EIC Summit: "Europe is not a global tech leader because of fragmentation" (Enrico Letta)

"Europe is not a global tech leader because, firstly, of fragmentation. We are not one, we are 27. We are all protecting our national systems and we are not able to scale. We are all small countries, our unity is our strength", says Enrico Letta,, at the EIC Summit on 03/04/2025. The former Italian Prime Minister is the author of the European report on the Single Market published in April 2024.

"We were leaders, but not anymore", according to Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon and former European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science from 2014 to 2019 -during which mandate he had the idea of the EIC. In his view, the challenge of developing innovation in Europe lies not only in activity and funding, but also in storytelling.

He points out that Europe has stopped telling its own success stories, which limits the perception and growth of innovation. Without a story, he says, there is no awareness, and therefore no scale.

He also highlights that "we are not connecting the talents between cities and the European Commission".

Carlos Moedas launched the idea of "Unicorn Factory" in…