Project summary
The Challenge
In 2021 Europe witnessed the birth of 85 Unicorns: start-up companies valued at US$1 billion or more.
In its 2022 report "In search of EU unicorns", the JRC describes a continuous exodus of unicorns, with over 40 companies — among which ones such as Just Eat, Skype, Transferwise and UiPath — being born in European grounds but creating thousands of jobs and billions in investment in relocated headquarters outside of Europe.
UnicornQuest's 9 project regions are observing this exodus, and want to offer differentiation measures to fight against large Unicorn Forests (Hubs) in European capitals and the US.
Project Goal
UnicornQuest's Partner Regions will differentiate themselves by creating Small Valleys, testing grounds for to-be-unicorns which offer experiment fields alongside local communities.
These Small Valleys will attract and Unicorns through Unicorn Forests differentiated by their growth under EU principles and values, such as respect of human rights, freedom, democracy, and equality.
Project Objectives
- Co-design the partner regions' Unicorn Forests alongside regional policy instruments by creating policies and tools to attract to-be-unicorns
- Attract to-be-unicorns working on green innovation and technologies through the application of human-centred design and ethical standards to businesses, under EU principles and values.
- Improve 9 regional policy instruments within 36 months.
Key Activities
- Narrow down improvement areas and good practices to discuss with stakeholders, through Forest Assessments — studies on the status of each partner regions.
- Present case studies on defined Good Practices and successful and scalable start-ups through the Harvard Case Method, to facilitate discussion within regional stakeholder groups.
- Share experiences and exchange good practices through interregional learning events, in order to reach a final policy improvement proposal.
- Deliver a final report, alongside an implementation roadmap for the final policy improvement proposal.
- Create Small Valleys to offer experiment fields for companies
ICT Hub Role
ICT Hub is involved in the "Unicorn Quest" project as a discovery partner with the aim of becoming familiar with the process of interregional exchange of experiences within Interreg Europe.
Through our role, ICT Hub is involved in the following activities:
- Identify good practices for SME support, investment attraction, entrepreneurial promotion, and Unicorn retention.
- Identifying local, regional, or national unicorns, companies on the road to unicorn status, or otherwise highly scalable enterprises.
- Participating in meetings and learning events, namely Case Study presentations, good practice discussions, and learning meetings between partners.
ICT Hub has attended the event On May 14 and 15, 2025 at Latvia, organized by Zemgale Planning Region, which hosted the fifth UnicornQuest Interregional Learning Event as part of the project's international knowledge exchange activities. The event focused on sharing best practices in regional innovation policy, start-up ecosystems, and smart development strategies.
Partners:
Alentejo Science and Technology Park (Portugal)
Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency (Slovakia)
Western Development Commission (Ireland)
Innovation & Management Centre Limited (Ireland)
North-West Regional Development Agency (Romania)
Business Development Friesland Foundation (The Netherlands)
Liguria Region (Italy)
Zemgale Planning Region (Latvia)
Pannon Business Network Association (Hungary)
Hauts-de-France Regional Council (France)
EuraTechnologies (France)
Foundation for Management and Industrial Research (North Macedonia)
