The S9+ Declaration 2026, launched in June in Luxembourg, is a political appeal by the coalition of startup organizations in Europe. This alliance includes organizations from Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Sweden, Ireland and Slovenia, all members of Allied for Startups (EU). The document addresses the D9+ Presidency, held in 2026 by Luxembourg, and demands a paradigm shift from a Europe that regulates defensively to one that builds global companies. The central message is clear-cut: "Startups are the strategy" of Europe, and digital sovereignty does not mean isolation, but rather the capacity to create, finance and scale globally competitive technologies from within the European market. The declaration stems from a harsh observation. Europe has talent, research, values and a large market, but it remains blocked by fragmentation, cumulative regulation, a lack of growth capital and slow implementation. S9+ argues that the "Brussels effect", or the power of Europe to impose global standards through regulation, is no longer sufficient. In its place, it proposes the "Europe effect", one that exports the values through strong companies, proprietary technologies and startup ecosystems capable of competing on a global scale. What S9+ actually proposes The first stake is a real European Single Market. For startups, the EU market often remains a sum of national markets, with different interpretations of the same rules, divergent procedures and legal costs that function as a "scaling tax". S9+ calls for an optional European regime, dubbed the "28th regime" or "EU Inc.", featuring fully digital registration, harmonized and attractive frameworks for employee equity and a uniform, user-friendly dispute resolution system. The declaration also demands the implementation of the "Once-Only" principle and the consolidation of real mutual recognition within the Single Market, so that a company does not have to repeat the same procedures in every member state. The second direction is a digital regulation diet. The declaration does not call for an absence of rules, but for clearer, more proportional and more predictable rules. S9+ requests an assessment of the cumulative administrative burden generated by European digital legislation and a uniform enforcement before introducing new laws. Concretely, the declaration demands the suspension of the Digital Fairness Act (DFA) until a "Digital Fitness Check" is finalized. This would not imply a generic suspension of legislation, but one targeted at this horizontal initiative. The third stake is the proportional implementation of the AI Act and digital legislation. For AI startups, problems often stem from the uncertainty produced by overlaps, national gold-plating and authorities that interpret the same obligations differently. S9+ demands predictability, access to public data, competitive cloud and compute infrastructure, interoperability and the avoidance of restrictive measures such as forced data localization. The fourth direction is growth capital. The declaration highlights that Europe creates startups but loses the scaling race. The data are illustrative: Europe's share in the global value of tech companies fell from 30% in 2000 to 7% in 2025, according to McKinsey. The investment gap compared to the US has reached a nearly tenfold difference. In the first quarter of 2026, American startups attracted 267.2 billion dollars (an average of ~40 million per deal), compared to just 25.7 billion for European ones (an average of ~13 million per deal). Individual rounds such as OpenAI (122 billion) or Anthropic (30 billion) alone exceed the total annual investment in European startups. S9+ calls for the acceleration of the Savings and Investments Union, a pan-European IPO market, the elimination of barriers for pension and insurance fund investments in VC, the harmonization of the tax treatment of performance fees (carried interest) as well as secondary markets for pre-IPO share liquidity. The fifth stake is the normalization of risk. VC-backed startups can be unprofitable for years due to massive investments in research, product and market. S9+ demands that these companies should not be automatically treated as "undertakings in difficulty" simply because they follow an accelerated growth model. Moreover, entrepreneurial failure should not be penalized when companies apply for public funding, including from national promotional banks or European institutions. Also within the capital section, the declaration addresses M&As as an ecosystem health mechanism. S9+ demands that the new Merger Guidelines recognize acquisitions as a positive sign of an ecosystem's maturation, not as a presumption of anti-competitive behavior, marking an important shift in perspective from the current approach. Finally, the declaration adds two structural conditions: talent and sector neutrality. S9+ demands a European startup visa and more harmonized mobility procedures for founders, employees and their families. At the same time, the "Europe Effect" must not be limited to digital and AI, but applied equally to clean energy, life sciences and advanced manufacturing, fields in which Europe holds real comparative advantages. Why it matters for Romania’s North-West region For the North-West region, the S9+ Declaration is an invitation to view regional development through a more ambitious lens. It goes beyond the evaluation of how many startups appear, how many events are organized or how many projects are funded, rather focusing on how many companies can transition from idea to market, from a local market to a European one and from one-off growth to real scaling. North-West Romania already possesses several important ingredients: universities, dynamic urban centers, industry, entrepreneurial communities, public and private initiatives, innovation projects and an increasingly clear positioning on smart specialization. INNO views the region as a space where development is linked to innovation, investment, collaboration and competitiveness, and its role is to connect academia, business, administration and support organizations. Here lies the real relevance of S9+. The declaration speaks about precisely those barriers that, at the regional level, are felt the most. An innovative company from Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Baia Mare, Bistrița, Satu Mare or Zalău doesn’t only compete with Romanian firms. If the product is technological, scalable and ambitious, the competition is European or global from the very first stages. For this, it needs faster access to markets, clear rules, capital, talent, testing partners and visibility. From local ecosystem to scaling ecosystem Many European regions have learned to support entrepreneurship. The next step is more difficult: supporting scaling. This means moving from the logic of "helping startups start" to "helping innovative companies grow across borders". For Romania’s North-West, this shift is important for multiple reasons. The first relates to value retention in the region. If ideas, talent and research are born here, but companies relocate when they need financing, large clients or growth infrastructure, the region loses a significant part of the value it creates. S9+ draws attention to this risk. Europe produces promising companies but often loses them during the growth stage. Consequently, the productivity gap compared to the US reached 38% in 2024 and continues to widen. The second reason is connecting research to the market. The region has universities, institutes, hospitals, industrial companies and local administrations that can become testing and validation partners for new solutions. However, this connection does not happen automatically. It requires intermediation, trust, simple processes and pilot projects. S9+ explicitly mentions incubators, accelerators and testbeds as part of the necessary infrastructure for scaling. The third reason is capital. Without appropriate investments, companies remain small, grow slowly or choose markets where capital is more accessible. For the region, this means that the discussion about investments must not be reduced to grants. Grants are important, but scaling also demands private capital, investors, co-investment mechanisms, investment readiness and a better risk culture. The fourth reason is early internationalization. For innovative companies, the local market is rarely sufficient. If the product has European potential, the market strategy must be thought out early. This implies clients from other states, commercial partners, certifications, legal adaptation, distribution channels and participation in European networks. What this means companies in North-West Romania For startups and innovative SMEs, the message of S9+ can be translated very simply: Europe wants to reduce friction, but companies must be prepared to play on a European scale. This means better-validated products, clearer business models, solid documentation, teams prepared for international sales, a financing strategy and compliance capacity without blocking innovation. A company in the region developing AI solutions, healthtech, greentech, manufacturing tech or industrial digitalization should ask itself from the very beginning: where can it test, who can be the first client, what regulations affect it, which European market is suitable and what type of capital is necessary for the next step? What it means for the administration and public authorities For local and regional administrations, the S9+ Declaration brings an important message: Competitiveness is built not only through physical infrastructure, but also through innovation infrastructure. A startup-friendly region is not one without rules. It is one where rules are clear, processes are predictable, public data can be used responsibly, public procurement does not automatically exclude young companies and institutions are open to pilot projects. In this sense, testbeds can become a very valuable regional tool. Cities, hospitals, universities, industrial parks and public institutions can offer real contexts in which innovative solutions are tested before reaching larger markets. This reduces risk for companies, increases client trust and produces useful solutions for the community. What it means for universities and research For academia, S9+ confirms an increasingly important direction, one where research must have more paths to the market. Not every research result needs to be transformed into a company, but more results can be commercially validated, licensed, transferred or developed through spinouts. For the North-West region, this is essential. We need more bridges between laboratories, companies, investors and administration. Here, the role of intermediation actors, including that of INNO, becomes important. INNO functions as a collaboration hub and a point of contact between academia, business, administration and organizations relevant to regional development. What it means for parks, clusters and regional infrastructures The S9+ Declaration emphasizes scaling infrastructure. In the region, this infrastructure can include science and technology parks, clusters, accelerators, investor networks, university centers, innovation hubs and testing spaces. Initiatives such as SPark (The North-West Smart Park Regional Alliance) are relevant in this context because they aim to connect regional actors around innovation, investment and economic development. Following the S9+ logic, such initiatives can transcend the status of mere collaboration platforms, becoming mechanisms through which the region prepares its companies for the European market. Where the region can win For Romania’s North-West, the opportunity is not to copy larger ecosystems, but to leverage its own advantages. The region can build around fields where it already possesses skills, companies, research and investment interest. The list includes health and life science fields, green technologies, digitalization, industry, advanced manufacturing, technological services, smart cities and solutions for the green transition. S9+ insists that the "Europe Effect" doesn’t only involve the digital and AI sectors, and this marks an important point for regions like North-West Romania. Here, innovation appears not just in software, but also in industry, energy, health, mobility, agriculture, administration and public services. What’s next For the S9+ Declaration to be locally relevant, it must be translated into practical steps. The region needs a clearer map of companies with scaling potential, preparation programs for internationalization, connection mechanisms with investors, more public-private pilot projects and a more structured collaboration between universities, administrations and the private sector. INNO can play a facilitator role here, bringing actors to the same table, translating the European agenda into useful tools for companies and connecting the region to relevant European opportunities. The stake extends beyond a single organization, being, ultimately, about the capacity of the entire regional ecosystem to work in a more coordinated manner. Conclusion The S9+ Declaration 2026 is relevant for North-West Romania because it speaks to a problem that the region is already feeling: the transition from potential to scaling. We have ideas, talent, research, companies and initiatives. The next stage is to build more bridges between them and to prepare innovative companies for larger markets. Europe is looking for a new model of competitiveness, and the regions that manage to rapidly connect research, entrepreneurship, capital and administration will have a real advantage. For the North-West, S9+ is a strong and useful signal, confirming that regional innovation truly matters when it produces growing companies, applicable solutions and enduring regional value.