TI CEO Podcast · episode 29
Why Europe needs to become bolder with technology
1-minute summary
In this episode of his CEO diary, Christoph Standl talks about why Europe needs to become bolder with technology. He is at home in Kufstein, on the border between Germany and Austria, and still often looks to the US – not because everything is better there, but because of an attitude: big ideas are not dismissed just because they seem unrealistic today. In Silicon Valley, companies are founded with extremely ambitious visions; many fail, but some change entire industries. Right now, in the middle of a technological upheaval of artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous driving, energy and cloud, the decisive question is: how much of this is created in Europe? The answer, he says, is not to copy Silicon Valley. Europe has strengths of its own – excellent engineers, strong mid-sized companies, industry, tourism, research. These strengths need to be combined with technological courage, entrepreneurial speed and capital, because innovation costs money, and sometimes you have to invest before success is fully visible. Those who only invest where success seems certain finance the past instead of the future. At Tourismus Interaktiv he therefore wants to combine two things: the down-to-earth attitude of Tyrol and the courage to think big – technologically, entrepreneurially and financially. Big changes often begin with small daily steps.
Description
Europe has excellent companies, well-educated people, strong research and enormous technological know-how. Still, I believe that in some places we should dare to be more courageous again. The courage to try new technologies early. The courage to think companies bigger. And the courage to take capital in hand and invest in the future. In this episode I talk about what fascinates me about the culture of innovation and investment in the US, what strengths Europe has of its own, and why we should combine the two: down-to-earth thinking and big ambitions. Because innovation doesn't just need people with ideas. It also needs people who are willing to finance those ideas. If we only invest where success already seems completely certain, we often finance the past – and not the future.