MCC Centre for Next Technological FuturesStudies on Innovation, Technologies and Regions, Volume 2“In our time, venture-backed startups are generating radically new technological and business ideas; they are the ones who are discovering the future. And as with any discovery process based on trial and error, the vast majority of startups fail within a relatively short period of time. But those who survive and push the boundaries of the unknown unknowns usually do so because they possess a special kind of knowledge that their competitors lack. Therefore, the four papers of this new volume of Studies on Innovation, Technologies and Regions from the MCC Centre for Next Technological Futures not only summarise its research activities in the academic years 2024 and 2025, but they also provide analyses of the relationship between startups and knowledge in European cities from di??ferent perspectives and on various topics. Be it the successful startups that use artifi cial intelligence, the startups that not only survived the period from 2021 to 2024 but were actually able to grow, the countries that apply clean and green energy solutions, or the European cities that can rely on universities, which are a breeding ground for startup founders—they all demonstrate the increasing importance of knowledge. This is why this volume is titled Startups and Knowledge.”CONTRIBUTORS: Zolta´n Cse´falvay, Szabolcs Dudás, Zalán Horlik, Dávid T. Nagy, György Papp