A third of Belgian startups are considering leaving Europe, according to a study of cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services.
"Belgium risks losing the companies that could become the next generation of technology leaders," stated the study, which focuses on AI.
As for leaving Europe, AI startups argued that more venture capital is available elsewhere (56%), it is easier to scale up to an international company (50%), AI companies have better access to global markets (46%), and lower operational costs (44%).
The issue of investment capital, in particular, is a thorny topic at the European level: there have long been disagreements over the completion of the unified EU capital market, which would also benefit AI startups.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) has repeatedly called for action, but as of today, no solution within the EU has been agreed upon.
In the report, the companies considering leaving also offer suggestions on what Europe can do to persuade start-ups to stay.
Foremost, startups are calling for "clearer, more proportionate regulations that support innovation," while the study stressed the importance of "aligning rules with growth."
According to the research, this is also important for AI companies."Belgium is already excelling in establishing AI startups. The next step is creating the right preconditions to allow them to grow," the report concluded, corresponding to their commercial aims in the sector.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently expanded its infrastructure into Belgium by launching a localised AWS Sovereign Cloud Zone in Brussels.
A previous version of this story referred to AI start-ups, but Belga News Agency provided a correction saying the study was referring to all start-ups.
