17.09.2020 - The Future of the Startup Ecosystem in Central & Eastern Europe
17 September 2020, 3 - 4 PM CEST
To join the event on Zoom, please register in advance here.
The event will be live-streamed on this page (on the video tile below) and on our social media channels.
Speakers
- Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
- Andrej Kiska, Partner at Credo Ventures
- Vargha Moayed, Chief Strategy Officer at UiPath
- Ivan Osmak, CEO at Gtmhub
Moderator
- Zuzana Pisoň, Technology Stream Lead at GLOBSEC Policy Institute
Event Description
The CEE startup ecosystem is still in a "gold rush" phase and offers many opportunities for funding, investing and collaborating. With comparatively lower expenses, government support, access to talent and infrastructure, the region has become attractive for entrepreneurs and investors alike. By 2019, more than 10 unicorns have sprung out of the CEE region, with a combined value of €30 billion. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic shifting priorities of businesses as well as governments, does the CEE startup ecosystem have what it takes to help drive Europe’s post-COVID growth?
Together with our amazing guests, we’ll be discussing questions such as
- How has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the funding landscape for startups in CEE?
- What type of government policies and private sector schemes geared at supporting CEE startups are we going to see in the nearest future?
- Will the region’s tech talent suffice to fill in the widening skills gap?
- Which are the most promising sectors geared towards success in the region? How has the pandemic changed the scene?
- What would it take for the region’s startup ecosystem to become the EU‘s post-COVID growth engine?
This event is part of GLOBSEC's Digital Lighthouse initiative, a public-private platform that contributes to shaping policy debates in the area of digital transformation and innovations in the CEE region.