Objective of the consultation

The objective of this public consultation is to seek direct feedback from all relevant stakeholders, including entrepreneurs and start-up communities, with the aim of improving the environment for start-ups in Europe.

Introductory note

The recently adopted Single Market Strategy is one of the building blocks of a broader European policy to boost growth and jobs in Europe. It states that the Commission will ‘engage with all relevant players’ when designing a Start-up Initiative with the aim of improving the environment for European startups and fast growing firms.

The information gathered from this consultation will help in identifying possible solutions and designing new policy and/or support measures at both EU and Member State level to address start-ups’ needs throughout their life cycle. The goal is to create serial entrepreneurs who will try again when they fail, reinvest when they succeed, and support a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout.

The questionnaire follows the life cycle of a company which is divided into three primary phases:

• Stand-up phase when individuals or groups are equipped with the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills to attempt the creation of new company
• Start-up phase when resources are mobilised and regulatory requirements fulfilled to start a new company
• Scale-up phase when successful companies expand their businesses to new markets or in innovative ways.

It also covers an Exit phase when a business owner or an investor decides to cash out an investment made in the past through trade sale or merger with a larger player in the industry (merger and acquisitions), secondary sales to third parties or initial public offerings (IPOs).

The questionnaire contains questions related to each phase of the company’s life cycle, providing examples of policy or support measures for stakeholders to reflect upon and share their knowledge and expertise for better policy making.

Before starting, please review the Glossary of terms.

Please note that this document has been drafted for information and consultation purposes only. It has not been adopted or in any way approved by the European Commission and should not be regarded as representative of the views of Commission staff. It does not in any way prejudge, or constitute the announcement of, any position on the part of the Commission on the issues covered. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided, nor does it accept responsibility for any use made thereof.

Policy fiel(s)

Internal market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

Target group(s)

Member States’ authorities at all levels, business organisations, potential entrepreneurs and individual companies, academia, research centres and other relevant stakeholders and citizens.

Period of consultation

From 31 March 2016 to 31 July 2016

How to submit your contribution

Please make contributions via the online questionnaire.

The questionnaire is available in the EU official languages.

The contributions received and the identity of the contributor will be published on this website, unless the contributor objects to publication of his/her personal data.

Please read the Specific privacy statement for information on how your personal data and contribution will be dealt with.

View the contributions

In the interest of transparency, organisations are invited to provide the public with relevant information about themselves by registering in the Transparency Register and subscribing to its Code of Conduct. If the organisation is not registered, the submission is published separately from the registered organisations.

Results of consultation and next steps

The public consultation offers citizens and stakeholders the opportunity to provide input to the Commission at an early stage of its policy making on start-ups and SMEs. The Commission services plan to make the comments accessible on this website.

Documents

• Communication on Upgrading the Single Market: more opportunities for people and business – COM(2015) 550 final, 28.10.2015 (PDF)
• More information on the Single Market Strategy
• Protection of data
• Specific privacy statement (PDF)
• Glossary of terms

As read on the European Commission website.