The world's most successful companies, particularly in the technology sector, are often based in the United States. In recent years, as Europe's economy has struggled, stock market growth has essentially been driven by just seven well-known American companies. Europe needs to do more.

"We have more graduates with scientific backgrounds than the United States. We have more developers than the United States. We even have a similar number of early-stage startups. We just have less funding for them," said Thijs Povel, founder of the startup Dealflow.eu.

Experts in the startup sector say that success requires more small companies to emerge in Europe – ones capable of shaking up entire markets.

"If Europe really wants to be more competitive, we need more innovation. It must have a broader impact on the entire economy," said Arthur Jordao, head of EU-Startups.

In the absence of new competition, Europe has fallen behind in areas such as digital technology.

"We've completely fallen behind in that regard, because our large companies couldn't keep up and we didn't have enough new companies to challenge them," said Reinhilde Veugelers, a researcher at the Bruegel think tank.

One of the major obstacles is often European bureaucracy, which limits access to funding for new businesses.

"We're talking about roughly €9 trillion managed by pension and insurance funds. Of that, around 0.01 percent goes to the venture capital sector," Povel noted.

Another concern is Europe's fragmentation.

"We can't meet the massive funding needs just in Sweden – we're too small for that. Europe needs much more vibrant financial markets like those in the United States. We essentially have all the pieces of the puzzle, but we just haven't put them together properly," said Anne Lidgard, head of Sweden's innovation agency Vinnova.

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