On 3 October we came together with stakeholders and members in Bozar, Brussels (Belgium) to celebrate fresh ideas and forward-thinking solutions. The Brussels cocktail event focused on investing in innovation, growth, and competitiveness.
The event was opened by CEO Eric de Montgolfier, who outlined Invest Europe’s Forward strategy, launched earlier this year. The strategy focuses on 12 key priorities that are key to driving Europe’s success – our pathways to a stronger, more innovative and more competitive Europe.
We were delighted to have EIB Vice-President Ioannis Tsakiris deliver the keynote speech, in which he underlined our industry's importance in tackling the challenges ahead. A few highlights from his speech:
Europe faces energy, climate, defense, and competitiveness challenges. The new @EU Commission can't tackle these alone. Collective action is key to overcoming these poly-crises.
The Draghi_ report calls for bolder support for disruptive innovators and scale-up financing. We need real progress on the Capital Markets Union and the mobilisation of European savings for green & digital transitions.
With rising budget pressures, every public euro must have real impact. Partnering with venture capital & private equity is critical to create jobs, growth, and innovation.
To drive Europe's innovation and competitiveness, and "With limited public budgets, it is becoming more important that we attract other investors into the venture capital and private equity space. In particular, institutional investors and pension funds." It's time to close the gap with the US.
As stated in its Strategic Roadmap, the EIB Group will continue to back venture capital & private equity, supporting Europe's brightest entrepreneurs and the green & digital transitions. Achieving this means will require a rise by 5 percentage points of GDP, a scale of investment not seen since the 1960s and 70s, which is crucial for Europe's future.
We would like to thank everybody in attendance for a fantastic event.
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