As startups from China and the USA are quickly growing into massive companies, scaling up in Europe sometimes proves to be a particular challenge. We spoke with Dr. Chahab Nastar about the opportunities and difficulties European companies face. As Chief Innovation Officer at EIT Digital, he keeps a finger on the pulse in the European market.
“Europe does not have a shortage of startups,” Nastar says. “I think we create enough startups and there are a number of mostly national mechanisms for funding early-stage startups.” So the future is bright? “Well, what’s at stake for Europe is how some of these startups will become giant companies. Who’s the next SAP? The next Nokia, Ericsson or Philips? In the digital era, Europe has not been very successful in building companies that dominate their market.” He does, however, have some recommendations to change that and shared those with us.