Crossing the Valley of Death: Europe’s Raw Materials Start-up Ecosystem

“Europe's global share of patent applications is on par with the US and China. However, only one-third of these are commercially exploited. We are roughly as good as the US at creating start-ups. But when it comes to scale-ups, we are doing much worse than our competitors.” President von der Leyen identified Europe’s innovation gap with the United States as a critical challenge, particularly for startups struggling to scale from concept to commercialisation - the “Valley of Death.” This panel will explore how Europe can create a thriving startup ecosystem in the raw materials sector by addressing funding gaps, fostering cross-border collaboration, and building partnerships across academia, industry, and government to drive innovation and achieve its green and digital transformation goals.