Have your say: How can the EU help make European startups more competitive?

Next week, the European Commission is holding a two-day event called the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly. Designed to help shape Europe’s strategy for a flourishing digital economy by 2020, stakeholders from across the continent will be descending on Belgium to discuss a wide range of issues.

I’ve been invited along to attend two sessions in particular – one on plans to provide EU funding to help drive a new generation of Web apps and services based on open standards, and one on how the EU can best support Internet entrepreneurs and organisations.

Now, it’s all very well me going along with my own thoughts, but I’d like to bring a broader set of ideas along – those of The Next Web’s readers. So, I’ve got two questions. I’ll cover one tomorrow, but for today:

• What should the European Union do to make Europe’s digital economy more competitive? Startups in Europe are often seen as inferior to their US counterparts and funding is a big part of this. What should the EU be doing right now to help startups across the continent maximise their potential?

I’d love to turn up with a huge batch of ideas that I can pass on from our smart and savvy readers at The Next Web – so leave a comment with your ideas below or feel free to email me directly with any thoughts you might want to pass on in private.

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UPDATE, 10 June 2011: Thanks for all the comments – the European Commission have taken them on board, so thanks for your help. I’ll report back once the event is over. Incidentally, it’s good to see that TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters will be there too. It’s great to see the Commission involving a wide range of stakeholders and voices in the process and I look forward to seeing what emerges from the event.