"The best time to be a Tech Entrepreneur in Europe is now" Tom Wehmeier, Atomico

One of the most comprehensive reports regarding the current state of the tech scene in Europe was presented in an event hosted and organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) on January 31st. "We don't have proper data related to startups, we are in need of this report due to the importance of evidence based policy making on startups policy" said Isidro Laso, head of Startup Europe. Commissioned and produced by Atomico, a European-based global venture capital firm, in partnership with Slush, the organisers of the Slush technology conference in Helsinki, Finland, the report outlines three key trends underlying the growing influence and success of the European technology industry:

1. Deep tech is thriving and diversifying in Europe: 2016 was a bumper year with $88B in deep tech M&A; more US and Asian tech giants buying up European deep tech companies and tapping into a growing deep tech talent pool.
2. New tech hubs are emerging across Europe beyond the existing order of London, Berlin, and Stockholm. The report suggests that Munich, Zurich, Lisbon, Madrid, and Copenhagen will be ones to watch over the coming years. Paris is starting to seriously challenge London and Berlin in number of VC-financed deals and deal volume.
3. Traditional industries are awakening to tech: two thirds of Europe’s largest corporates by market cap have made a direct investment in tech companies while one third has acquired a tech company since the beginning of 2015.

This is the second year in a row that Slush and Atomico have produced their data-driven look inside the European tech ecosystem, with this year’s report including data from LinkedIn, Meetup, Stack Overflow, Dealroom.co, and the London Stock Exchange. The presentation of the report “State of European Tech - The future is invented in Europe” was hosted and organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) leading think tank and forum for debate on EU affairs, with the support of Finnova Foundation and StartUp Europe (DG CONNECT), under the frame of StartUp Europe Awards. "The objectives of StartUp Europe Awards are to identify local role models in each ecosystem of startups across Europe and to create an alliance of organizations supporting innovation and entrepreneurship" stated Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of Finnova Foundation and StartUp Europe Awards. StartUp Europe Awards (www.startupeuropeawards.com) is promoted by the European Commission and supported by the President of the Committee of the Regions, several members of the European Parliament as Ambassadors and it is implemented by Finnova Foundation in collaboration with Startup Europe.