We explore regional disparities in the European Union (EU), focusing on the role of founder mobility in fostering high-technology entrepreneurship in healthcare. Despite the EU's economic convergence, regional disparities persist, influencing patterns of migration and resource allocation. We examine such patterns for founders participating in the EU’s EIT Heath Accelerator, which aims to stimulate healthcare innovation and financing. We track founders’ movement and their post-participation funding outcomes. Our findings reveal stark regional disparities between EU regions with differences in resources, employment rates, and institutional presence driving founder movement. Local founders tend to remain dominant, highlighting regional self-reliance. We further find that both locally and non-locally educated founders in the EU achieve comparable funding outcomes and benefit from having local work experience. This contradicts the conventional wisdom that local founders are disadvantaged by targeted policy initiatives and crowded out by non-local founders. We also uncover structural barriers for globally-trained entrepreneurs, as founders educated outside the EU are less likely to secure venture capital. Overall, our research highlights the nuanced effects of regional disparities and founder imprinting on venture success. We offer insights for scholars, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, emphasizing the need to balance talent attraction with structural inclusivity to enhance regional development.
