We need to take an empirical, research-driven approach to safety. Matt Clifford Prime Minister’s Representative for the AI Safety Summit, Co- founder of Entrepreneur First Regulation often fails when policy makers try to predict the future. Much better to commit to building public sector capacity to properly understand the capabilities, opportunities and risks of fast develop- ing AI systems - as the UK has done with the AI Safety Institute. Meteoric rise of tech entrepreneurship As the AI wave initiates a new technology supercycle, it’s an important moment to re昀氀ect on what it will take for Europe to capture a meaningful share of this opportunity. Europe has experienced a remarkable surge in tech entrepreneurship over the last decade, resulting in the largest pool of tech startups ever seen in the region. More than 350 startups have grown to become breakout, billion-dollar companies. But this metric is inherently backwards-looking, and therefore not as useful. The forward-looking opportunity of the European tech ecosystem is best illustrated by the nearly 4,000 growth stage tech companies that have the potential to become the next generation of European breakout success stories. What’s more, this number itself is poised to double over the next 昀椀ve years, thanks to the breadth and depth of early stage startup activity across Europe and these companies’ expected progression through the startup lifecycle. Of course, the pool of startups at the early stages also keeps expanding. Today, Europe has 41,000 early stage startups, and in the next 昀椀ve years alone, this pool will be expanded by the emergence of at least 25,000 tech startups that are anticipated to start their journey. 55 | Executive summary