Blog: "Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley" will take place again next September - Hoofdinhoud

Last year I had the privilege and opportunity to lead the first delegation of SEC2SV the mission organized by Mind the Bridge in partnership with the Startup Europe initiative of the European Commission. It has been a very fruitful experience for a European delegation of policy makers, scaleups, established corporations and investors to meet Silicon Valley business stakeholders and foster cross-continental collaborations.

The good news is that, after the successful 2015 edition, a new SEC2SV ( Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley), week will take place in September.

It will be opened on September 12 by the European Innovation Day conference at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It's expected to connect more than 600 participants. The EID will be followed by 4 days of meetings that will provide an opportunity to stimulate networking and business opportunities, as well as improve the understanding in Silicon Valley of the increasingly dynamic European startup ecosystem.

However, SEC2SV is not just a week of conferences and high level meetings. It is a permanent landing platform for policy makers who are visiting Silicon Valley and are interested in engaging entrepreneurs directly as they shape EU’s future.

I got some really valuable insights by meeting the Sounding Board (an informal group of EU born and raised entrepreneurs) last year at Mind the Bridge Innovation Center in San Francisco. I plan to meet them again and share more insights during my next trip to Silicon Valley.

It has become increasingly evident that the discussion between policy makers and the entrepreneurs ought to take place early in the process of developing new, potentially disruptive products. Today there is a certain agreement in the market that we are about to face the third large development of digital technologies whose impact will reshape more "traditional industries". This so called "third wave" will impact sectors like health care, education, transport and energy.

The entrepreneurs entering those markets in EU or in the Valley, will greatly benefit from having early healthy conversations with policy makers.

I have very recently attended the Startup Europe Summit in Berlin and witnessed first-hand how those conversations between entrepreneurs and policy makers, between EU and US can be at the core of the next economic development.

I am looking forward to continuing this healthy discussion on the other side of the pond.