European Commission
Team of the Tech Diasporas Network
Many European countries, especially the ones in the Central and Eastern Europe and West Balkans Regions, are facing an ongoing brain-drain phenomenon and have considerable Tech Diasporas established in the more developed hubs in Europe but also in the USA and Asia. In the context of ever-increasing globalization, the national tech startup ecosystems should not be limited by borders. Diasporas can be an integral part of an ecosystem, expanding the local one to include entrepreneurs, tech talent, and other business professionals who are active in other markets.
The Declaration was signed on the margins of this year's Startup Europe Summit, Europe's annual rally with innovators, investors and policy makers. The Summit, which this year focussed on the Central and Eastern European regions as well as the Western Balkans, gathered more than 1100 representatives of the European entrepreneurial ecosystem spanning from investors, CEOs and accelerators to European authorities and tech journalists.
This is an informal network and the founding organizations (Romanian IT, Club Mundi from Spain, France Digitale, Silicon Vikings representing the Nordics and Mind the Bridge representing Italy) have launched an opened invitation to all European organizations that are willing to contribute and support this cause.
The signatories will now work together to forge stronger links between the EU Diasporas and their respective countries, support mutual collaborations, provide expertise, advice and best practices recommendations for engaging National Tech Diasporas and for addressing and potentially even reversing the European brain-drain phenomenon long-term.