Europe runs on American technology — and there’s a growing determination from leaders across the continent to change this. Tensions with Washington have escalated following US President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, bringing renewed urgency to Europe’s push for tech sovereignty.
Relying on foreign technology “can be weaponised against us”, European Commission vice-president overseeing tech policy Henna Virkkunen recently warned. In January, the French government said its civil servants would stop using American-owned Zoom and Microsoft Teams, in favour of Viso, an internally developed alternative. Finland even war-gamed a scenario involving a US tech “kill switch” to help prepare for potential disruption.
Trump’s readiness to unsettle European allies has created openings for some, however. Start-ups positioning themselves as alternatives to US tech groups are emerging from the 180 European start-up hubs highlighted in this Financial Times report. Among them are ambitious groups specialising in complex technologies, or deep tech, such as the satellite launcher Isar Aerospace and fusion power start-ups, including Proxima Fusion and Marvel Fusion.
“There’s a new urgency to create serious deep tech start-ups in Europe,” says Stefan Drüssler, managing director of Munich-based hub UnternehmerTUM, in top place of the FT ranking for the third consecutive year. “We have real issues with our industries in Europe and we need a new generation to revive our economies.”
The statistics are stark: US companies dominate not only cloud computing, but also hardware, satellite internet and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. Europe’s white-collar workforce relies on tools from Microsoft, Zoom, Slack and Google. AI chatbot queries depend on Nvidia chips, while European space companies typically call Elon Musk’s SpaceX when they need to launch satellites.
Europe’s highly skilled scientists and engineers give it an edge that “other parts of the world don’t have”, argues Proxima Fusion co-founder Martin Kubie. France’s experience hosting ITER, the multinational fusion megaproject, has also helped build a pool of specialist manufacturers, he adds.
To identify Europe’s leading start-up hubs — centres that provide programmes to develop and grow companies — the FT co-operated with the research company Statista as well as Sifted, the FT-backed media start-up that covers European tech. The ranking is based on input from investors, entrepreneurs and academics, with alumni rating hubs on mentoring, infrastructure, legal support and funding opportunities.
This year’s list covers 25 countries across Europe. Overall, the UK was home to the most winners, with 29 of the hubs on the list, followed by Germany, with 27, and Spain, with 18. To qualify, hubs had to have been operating since at least 2021, maintain a physical location in Europe and run at least one incubation or acceleration programme.
UnternehmerTUM, which was founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Susanne Klatten and attached to the Technical University of Munich, draws on a broad network of scientists, entrepreneurs and investors to support companies from launch to exit.
The hub has incubated more than 1,000 companies, including Isar Aerospace, Proxima Fusion, Marvel Fusion and QuantumDiamonds, which is developing ultra-precise tools for inspecting and testing advanced semiconductor chips. They all raised large funding rounds in 2025.
Drüssler argues that the companies crucial for Europe’s long-term tech independence will spring from technical universities, which are geared towards key disciplines such as engineering and mathematics. Matthias Notz, chief executive of second-ranked hub Start2 Group, agrees.
“Deep tech is Europe’s future; I’m not sure we can win the AI race. But if you combine deep tech with tech sovereignty, that’s the path forward,” Notz says.
Start2 Group, also headquartered in Munich, maintains a strong international presence across 18 countries with offshoots in the US and Asia — an expansion strategy partly shaped by geopolitical shifts during the first Trump administration.
Third place in the ranking went to Nuremberg-based BayStartUP, which incubated unicorns EGYM — a provider of digital equipment for fitness studios — and Celonis, a German-American data processing company.
Fourth was Paris-based Station F, which claims to be the world’s biggest start-up campus and hosts 1,000 start-ups, about 80 per cent focused on AI, says director Roxanne Varza.
Station F recently launched F/ai, an AI accelerator including US heavyweights OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft alongside European AI companies Mistral and Lovable. These partners will provide mentorship and networking opportunities to a cohort of 20 start-ups, says Varza.
“You have to think about the risks of country dependency, just like you do platform dependency,” she adds. The solution, as she sees it, is to use tools from various providers.
“It’s good to hedge and diversify. But you don’t have to scrap American tech.”
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