What do European startups want policymakers to focus on?
We went on a five-week, nine-city “Developed: EU” tour to find out.
From May to June 2025, ACT | The App Association hit the road on a multi-city trek across Europe to meet with members of the tech ecosystem, from startups and scaleups to investors to policymakers. Our mission was to learn about their priorities and concerns when it comes to the health and growth of the app economy. A variety of networking events, ecosystem dinners, panels, roundtables, and our first-ever Scale Lab made this an exciting month filled with great conversations, fascinating insights, new ideas, and incredible community. Read on to learn more about the first three stops on our tour in Rome, Bari, and Milan.
We kicked off our Developed: EU tour in central Italy with an ecosystem dinner in Rome, sharing a meal with representatives from Confindustria, fellow tech and startup groups, investors, ecosystem leaders, and some of our members. We discussed the opportunities and challenges of building a company in Italy and how we can help communicate some of the frustrations and roadblocks that Italian companies are facing with policymakers at both the Italian and EU-level governments.
The following day, in partnership with ATLAS, we hosted a startup networking aperitivo featuring remarks and a presentation from our event partners. A brief panel discussion tied everything together.
This panel included Federico Roviglioni of member company Bufaga, the App Association’s Brad Simonich, Vittorio Calaprice of the European Commission’s Representation in Italy, and Vittoria Carli and Tommaso D’Onofrio of Confindustria Innovative and Technical Services. They discussed the challenges facing startups and scaleups in Italy, shared resources for Italian companies, offered insights on engaging with policymakers and navigating the complex investment landscape, and highlighted programs that support international growth.
After the panel, Ennio Adinolfi, Alessandro Colnago, and John Pavia of ATLAS gave a presentation on their ATLAS Next Program, launching in October 2025. The program brings startups from across Italy to New York City for mentorship opportunities, panels, keynotes, and workshops, with experts from the U.S. app economy.
Finally, as one does in Rome, we ate, danced, talked, and laughed the night away. A great first stop on our tour!
Our second stop kept us in Italy, but this time in the south, for an event to highlight the incredible innovation happening in the Puglia region. We discovered what makes the south, especially Bari, such an attractive hub for tech and entrepreneurship.
We started with a panel featuring the App Association’s Alex Cooke, 3DXR’s Carlo Ferretti, PugliaTech’s Marco Jean Aboav, PhD, Lanit-Tercom Italia’s Katherina Ufnarovsky, and Endymion_tech’s Gianmarco Cappellano. Discussions covered scaling and growth through global expansion, overcoming geographic and cultural barriers, building community, and getting access to both talent and capital in Puglia.
After drinks, snacks, and networking at ImpactHub, we shared a meal with members of the Bari tech ecosystem to explore how policies like the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy can help Italian companies. We discussed what policymakers need to know about the realities of starting and scaling a business in Europe, especially when companies are dealing with an overly complex regulatory landscape.
Check out more photos and vibes from our first two events here.
From Bari, we headed to Milan in the north for a networking aperitivo co-hosted with member companies Teiacare and Proxim.ai. After brief remarks from the App Association’s Brad and a screening of our Global App Economy Conference: EU video, we discussed everything from funding to overly complex and broad regulation, to simplification and the 28th regime, to football and food. We were thrilled to connect with local entrepreneurs, startups, scaleups, and other ecosystem leaders from around Milan.
The following day, we hosted a roundtable over lunch with investors who represent different segments of the tech ecosystem, including a focus on early-stage startups, aviation and space, health, and highly regulated industries. Our conversations covered everything from the impact red tape and bureaucracy have on access to capital to how the AI Act may slow innovation. We gained valuable insight into how regulation affects investment in Italy as well as the friction between country-specific, regional, and EU funding opportunities.
Check out more photos from the event here.