Commissioner Oettinger at the Book Fair of Frankfurt to highlight the role of startups in the publishing industry among a week of startup events

Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther H. Oettinger was this morning at the Frankfurt Book Fair to discuss the Commission’s recent proposals to modernise copyright and to open the final of the startup accelerator CONTENTshift, a three-month funding programme designed to boost startups active in the publishing industry. Commissioner Oettinger said: “These innovative startups show once again that Europe has a very strong and high-quality content industry with an exceptional creative potential. Several of our recent and upcoming initiatives ensure this sector and its startups make the most of digital opportunities.” The final of CONTENTshift represents one of the many events dedicated to startups this week, in the EU and beyond. For example, as part the Startup Europe comes to Universities initiative taking place this week, entrepreneurs and representatives of local governments are sharing their experience with students in 35 universities across 15 EU countries as well as Albania and Israel. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip welcomed this new initiative on his blog: “Universities are in a unique position to instil and promote a sense of entrepreneurship in students before they graduate. This will allow them to pool expertise and experience, linking up with local government, industry and business as well as with other startup networks.” The Commission will soon present its initiative to support startups and scaleups as part of its Single Market Strategyand it will also propose to adapt EU VAT rules so that they fit better for small e-commerce businesses.