(Telecompaper) The European Commission has announced two initiatives aimed at nurturing Europe's tech and digital startups into global internet companies and at the same time tackling the continent's unemployment problem. Telefonica and Orange are among the leading ICT companies, universities and financial institutions that have joined forces with the EC in setting up the projects: a new accelerator called the Startup Europe Partnership and a think tank called the European Digital Forum. The Startup Europe Partnership is an extension of the EC's Startup Europe initiative and will be led by the non-profit Mind the Bridge Foundation and Nesta, the UK's innovation foundation. The goal is to bring together the leading lights of Europe's entrepreneur and innovation industries, offering the opportunity for large corporations, startups and universities to connect and build networks. The European Digital Forum, meanwhile, is a digital economy think tank that will be led by The Lisbon Council in collaboration with Nesta. The idea behind the Forum is to give corporations, startups and other relevant players a voice in policy debates. Ultimately, it aims to become Europe's leading think tank and policy network on digital entrepreneurship.