Dal 2009 il Programma EYE ha facilitato oltre 15.000 scambi imprenditoriali: firma la petizione
Unioncamere del Veneto, insieme a Materahub e Microfinanza Srl, promuove una Lettera Aperta alle istituzioni europee per difendere l’indipendenza e l’impatto del programma Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) nel bilancio UE post 2027.
Dal 2009, EYE ha facilitato oltre 15.000 scambi imprenditoriali, portando le startup partecipanti a un tasso di sopravvivenza record dell’87%. Non si tratta solo di un programma di mobilità, ma di un vero e proprio motore di inclusione e di crescita per la competitività europea, che unisce nuovi talenti e imprenditori esperti.
Con questa lettera chiediamo all’UE di garantire nel prossimo bilancio un riconoscimento esplicito e strutturale di EYE, tutelandone l’indipendenza operativa e il mantenimento delle sue regole specifiche.
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Joint Letter of Support: Preserving the Independence and Impact of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) in the Post-2027 MFF
We are writing to express our strong support for the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) programme.
This open letter has been initiated and promoted by three experienced Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Intermediary Organisations: Materahub, coordinator of the MOBILITAS NEXT consortium; Unioncamere del Veneto, leading the GYMNASIUM and GLOBAL consortia; and Microfinanza Srl, lead partner of the ENS-TRAIN-NET 3 consortium.
To The European Commission, Members of the European Parliament, and Representatives of EU Member States
We, the undersigned organisations representing Europe’s business ecosystems, innovation hubs, networks, and startup communities, including Intermediary Organisations currently implementing the programme on the field, are writing to express our strong support for the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) programme. As the European Union designs the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and structures the proposed European Competitiveness Fund, we call on EU policymakers to ensure that EYE is explicitly recognised, robustly funded, and protected as a standalone, independent action.
To build an economy that is resilient, innovative, and globally competitive, Europe must protect the targeted mechanisms that turn citizens into successful business leaders, and ensure that this opportunity is genuinely inclusive and open to all, including for individuals distant from networks, entrepreneurial and financial education, and with limited access to finance.
1. More than Fifteen Years of High-Impact Success: EYE by the Numbers
Launched in 2009, the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme has spent over 15 years acting as a foundational pillar for cross-border collaboration and SME growth. Its tracking metrics demonstrate an efficient and highly scalable model:
- Scale of Connection: Over 37,000 entrepreneurs have been accepted into the scheme, facilitating more than 15,000 cross-border business exchanges across 43 countries.
- Defying the Failure Rate: Long-term data shows that 87% of startups founded by EYE alumni are still in business today. This radically outperforms the standard European benchmark, where the average survival rate of startups after three years sits at a fragile 57%.
- Market Expansion: The programme acts as an organic engine for the single market, with 64% of participating New Entrepreneurs expanding directly into international markets and 65% of Host Entrepreneurs extending their operations across borders.
- Continuous Adaptation: Starting as a pilot and operating continuously since 2009, the programme has consistently adapted its rules, tools, approaches and geographical reach in response to new economic and geopolitical realities. This includes the launch of the EYE Global action, which extended entrepreneurial exchanges to selected destinations outside Europe, including the United States, Singapore and Canada; the introduction of a dedicated action for Ukrainian New Entrepreneurs following Russia’s invasion; and increases in the level of financial support provided to participants. This proven capacity to innovate demonstrates that EYE is not a static scheme, but a living instrument able to evolve alongside Europe’s and the European Commission’s priorities.
2. A Double-Sided Value Engine for European Entrepreneurs
Unlike generic grant funding, EYE’s unique mentor-mentee framework provides equal value to both early-stage and established businesses, driving growth on both sides of the equation:
- For New Entrepreneurs: The programme acts as a real-world incubator. It bridges the gap between academic theory or initial ideas and commercial execution. Participants gain vital, on-the-ground management skills, an understanding of foreign regulatory landscapes, and an instant international network. For many aspiring entrepreneurs and early stage professionals, it can be the very first “structured step” of their entrepreneurial journey, accessible even to those with no capital, no track record, nor pre-existing network.
- For Host Entrepreneurs: Experienced European small-and-medium business owners gain access to fresh, highly motivated talent, cutting-edge skills, and innovative perspectives. Over 90% of host business owners report that the influx of New Entrepreneurs significantly contributed to their business operations, helping them co-develop new products, services, or digital strategies.
- Inclusive Innovation and social and financial inclusion: EYE has also proven to be a vital pathway for diversity in business, with female founders making up 52% of the accepted New Entrepreneurs, actively correcting historical gaps in funding and representation. Beyond gender balance, EYE is one of the few EU tools and programmes that can open a concrete and effective entrepreneurial pathway to people from vulnerable groups and under-represented categories: NEETs (young people not in employment, education or training), people with fewer opportunities, youth with migrant background, youth from rural, marginalised, and internal areas, and people at risk of social or economic exclusion. Matching them with an experienced mentor abroad, the programme can convert entrepreneurial aspiration and objectives, into a realistic professional option, fostering social and financial inclusion, and strengthening cohesion across the EU and all its territories.
3. A tool to improve Investment Readiness of youth
The programme is not a mere “mobility scheme”: it is an effective capacity-building pipeline that prepares Europe’s next generation of founders and professionals to approach and access finance and markets:
- Through the application and exchange phases, aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and professionals can gather a real support in reinforcing their expertise, exchange good practices, and are guided by a host who has already navigated the realities of running a business. This hands-on experience raises their level of financial literacy and entrepreneurial education, helping them structure viable business models, understand funding instruments, and become credible candidates for investors, banks, and EU funding schemes.
- It is important also to mention the role of local Intermediary Organisations, which “translate” a simple match and exchange into a real, coherent, and comprehensive learning journey: IOs enroll, select and prepare participants, build and manage the mentor-mentee relationship, monitor the exchange, and provide after-care services that consolidate the skills acquired and connect alumni to follow-up support, funding opportunities, and local ecosystems. The financial and entrepreneurial “education” and support process, from the relationship building, ongoing management, and after care, is a core asset of the programme and must be preserved and adequately resourced.
4. Our Call to Action: Autonomy Inside the European Competitiveness Fund
As the EU repositions its budget to focus squarely on industrial competitiveness and autonomy, it is logical to place entrepreneurship at the core of the new European Competitiveness Fund. However, integrating programmes must not result in dissolving them.
The success of EYE relies entirely on its distinct identity, its tailored support architecture, and its specialised network of local Intermediary Organisations. Diluting EYE into a massive, generalised funding instrument would break the direct link between mentor and mentee that makes it effective, and would dismantle the local support infrastructure that makes the programme accessible to youth, professionals, entrepreneurs, and micro-SMEs (especially those from vulnerable categories or entities with a social purpose).
Therefore, we urge EU policymakers to secure the following in the next MFF:
- Explicit Ring-Fenced Visibility: Ensure Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is explicitly named and structurally ring-fenced within the European Competitiveness Fund.
- Operational Independence: Maintain EYE as a standalone programme with its own unique rules, application pathways, and targeted focus on cross-border micro-mobility, preserving and adequately funding the role of Intermediary Organisations in beneficiaries’ preparation, relationship building, management, and after care services.
- A Recognised Mission of Entrepreneurial Education: formally recognise EYE’s contribution to social and financial inclusion and to entrepreneurial and financial-literacy education, with dedicated outreach to women, migrants, NEETs, people with fewer opportunities, youth from rural, marginalised, and internal areas, and people at risk of exclusion.
- An Ambitious Budgetary Scale Up: Increase the budget dedicated to EYE to meet the surging demand from young innovators who will spearhead Europe’s twin green and digital transitions, widening access for aspiring entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and territories.
Europe’s competitiveness cannot be built top-down alone. It relies on the cross-border bravery of its grassroots entrepreneurs, including those who start furthest from opportunity. We stand ready to collaborate to keep this essential launchpad independent, strong, inclusive, and future-proof.
Signed,
Unioncamere del Veneto
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