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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

For a more innovative and competitive Europe, we need builders and beneficiaries of AI technology, including everyone who is tired of the ever increasing demands of the copyright lobby, to turn up.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

The last substantial copyright-and-AI document to come out of Brussels was a Parliament committee report, and it read the way documents read when only one side turns up.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Now it's a numbers game, and that matters because of the inherent asymmetry. Collecting societies and rights-holder lobbyists have large policy teams whose job is to answer this; a fifteen-person European studio training a model on licensed material does not.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

The Commission invites participation from all interested stakeholders including rightsholders and collecting societies to "generative AI providers and other relevant actors in the AI value chain", and on to research organisations, consumer organisations and national authorities.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Four subjects are named. "The use of copyright-protected content in artificial intelligence". "The fight against online piracy of content like live events". "The application of the single equitable remuneration right of music". "Copyright of scientific research".

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱. 🎼 🇪🇺 On 29 September the 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 opened a targeted consultation on what technology is doing to copyright. It runs until 3 November 2026.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

That equipment is heavy, it is ordered late, and a boat across an ocean adds months to a project that needs to switch on ASAP. So it gets built near the sites that need it — and in this case, that means an American company is building and creating jobs in Slovakia, Ireland, Italy and Croatia. 🔧🇪🇺

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

The European argument about AI infrastructure is almost always about who owns the compute. The build-out also has a bill of materials, and every megawatt of it needs switchgear, busway and a cooling loop standing in the building before a single accelerator is racked.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Vertiv is an American company, headquartered in Ohio and operating in more than 130 countries. The release names recent expansions at its plants in Ireland, Italy and Croatia as well.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

"Reducing time-to-token, the time required to move from infrastructure deployment to business value generated by AI workloads, is becoming a key priority for customers."

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Paul Ryan, President of Vertiv in EMEA, on why now: "As organizations accelerate AI adoption, speed of deployment has become a critical competitive advantage."

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

What comes off the line: "power, switchgear, and thermal management technologies, including advanced liquid cooling and power solutions designed for high-density AI and high-performance computing applications."

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

🔧 🇸🇰 On 28 September @Vertiv said it will add approximately 𝟮𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬 square metres of manufacturing capacity at its campus in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, near the Czech border, over 18 to 24 months, creating hundreds of jobs between 2027 and 2029.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲'𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗮.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

That is a market-depth question, and it is the one piece of the chain that no fund manager can fix from inside a fund. And it's precisely why Europe needs to focus on building the legal infrastructure that European entrepreneurs need, a single market for entrepreneurs, and a single capital market 🇪🇺

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

So the investing skill is not the constraint. Picking companies and building them is being done here at American rates. What is thinner is the last step — the sale, the listing, the secondary market that turns a good position into returned capital.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

On the first measure British funds match American ones and newer British funds beat them. On the second, British and wider European funds sit well behind.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Those two multiples measure different things, and the gap between them is the whole story. TVPI is what a portfolio is worth on paper. DPI is cash that has actually gone back to the people who put it in.

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

The report is equally plain about the finding that cuts the other way: "When focusing on realised returns, the UK's pooled distributions to paid-in capital (DPI) multiple of 𝟬.𝟲𝟮 was below the US (0.83) but in line with the rest of Europe (0.65)."

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Newer funds are further ahead: "UK VC funds with 2020-2024 vintages generated a pooled TVPI multiple of 1.40, compared to 1.24 for US funds and 1.27 for funds in the rest of Europe."

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

Its central finding, in the report's own words: "On an overall basis UK VC funds with 2002-2021 vintages generated a pooled total value to paid-in capital (TVPI) multiple of 𝟭.𝟳𝟴, in line with the US (1.78) and ahead of the rest of Europe (1.67)."

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DG Progress @dgprogress.eu · 02/10/2026

𝗨𝗞 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝟭.𝟳𝟴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱-𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟮. 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀. 📈 🇬🇧 On 29 September the 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 published "UK Venture Capital Financial Returns 2026".