From Davos to a Unified European Startup Ecosystem: Key Insights from AI Horizon 25

Last week, AI Horizon 25, a major summit organized by NGI Enrichers , convened Europe’s leading researchers, policymakers, innovators, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs in Davos. This boutique, high-impact summit brought together top leaders—all contributing concrete, bottom-up proposals delivered directly to EU and national policymakers, shaping priorities for the FP10 framework. Here are the key strategic insights, impactful proposals, and essential recommendations emerging from these discussions.

Strategic Insights from AI Horizon 25

AI Horizon 25 facilitated extensive and diverse discussions structured around four critical dimensions of AI innovation and policy: Technology, Science & Society, Health, and Startups. Each workshop addressed pressing issues—from the underlying technologies powering modern AI tools to Europe’s influential role in shaping AI policies, addressing ethical and societal impacts, and fostering startup innovation. These insightful sessions where i participated were notably facilitated by industry leaders such as Monique Jeanne Morrow and Sabine Kennedy, ensuring substantive dialogue and meaningful outcomes.

Participants acknowledged Europe’s distinctive strengths and leadership in several critical areas, particularly its commitment to human-centric and ethical approaches to AI. Europe’s rigorous emphasis on privacy, transparency, and inclusivity, exemplified by landmark frameworks such as the GDPR, positions the continent uniquely as a global standard-bearer in responsible innovation. Additionally, Europe’s vibrant research community, strong public funding mechanisms, and active regulatory engagement offer valuable lessons to the global community in shaping sustainable and trustworthy technology ecosystems.

As a small-scale but highly strategic convening of experts, every workshop was geared toward formulating actionable recommendations—addressing AI’s societal, technical, and startup dimensions. Within the Startups session, particular attention was devoted to Europe’s fragmented innovation landscape, highlighting practical difficulties startups face when scaling across borders due to regulatory complexity and cultural diversity. However, these discussions also emphasized Europe’s immense potential, driven by its diversity, robust academic-industry collaborations, and dynamic innovation hubs. These attributes represent strategic advantages for Europe, which—if effectively harnessed through cohesive frameworks—could significantly enhance Europe’s global competitiveness.

My participation focused primarily on the Technology and Startups sessions, collaborating closely on identifying practical solutions, formulating strategic insights, and recommending actionable policy initiatives to further elevate Europe’s innovation capacity and address systemic barriers.

Key Recommendations Discussed

Several significant recommendations emerged from the summit discussions, designed to strategically transform Europe’s digital landscape and strengthen its innovation ecosystems. Among these, two proposals from my side received particular attention and support:

1. Single Sign-On Infrastructure for Consumer Digital Identity

Initially introduced as a concept centered around Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), the proposal evolved into a broader and more inclusive recommendation: establishing a unified Single Sign-On (SSO) infrastructure designed explicitly for consumer use on the European and global markets.

Currently, Europe’s digital identity ecosystem faces considerable fragmentation, with various self-sovereign identity solutions competing without clear interoperability or common network. This proposal recommends developing a robust, standardized SSO infrastructure, positioned as a foundational layer that unifies existing fragmented SSI frameworks.

This European-led initiative would:

• Promote and push for users' simple, secure, and universal method to manage digital identities across multiple platforms and services.

• Enhance user control and privacy by adopting privacy-by-design principles, leveraging decentralized identity standards (DIDs, Verifiable Credentials, Zero-Knowledge Proofs).

• Significantly streamline digital interactions for consumers across Europe and internationally, creating seamless digital experiences and boosting consumer trust.

• Reinforce Europe’s strategic positioning in digital sovereignty, privacy leadership, and responsible technology adoption on a global scale.

By shifting from fragmented self-sovereign identity solutions to a unified SSO infrastructure, Europe can leverage its regulatory strengths, technological innovation, and commitment to digital ethics, setting a global standard for consumer-centric digital identity management.

2. EU-wide Startup Registration Layer

Another significant recommendation discussed was the creation of a unified, pan-European startup registration framework. Under this proposed structure, startups could operate seamlessly under harmonized EU-level regulations, significantly reducing the complexity typically faced during cross-border scaling, investment attraction, and operational expansion. As startups grow and mature within this supportive framework, they would then have the flexibility to strategically incorporate within individual European countries based on specific advantages, market opportunities, and favorable local conditions.

Complementary investor-focused initiatives were also proposed, including unified tax incentives and streamlined regulatory procedures for venture capital firms. These measures aim to encourage greater cross-border investment flows, accelerate startup growth, and position Europe as a globally competitive and attractive innovation ecosystem.

Transatlantic Collaboration and Future Innovation

The summit underscored the importance of robust transatlantic collaboration in fostering innovation and global competitiveness. Drawing from extensive experiences across Europe and the United States, including active engagement in Arizona's innovation ecosystem and forthcoming initiatives in San Francisco, the event reinforced the strategic necessity of transatlantic partnerships.

Entering Deep Research: Shaping the Future of Smart Cities with Small Language Models - OpenSLM and QX Initiatives

QX is currently exploring innovative solutions and potential projects in collaboration with leading researchers and PhD candidates specializing in decentralized technologies, blockchain, and AI innovations. One particularly intriguing area under active research by QX’s technical leadership— Hristijan Jankulovski (Co-CTO) and Teodor Bogoeski (Co-CTO)—is the Open Small Language Model (OpenSLM) concept, aimed at advancing sustainability within smart cities through decentralized AI deployments.

The idea behind OpenSLM involves leveraging decentralized AI infrastructure to integrate IoT, energy, and environmental data into intuitive interfaces for urban management. Recently at AI Horizon 25, preliminary discussions on this topic took place, sparking interest among notable experts including René Krikke Deep-Tech Researcher and Entrepreneur, Matt Murtagh, Ph.D. in Computer Science, Tommaso Carraro, Ph.D., Marouane Tliba (AI & ML Researcher), and Ihor Makushinsky a deep-tech entrepreneur. Following these initial conversations, I’m openly inviting NGI Enrichers researchers, collaborators, and experts across Europe and beyond to share their perspectives on this approach. What do you think about using Small Language Models (OpenSLM) as a foundational technology for the next generation of AI-driven smart cities? I’d greatly appreciate your insights and comments to stimulate discussion, guide further research, and possibly inform upcoming European Commission innovation frameworks and proposal calls focused on AI and urban sustainability.

This concept remains in its early exploratory stages, and QX aims to evaluate its potential through collaborative dialogue, research partnerships, and possible project proposals aligned with European innovation frameworks and funding opportunities.

Recommendations and Next Steps

To effectively address Europe's innovation challenges, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists must collectively pursue unified regulatory frameworks, scalable infrastructure, and targeted incentives. Moving forward, continued engagement and strategic partnerships will remain crucial to achieving sustained innovation and global competitiveness.

Special Acknowledgments

Gratitude goes to G.A.C. Group (GAC) France and the NGI Enrichers team and fellows—particularly Dr. Andrea Degen and their dedicated team, Roberto Medina Bujalance, 🌏Lucia de Luca, Monique Jeanne Morrow, Sabine Kennedy, Ihor Makushinsky, Igor Karpachev, Karolina Gyurovszka, Juan Carlos Anton, Sara Medina, Katalin Feher PhD, Théo Lefèvre among many others—for creating an environment that fostered meaningful dialogue and productive collaboration.

The insights from Davos serve as a foundation for continued strategic discussions and actions. The journey to Europe's unified innovation future is collaborative and ongoing.

#AIHorizon25 #InnovationPolicy #GlobalEntrepreneurship #StartupEcosystem #DeepTech