28DIGITAL is Europe’s digital innovation engine, a multi-stakeholder platform, rooted in European values and open to the world, we turn knowledge into innovation, scale startups into global ventures, and build the next generation of digital talent to shape a fair, competitive, and human-centric digital future.
Investing in strategic areas for Europe
28DIGITAL invests in strategic areas to accelerate the market uptake and scaling of research-based digital technologies (deep tech) focusing on Europe’s key societal challenges: Digital Tech, Digital Cities, Digital Industry, Digital Wellbeing, and Digital Finance.
Since its launch, 28DIGITAL has equipped more than 3,500 students with the skills to innovate and become entrepreneurs; 28DIGITAL has supported more than 780 start-ups and scaleups to grow internationally, created more than 250 ventures and launched more than 540 products and services commercially.
28DIGITAL matured against the background of a fast-accelerating digital world and a growing focus on entrepreneurship in Europe. Complementing the strong European research base, this entrepreneurial mindset will strengthen Europe’s position in a digital world driven by data, platforms, and the network economy. Creating a Strong Digital Europe will safeguard European values by being inclusive, fair, and sustainable.
Why 28DIGITAL as name
Our name reflects a new European ambition, the “28th regime”: a borderless, European framework where digital innovation, talent and entrepreneurship can thrive across the Single Market. 28DIGITAL is aligned with the European Commission’s priorities for competitiveness, sovereignty, and sustainability. We reflect the urgency highlighted in the Draghi Competitiveness Report and Letta’s Single Market Report : Europe must invest in talent, innovation, and scale-ups to remain a global leader; we also recognise the call from the Union of Skills to invest in future-oriented education, lifelong upskilling, and mobility as a precondition for competitiveness. We see our transition as a true European spin-off: independent yet faithful to our mission, working in close alignment with the European Commission.
28 is also a perfect number—equal to the sum of its divisors (1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28)—a concept rooted in number theory, the foundation of cryptography, quantum algorithms, and even supercomputing benchmarks. Just as 28 embodies harmony and balance, these technologies reflect the convergence of trust, transparency, and security: an ecosystem where every part contributes to the strength of the whole.
