ACT’s Annual Global App Economy Conferences (GAECs) bring our startup and small tech members together for three days of founder-to-founder networking and direct engagement with policymakers. GAECs are the culmination of what we do at ACT, bringing our three pillars together in one event that fosters community, provides resources and education, and creates an opportunity for our startup, scaleup, and small business members to engage directly in advocacy.
In a Brussels hotel lobby, before we even started talking policy, the GAEC: EU community was in motion. Founders from 12 countries quickly formed circles of conversation, reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new ones with the same enthusiasm. Within minutes, the room was buzzing with stories of companies built to solve real-world problems and the shared challenges of scaling and innovating across Europe.
Right from the start, it was clear that a room full of founders from Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, and Spain unlocked something powerful: the ability to show lawmakers in Brussels the faces building Europe’s digital future.
Over the following days, those conversations moved into the institutions shaping Europe’s digital future, starting with Briefing Day. Briefing Day is where everything clicks into place. For ACT, it’s a valuable moment to hear directly from a wide range of members at once, pressure-testing how frameworks like the AI Act and Digital Markets Act (DMA) are playing out in day-to-day operations. For members, it’s a working session to dive into the details with us, shaping narratives, refining real-world examples, and building the stories that they will carry into their meetings with policymakers.
After a full day of policy briefings and getting up to speed on the intricacies of EU regulation, our members attended a parliamentary reception, where every member had the chance to speak directly with MEP Marion Walsmann and other key stakeholders, showing what democratic engagement looks like in practice.
Days three and four – Advocacy
Our members hit the ground running on days three and four, meeting with regulators and policymakers over 43 total meetings at the European Commission, Council, and the European Parliament. Conversations spanned the policies shaping Europe’s digital economy, from the AI Act and DMA to the Digital Services Act (DSA), Cyber Resilience Act, 28th Regime, standard-essential patents, and access to capital. Across each discussion, founders spoke candidly about the realities of navigating complex regulatory frameworks and how even well-intentioned policies can put real pressure on small teams trying to grow in Europe.
Founder Alessandro Baticci of member company Viber Alert, reflected on his first GAEC: EU experience, saying that ‘Politics and policy are more tangible than you think. When people share the same challenges, a collective voice becomes louder, and with a little engagement, our voices are heard’. He and so many of our members described speaking with several MEPs about EU innovation, funding, startup policy, and the current simplification agenda, seeing firsthand that SME concerns do reach the people who represent them and can influence their work and votes.
We closed out the final night of GAEC: EU, reflecting on the week and already talking about when we’ll all be together again. Conversations naturally turned to what comes next, with ideas for future collaborations taking shape and a shared appreciation for how the friendships formed at GAEC continue to show up throughout the year.
