16 June: What next after the EU's startup and scale-up strategy unveil? - UK gov commits £2 billion to AI infrastructure expansion - and more

Welcome to the bi-weekly “Inside European Deep Tech” newsletter, compiled by Robin Wauters, founder of boutique communications agency Profoundo, board member of the European Startup Network, and formerly founding editor and CEO of Tech.eu.

There are now close to 73,000 subscribers to this newsletter; I invite each and every one of you to provide feedback so I can upgrade it over time. 💪🏻

Periodic reminder that I'm always up for a chat about how to upscale your communication and media strategy, so do hit me up if you want to have a conversation.

Now, let’s get to it for newsletter issue #11; there's a lot to cover.

Must-reads

• Building Europe’s Innovation Operating System: Policy, Capital, and Execution

• On June 3rd, the European Parliament’s industry committee (ITRE) adopted a non-binding report calling on the EU to fight its excessive dependence on Big Tech’s monopolies by developing a strong European digital infrastructure

• But ... Europe’s dream to wean off US tech gets reality check

• Private capital group Blackstone plots $500 billion expansion in Europe

• Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI

• From Startup to Scaleup: Turning UK Innovation Into Prosperity and Power

• ASML, the Dutch company that makes multimillion-dollar tools to manufacture advanced semiconductors, is grappling with the repercussions of a tech trade war

• A subdivision of the EU’s European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has suspended payments to business partners, following a fraud investigation into its management of funds

• Robotics Just Dethroned AI And Europe’s Deeptech Surge Is Where the Real Alpha HidesThe unbearable self-indulgence of Europe

• Women TechEU faces scrutiny over gender bias and bureaucracy

• New mobile app from the European Patent Office connects startups, investors and research universities

• France-based Constellation Technologies wants to partner with operators to offer space-based internet to help them compete with SpaceX

Insights: data, research, interviews and profiles

• Startup Genome's 'Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025' is a comprehensive analysis of the current state of startup ecosystems worldwide.

• 25 European Startups That Could Change the World

• 'Defence is where we can play all our superpowers': Visionaries Club’s Rob Lacher

• The Tech Nation Report for 2025

• The rise of dual-use innovation: Latvia’s startups making global strides

• The European Way. A Blueprint for Reclaiming Our Digital Future

• IQM’s State of Quantum 2025: Industry must address talent and software gaps, not just qubits

• The 2025 European Semester Spring Package analyses the key economic and social challenges across the EU and offers policy guidance to Member States with the aim of strengthening competitiveness, prosperity and resilience

• Google DeepMind’s CEO Thinks AI Will Make Humans Less Selfish

• Listed: Europe’s latest offers to US academics fleeing Trump

• European Investment Fund: "The first edition of our quarterly VC/PE Barometer Survey is out. With insights from over 860 fund managers, it’s the largest regular survey of GPs in Europe – and the first comprehensive pan-European survey to capture VC/PE sentiment following the US administration announcements on tariffs."

• European LPs rethink US exposure amid tariff chaos

• From €12 billion to €520 billion: EU-funded startups show massive ROI – but face scaling gap

Opinions worth reading

• International Digital Strategy: EU needs to slash tech dependencies to stay globally relevant

• "Britain must be a magnet for the world’s best minds"

• "Europe has a startup plan. Founders should start paying attention"

• Ada Lovelace Institute’s Gaia Marcus: regulation would increase people’s comfort with AI

• London Tech Week day 4: Why deeptech will define the UK’s economic future

• Trump’s $3.7 billion climate cuts could boost European sector, VCs say

• Nvidia’s big European push raises questions for sovereignty

• Why the Ruhr Region Could Be Europe’s Next Big Startup Story

Selected news items

• Qualcomm has agreed to buy London-listed semiconductor company Alphawave for about $2.4 billion in cash to expand its technology for artificial intelligence

• US quantum computing company IonQ has agreed to buy Oxford Ionics, a UK tech startup spun out of Oxford university in a $1.1 billion all-stock deal

• New companies put forward for major investments under the EIC STEP Scale Up scheme

• The UK has pledged £2 billion in funding for its AI strategy, as it looks to rapidly build out sovereign compute capabilities

• Quantum-inspired AI model compression company Multiverse Computing has raised €189 million in Series B funding.

• Proxima Fusion, Europe’s fastest-growing fusion energy company, announced the close of its €130 million Series A financing round

• Lovable, an AI startup that enables “vibe coding” to streamline software development, is reportedly in talks to raise more than $100 million at a valuation of at least $1.5 billion

• The €1 billion NATO Innovation Fund lost its third partner in a year

• Latvian tech company Aerones raised $62 million to fund a global roll-out of robots and other AI-enabled solutions to protect and maintain thousands of wind turbines in over 30 countries

• Three years after its founding, European space surveillance firm Look Up has secured €50 million in funding to accelerate the global deployment of its radar network

• Nordic Foodtech VC secures €40M for fund to back foodtech and agritech

• Iron Wolf Capital closes €30M Fund II to supercharge Baltic deep tech, eyes €100M finish line

In other links

• Pope Leo XIV wants to stop AI playing God

• EIC Pre-Accelerator call launched to boost deep tech companies in emerging innovation regions

• Secretive AI startup H Company releases series of new agents

• ‘AI Maker, Not an AI Taker’: UK Builds Its Vision With NVIDIA Infrastructure

• Alice & Bob has been selected for the French Tech Next40, the French government’s strategic support program for high-growth technology companies. This marks the first inclusion of a quantum computing firm in the initiative

• Barclays Opens Innovation Hub in London to Support AI and Deep Tech Startups

• Allied4Future launches EU deeptech collaboration labs

• European tech companies slash entry-level jobs as AI demand surges

• Nvidia, HPE to build new supercomputer in Germany

• New project to make the UK a leader in AI-drug discovery, as Imperial College also partners with the World Economic Forum on AI-Driven Innovation Centre

• Prague Welcomes Dual-Use Startups through NATO’s DIANA Programme Support

• Former Innovate UK chief executive Indro Mukerjee has been appointed to BGF’s deep tech and climate advisory board

• Quantum innovation programme drives advanced connectivity in the UK

• Deep tech starts here: NILT’s journey from research to impact

• Precision, proximity and purpose in Swiss composites innovation

• Every drop counts: How space tech innovations are revolutionising Earth observation

Upcoming events in Europe for your calendar

• 17-18 June - Micromobility Europe - Brussels, Belgium 🇧🇪

• 19-20 June - TNW Conference - Amsterdam, The Netherlands 🇳🇱

• 2-3 July - Liftoff - Zagreb, Croatia 🇭🇷

The scrolled-all-the-way-down extras

• Inside the Political Power Games of the FIFA Club World Cup

• "Dryden Brown has raised half a billion dollars to build a city where the rich will get richer, discuss The Odyssey, and, he thinks, restore Western civilization. Heaven, it turns out, just may be an hour north of Santa Barbara, on a US Space Force base."

• Your brain learns from rejection − here’s how it becomes your compass for connection

• The Best Stunts of All Time, Over Nearly 100 Years of the Oscars

• In Dubai’s AI job market, your passport matters

• Inside Hollywood’s Succession Wars

• The Uncertain and Shifting Future of Ph.D.s in Science

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