Brussels, Belgium. Europe’s innovation ecosystem must address persistent fragmentation and strengthen cross-border coordination if startups are to grow into global scale-ups, according to Eliza Kruczkowska of the Polish Development Fund. Speaking on the sidelines of the 2026 European Innovation Council Summit, she said Europe has advanced in supporting entrepreneurship but still struggles to function as a unified innovation space.
Summit dialogue highlights need for cooperation
Kruczkowska, director of innovation development at the Polish Development Fund, told the Cyprus Mail that the summit offered an important opportunity to engage with stakeholders from across Europe.
“It’s always very useful to meet people from all over Europe,” she said. “Having this dialogue will help us think above our national interest, and I do enjoy this mixture of different opinions and different angles.”
She said discussions at the summit underlined the need for deeper European collaboration beyond national frameworks, particularly as global competition intensifies.
Fragmentation remains a key barrier
Reflecting on Europe’s innovation landscape, Kruczkowska said one of the most significant barriers to progress remains the continent’s internal fragmentation and difficulty in acting collectively.
She said Europe has made substantial progress over the past decade in building institutions that support startups, but added that the challenge now lies in strengthening a shared identity and direction.
“Lots of good things happen. That was a great wake-up call for us and maybe motivation to be faster,” she said, referring to comparisons often drawn between Europe and the United States.
Progress over the past 15 years
Kruczkowska, who has spent more than 15 years working across venture capital, public policy and startup ecosystem development in Poland and across Europe, said European-level discussions on startups were limited 15 years ago, when attention was focused mainly on research and development and universities.
“For the last 15 years we have really made huge progress, and those institutions on the European level are very crucial because they think above national interest,” she said.