ESNA and Inlecom Announce Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Europe’s Startup Ecosystem

The Europe Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA) announced a strategic partnership with ICP CLG, based in Ireland. This division of the European wide Inlecom Group will collaborate with ESNA to foster innovation and research essential to promote the European startup ecosystem.

Lisbon, 22 January 2026 – The collaboration with ICP CLG will complement ESNA’s insights, gathered from its members and partners, with expertise in research commercialisation, IP strategy and technology transfer. This partnership reflects a shared ambition to thrive Europe’s digital innovation and entrepreneurship through a well aligned collaboration.

Through this partnership, ESNA aims to foster:

• ICP CLG contribution to selective publications and analytical work.

• The integration of ICP CLG expertise into ESNA’s work, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration for ESNA’s members and wider European startup ecosystem.

• Joint strategic events and working formats to support Europe’s startup ecosystem.

On the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, Linda Capusa, ESNA’s Operations Director stated: “This partnership represents an important step forward in ESNA’s efforts to foster innovation. By combining our strengths with ICP CLG, we aim to leverage their expertise in innovation support and ecosystem developments to better support Member States in creating startup-friendly frameworks that turn research excellence into scalable companies.”

Pat O’Sullivan, Director of Innovation & CTO at ICP CLG added: “We are excited to partner with ESNA at this important moment for the startup’s ecosystem in Europe. This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to support innovation with commercial insight in key sectors of European research."