‘As a country we can’t agree on what a start-up actually is’ – Malta Startup Space community leader

Startups were only mentioned three times in the Vision 2050 document, Simon Theuma, Community Lead of the Malta Startup Space (a free network of founders, investors and operators), has said.

Pointing to the Vision 2050 document, he said it is encouraging to see that the country was looking beyond a 5-year window of improvements, but lamented the lack of focus on this sector.

“What we basically have is an explicit mention that startups are separate from SMEs, that Gozo should serve as a startup hub for new industries like agri-tech and pretty much any software-based startup (what isn't knowledge-based nowadays?), and that we need more venture capitalists to look at startups. Great, makes sense.”

But he stressed that while other sections of the document go into detail for implementation, “going so far as to mention KPIs, the current baseline, and a 2035 target, there's no such mention of doing something similar for startups.”

“The problem we have is that, as a country, we don't know, or we can't agree on, what a startup actually is." He said that additional proof of this is that "we tend to apply SME-related metrics to startups in areas like funding, such as requesting a five-year cashflow statement, and asking for microscopic levels of detail in their business plans. In actual startups, you can barely predict the next month, let alone the next five years.”

He mentioned countries with established startup ecosystems, saying they have a conceptual foundation that they can build policy on, but added that Malta does not have that yet. The focus has been on giving grants and incentives to bigger startups to come to the country, he said. “This is a legitimate approach, but so far, it's mostly come at the expense of believing and investing in our local talent, which we have copious amounts of.”

Talking about solutions he stressed the need for a Startup Framework the Government was working on to be “ready to go." He also highlighted the need for a chapter that is devoted to nurturing the startup and innovation economy.

“Thirdly, we need to set the pre-conditions that will allow us to reach those goals. What targets are we going to set in education, in housing, and lifestyle, to help us attract, but most importantly, foster the founders of tomorrow?”

He said that one point in the document mentioning startups ties research, investment, and startups together, but it does not elaborate. He questioned how these research-to-startup pipelines will exist, how they will be held accountable? “As an ecosystem, and as a community, these are precisely the questions we should be asking. The world around us is changing at lightning speed, and the purposeful omission of the cutting edge from a twenty-five-year roadmap should be ringing alarm bells.”