Press release. AMETIC will hold the 1st European Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum on March 19: “Beyond 27”a high-level meeting that will bring together institutional officials, business leaders, entrepreneurs and technology centers at the Madrid headquarters of the European Commission and Parliament to address the major vectors of European innovation policy.
At a decisive moment for the competitive future of Europe, the Forum was born with a clear vocation: to contribute from Spain to the design of a European framework that facilitates innovation, eliminates barriers to business growth and consolidates a true single innovation market. The recent Alden Biesen summit and the Draghi and Letta reports have once again put on the table the urgency of strengthening European competitiveness in an environment marked by technological acceleration, geoeconomic rivalry and the need to strengthen strategic autonomy.
The future European Innovation Law and the “Regime 28”, central axes of the debate
The meeting will focus a substantial part of its work on the analysis of the “Innovation Act”, the future European Innovation Law, as well as the so-called “Regime 28”, an initiative promoted by the European Commission to facilitate the cross-border scaling of startups and innovative companies through a more homogeneous regulatory framework.
The Forum will address, among other issues:
- The alignment of the Spanish ecosystem with the future European R&D&I governance architecture.
- The next configuration of Horizon Europe and the new European Competitiveness Fund.
- The promotion of strategic technologies such as semiconductors, quantum technologies and deep tech.
- Key horizontal instruments such as tax incentives, innovative public procurement and access to financing.
In Spain, approximately a third of business investment in R&D&i corresponds to the digital sector. From this position, AMETIC reinforces its international agenda with an event that aims to consolidate itself as a reference space to promote common instruments that promote the growth of innovative companies, the transfer of knowledge and the consolidation of strategic value chains in emerging technologies.
A space for alignment between industry, institutions and innovative ecosystem
The institutional opening will feature the intervention of Francisco Hortigüela, president of AMETIC; Nikolaos Isaris, deputy director of the European Commission Representation in Spain; Teresa Riesgo, General Secretary of Innovation; and Manuel Heitor, president of the European Commission’s Group of Experts on the mid-term evaluation of Horizon Europe.
The closing will be carried out by the management of the Representation of the European Parliament in Spain, led by María de Andrés. Pierre Chastanet, head of the microelectronics and photonics unit of the European Commission, and María Romano, head of the European Investment Bank Group office in Spain, will also participate.
Likewise, the Forum will have the participation of business leaders from FI Group, GMV, Gradiant, Hispatec, Inetum, Ideaded, Multiverse Computing, Semidynamics, Shakers and Zabala Innovation, and with the collaboration of Eurecat, Innova-IRV and Vicomtech.
For Hortigüela, “This forum is a strategic opportunity to align vision, policies and industry around a more competitive and integrated European project. Europe is at an inflection point: if we want to lead the global technological future, we need a regulatory environment that favors innovation, facilitates business growth and reinforces our strategic autonomy”.
Spain, key player in the Europe of innovation
With the celebration of this first edition, AMETIC reaffirms its commitment to building a solid, coordinated and results-oriented European innovation ecosystem. The objective is clear: transform knowledge into economic growth, qualified employment and technological leadership for Europe.
The 1st European Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum thus aspires to consolidate itself as a stable platform for dialogue and proposals, capable of projecting the voice of the Spanish digital industry in the definition of the European policies that will mark the next decade.
