EUROPE'S 25 CORPORATE STARTUP STARS

Startups and scale-ups are important drivers of innovation and growth in Europe. However, they are also risk-heavy entities that need capital outlays, frequent mentoring, as well as  hands-on support to grow and succeed. On the other hand, large firms are often deficient in the new talent, ideas and agile approaches required to keep up with the fast pace of innovation. In this way, startups and corporates both possess attributes that the other is lacking and would benefit from having access to.

Collaboration between large firms and startups or scale-ups is therefore a win-win solution which can open up new opportunities and bring tangible benefits to both sides.

For this reason Nesta and the Startup Europe Partnership are producing a ranking of  Europe’s 25 Corporate Startup Stars – the first to showcase exemplary big businesses working closely with startups.

Our goal is to promote the mutual benefits of corporate-startup collaboration, and to feature role models that can incentivise behaviour change among big businesses.

Your help will be essential in selecting the top 25 corporates to be included in the ranking.

We will be working closely with media partner Startups.co.uk and a panel of expert judges to identify those large firms which are truly world-leading in terms of making themselves ‘startup-friendly’.

The members of the judging panel are:

• Alberto Onetti, serial entrepreneur and Coordinator of the Startup Europe Partnership
• Candace Johnson, entrepreneur behind SES, Loral Teleport Europe and Europe Online
• Sherry Coutu, author of The Scale-up Report and angel investor
• Andy McCartney, former CEO-in-residence at Microsoft and Founding Partner of Whitespace Ventures
• Bart Clarysse, entrepreneur and Chair in Entrepreneurship at Imperial College, London
• Dolf Wittkamper, Head of EIT Digital’s Accelerator
• Edward Wray, entrepreneur and angel investor
• Ian Wallis, editorial director of Startups.co.uk
• Neelie Kroes, former European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda and Special Envoy StartupDelta.org NL

You can now nominate large companies that you consider worthy of a place in the rankings (see nomination form below). Who do you think fits the bill?