Microsoft has joined Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), a pan-European programme for leading and accelerating new technology start-ups. The initiative is supported by the EC.
As one of the key goals of SEP is to help create new European companies that could compete globally, Microsoft with its contribution and investment in businesses and innovation across Europe seems to become a significant asset.
At present, Microsoft’s European partner community encompasses 180,000 businesses and 16,000 startups. Additionally, the company continuously contributes to the European ecosystem and economy through its innovation and investments in people and business, it says.
“Microsoft has a real and growing commitment to Europe. By joining the Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), Microsoft is helping to build communities where tech and web entrepreneurs can start-up, scale-up and go global. Microsoft’s own journey offers many lessons and examples for everyone working on digital issues,” says Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission.
Earlier this year Telecom Italia announced it had supported the SEP initiative as a Corporate Member.
The other founding members of the SEP include Telefonica, Orange, BBVA, investment funds such as European Investment Fund, which is a part of the European Investment Bank Group, and European universities including Cambridge University, the IE Business School and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.
The Startup Europe Partnership, coordinated by the Italo-American Mind the Bridge foundation, with British bank Nesta and German organisation The Factory, is one of the 6 actions for entrepreneurship defined as part of the “Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan” (European Commission, January 2012) and is designed to implement some of the key recommendations of the Startup Manifesto.