May 2026
Scaling Europe Summit 2026
With the scale-up Europe fund on the table and a continued focus on competitiveness and sovereignty, momentum is building around creating the right conditions for founders to scale across Europe. But what still needs to change to enable European startups and scale-ups to truly thrive?
One year after its first edition, the Lisbon Council once again put the spotlight on the entrepreneurs who have shaped and continue to forge Europe’s startup ecosystem by convening the Scaling Europe Summit 2026: Competitiveness Built for and by Founders.
At the heart of the Summit was a one-of-a-kind conversation bringing together leading founders, including Alexander Glätzle, co-founder and CEO of planqc; Tomas Okmanas, co-founder and co-CEO of Nord Security and Tesonet; and Sten Tamkivi, co-founder and partner at Plural. Joining them was also Ann Mettler, board member of the European Innovation Council, for a deep dive into how Europe can turn scale-ups’ success stories into a shared engine for growth rather than rare exceptions as well as what the continent must deliver to turn its ambitions into reality amid increasingly aggressive global competition.
Europe is already taking action. Yet much more remains to be done and much is expected in the months ahead. That was the key message from Valdis Dombrovskis, European commissioner for economy and productivity, implementation and simplification, who opened the session by sharing his vision for Europe’s future.
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Read the Full Keynote by Commissioner Dombrovskis at the Scaling Europe Summit 2026