This report presents the main takeaways from the Annual Conference of the Florence School of Banking and Finance, co-organised with the Bank of Italy on 10–11 March 2025. Discussions focused on the development of Europe’s innovation and venture capital (VC) industry as a driver of economic growth. While Europe’s innovation ecosystem has expanded significantly over the past two decades, it still significantly trails the United States in scale. The discussion thus encompassed the role of governmental programmes, which remain crucial in Europe but must be carefully designed to be effective. It also highlighted that unlocking even a small share of institutional capital from pension funds and insurers could dramatically increase market liquidity, provided regulatory barriers are eased rather than mandates imposed. Participants also pointed out that financial fragmentation is deepened by differences in the legal system across European jurisdictions and discussed the role that initiatives such as a 28th regime can have in overcoming this important barrier. In this context, contributions also identified areas where policy research can have the most impact, namely evaluating the cost of inaction on capital market integration, assessing effective innovation policies, and exploring legal harmonisation strategies.