European tech startups await Trump’s return – DW – 11/14/2024 | EUROtoday

Anyone who attends a tech summit in 2024 can anticipate to be confronted with synthetic intelligence (AI) each which manner they flip. In that sense Web Summit, Europe’s largest tech convention yearly held in Lisbon, was no totally different.

But for the 70,000 plus crowd of tourists, startups, traders and executives passing via the halls in Lisbon’s International Fair, one other subject was floating via the air — what precisely will Donald Trump’s second time period imply for the tech trade, significantly in Europe?

A few panels tackled the geopolitical query head on. “A new Trump era” was the blunt title of 1. “EU, the ball is in your court” said one other.

Among attendees with an curiosity within the European startup sector, there may be settlement that Europe wants to acknowledge that, and shortly.

Growing hole between US and EU?

“I think we don’t know yet what it will mean, but I think everyone is very alert,” says Anne Christin Braun, head of Digital Health and Marketing at German tech incubator ZOLLHOF. “Everybody is trying to understand what it could mean and to future-proof their opportunities,” she advised DW.

Even as Donald Trump’s cupboard begins to take form, it is nonetheless not clear what his strategy to the sector will probably be. His appointment of Tesla CEO Elon Musk to a newly created cupboard place has led to strategies that Big Tech’s points will probably be extraordinarily near the center of energy.

Combined with Trump’s “America First” financial coverage, this might imply a broadening hole between the US and EU on key tech points, such because the rules surrounding using AI, which is able to finally outline what startups are capable of do.

American tech giants, together with Google and OpenAI, personal virtually the entire massive language fashions on which the overwhelming majority of AI startups base their purposes.

Antoine Jardin, CTO of French startup Arlequin.AI, which supplies AI-driven social-data evaluation, thinks the American election modified a number of issues. “The US will try to separate itself from the rest of the AI development across the world,” he advised DW. “What happened in the US over the past week has proved that the market has transformed a little bit and every area needs to develop its own [tech] ecosystem.”

AI regulation might present confidence

There continues to be quiet confidence amongst many who Europe can achieve that regard.

For Braun, the EU’s protections round using AI, now enshrined within the so-called AI Act, is an opportunity for European tech startups to take the lead in synthetic intelligence that individuals really feel protected utilizing. “Our chance in Europe with data security and data protection is really developing trustworthy AI, but doing that in a way that the economy benefits from it.”

It’s some extent additionally made by AI investor Andreas Urbanski. “I personally think that [the EU AI Act] is a great starting point in the right direction,” he advised DW, including that there was undoubtedly a necessity for “smart regulation.”

“Startups that say there’s not enough innovation in Europe because of the AI Act, I think that is a very selfish statement,” he mentioned.

At the identical time, startups are eager to see Europe preserve an open strategy to different markets aside from the US, permitting them to hunt alternatives elsewhere.

“For us in the sustainability business, [the election] is not a positive change, because we know how Trump positions himself on the climate,” mentioned Paula Gonzalez, CEO and co-founder of Sustanya, a Portuguese startup that helps small companies to gather and publish their sustainability info. “But companies in Europe and around the world are committed to sustainability and I think Europe is actually positioning quite well to access other markets. Latin America and Africa, for example.”

Arlequin.AI’s Jardin makes the identical level, saying that it is crucial that “Europe engages with other areas of the world.”

Lack of capital hurting European tech

However, there may be widespread acceptance that American rivals have an enormous benefit in terms of successful traders’ money.

According to figures from enterprise capital agency Atomico, capital invested in European tech stood at $45 billion (€42.6 billion) in 2023, in comparison with $120 billion within the US.

If Trump’s election actually does imply Europe wants a stronger ecosystem, startups are going to want the cash to construct it.

“The only thing is that attracting capital in the States and Europe is very different. In the States the amount of money that is available is much higher. Now it’s a bit of a game of ‘go big or die,’ so it’s a bit tricky, but I’m quite positive,” says Gonzalez.

Yet that very same query of entry to capital has led Nelson Ajulo, entrepreneur and CEO of Dutch operational platform startup Joble, to have a look at shifting to the US quickly.

“In the US you have investors who are willing to give you what you actually need to scale your organization,” he told DW. “And they don’t seem to be considering small, they’re considering large.”

For the second, he additionally sees Trump’s election as a bonus for the US as a result of he can think about the enterprise panorama there to develop into “more favorable” with Trump the businessman. “You can see the stock market is really going up now. It’s the ripple effect. If the stock goes up, investors have more return in their pockets, it also means there is more money for investment,” he mentioned, including that the  the market trajectory, “it seems very hopeful.”

Already waiting for 2025, indicators across the Web Summit and within the occasion app are promoting tickets for subsequent November. Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly nonetheless be the speak of the city.

European startups will probably be hoping that US politics, and their results on the trade, are sufficiently small to stay within the background.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler