ
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euronews.com/video/2026/05/1โ€ฆ ๐Ÿ‘ Congratulations to Mario Draghi for receiving the 2026 Charlemagne Prize ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ The prize awards work done in the service of European unity. "Super Mario" has been Europe's chief advocate for competitiveness, including through his influential report, and the guru continues to push EU leaders towards action ๐Ÿš€ At last weeks ceremony, Draghi warned that Europe risks falling behind without further deeper integration and major investment. ๐Ÿ’ฌ "Our task now is to create that same dynamic again in energy, technology and defence. European leaders know where the work lies. They must now decide whether they are willing to put substance before process, and choose the instruments that can achieve it."
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