‘Europtimism’ clashes with 1 in 3 founders wanting out. We need the EU to finally become a true single market

As winter draws in, Europeans could be forgiven for feeling the summer glow fade as headlines warn of yet higher energy bills and renewed inflation. Yet Europe’s founders and investors see good reason to be optimistic – as long as EU leaders take further action, fast. New data from Norrsken’s European Impact Index 2026 (EII) finds that founders and funders are doubling down on building the clean electro-economy Europe needs to break its dependence on fossil fuels, and their confidence in Europe’s ability to deliver is growing. The EII is an annual survey of 750 entrepreneurs and investors behind the companies working to solve Europe’s hardest…