EP 166 - Karl Nehammer: Why Europe Fails to Scale – And How the EIB Plans to Fix It

Europe leads the world in discovery — yet too often, its breakthroughs never become global companies.

Billions in research funding turn into patents, not products.

While others build empires from ideas, Europe risks becoming the world’s laboratory — brilliant, but broke.

That’s the paradox at the heart of this conversation.

In this episode, Karl Nehammer, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and former Chancellor of Austria, joins Christian Soschner live at BIO-Europe 2025 to discuss how Europe can turn its world-class science into world-class companies.

He shares how leadership forged in crisis can rebuild confidence, competitiveness, and growth — and why every crisis hides an opportunity to start thinking differently.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

1️⃣ Why Europe’s innovation system struggles to turn discovery into scale
2️⃣ How the EIB can bridge the gap between science, capital, and market impact
3️⃣ Lessons from leading through COVID-19, the energy crisis, and diplomatic challenges
4️⃣ Why changing culture and regulation is key to Europe’s competitiveness
5️⃣ The mindset Europe needs to move from surviving to building

💬 Quotes from Karl Nehammer

(00:03:33) “Every crisis is also maybe a chance — you learn a lot, decide quickly, and think in totally new ways.”
(00:07:00) “We have the knowledge now of what we must change — it’s a window of opportunity.”
(00:20:03) “Empower yourself. Don’t wait for another person — you can do it yourself.”

🧭 Timestamps

(00:00:00) Opening – Why Europe Struggles to Scale
(00:03:33) Karl Nehammer – Leadership Lessons from Crisis
(00:06:21) Europe’s Innovation Challenge – Science vs. Commercialization
(00:09:17) Life-Science Resilience – Lessons from COVID-19
(00:12:52) A Realistic Vision for Europe’s Future
(00:17:05) Inside the European Investment Bank – Building Bridges Between Capital and Innovation
(00:18:59) Empowering Founders – Karl Nehammer’s Message to Europe’s Builders
(00:20:14) Closing – Optimism, Collaboration, and Confidence

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:06

Christian Soschner

Europe creates some of the greatest scientific discoveries on the planet. And yet most never reach the people they were made for.

00:00:09:06 - 00:00:32:35

Christian Soschner

They stay locked in labs, in institutions, in PowerPoint decks, while other regions turn ideas into billion dollar companies. Why? Because innovation doesn't change the world. Commercialization does. In today's episode, we explore how Europe can bridge that gap.

00:00:32:39 - 00:00:37:17

Christian Soschner

How science becomes scale and how ideas become impact.

00:00:37:17 - 00:00:54:28

Christian Soschner

My guest at Bio Europe this week has lived through some of the toughest moments in modern history. From the pandemic and energy crisis to diplomatic missions during the war between Ukraine and Russia.

00:00:54:36 - 00:01:28:04

Christian Soschner

Now our former Chancellor Kageyama, in his new role as vice president of the European Investment Bank, brings that experience to one nation building a Europe that competes and wins through innovation. Europe produces excellence but strives to scale it every year. Talent and technology slip through the cracks. The solution investment leadership and the mindset shift at the highest level.

00:01:28:06 - 00:01:57:49

Christian Soschner

Bomb. That car is now driving from inside the European Investment Bank. Today, he shares how leadership forged in crisis can rebuild confidence. Competitor fitness and growth. But before we dive in, I have looked at the numbers and only about 20% of listeners actually follow the show. If you are one of the 80% who listens but hasn't yet clicked, follow.

00:01:58:03 - 00:02:29:41

Christian Soschner

Do me a small favor. Hit that button now. It helps the show to grow, and it lets me bring you more of this rare behind the scenes conversations with the people shaping the future of deep tech and science entirely for free. So how do we turn Europe's brilliance into global leadership? Let's find out. Here is my conversation with Courtney Hammer, Vice President of the European Investment Bank.

00:02:29:41 - 00:02:58:16

Christian Soschner

As the Covid pandemic. Then when I thought it was over and we can move forward into the future. Russia attacked Ukraine. And you were one of the first. You were the first political leader who had the guts to travel to Kiev. Meeting President Zelensky and then traveled directly to Moscow. Negotiating with Putin. Working hard on ending this crisis.

00:02:58:20 - 00:03:28:08

Christian Soschner

But that was not the first part that you had in your career as chancellor was managing the energy crisis, and also how you took the initiative and traveled to Qatar and worked hard on improving Austria's energy independence. And when you think about your role as a chancellor, what lessons can you take with you into your new office, into your new position at the European Investment Bank?

00:03:28:12 - 00:03:33:18

Karl Nehammer

Well, that's a good question. I think that.

00:03:33:22 - 00:04:12:30

Karl Nehammer

Every crisis is a chance as well, you know. When I became a federal chancellor, the ceremony was was Musk's unbelievable today. And you mentioned it then, was the end of the pandemic. We we saw the chance that we can overcome it. And in February, the Russian aggression against Ukraine started to this time we had an energy dependance on Russian gas of 80%.

00:04:12:34 - 00:04:48:01

Karl Nehammer

The storages were not filled anymore. The Russian storages hadn't been filled because of strategic reasons. So I was a really a lot of pressure. But. What do I mean? That every crisis is also maybe a chance you'll learn a lot. You'll have to decide quick, and you'll have always to think. Sometimes really in totally new ways. Because for all these crises, there were no guidebook.

00:04:48:05 - 00:04:56:15

Karl Nehammer

And so you have to try to find new solutions. Think out of the box. And I think this kind of experience on the whole bring also in the IAB.

00:04:56:19 - 00:05:21:44

Christian Soschner

Yeah, that's true elected every crisis is also a chance an opportunity. You grew up in Vienna, and I'm pretty sure you are accustomed with the Viennese culture. You have one beloved tradition that's probably a little bit hidden. We don't talk much about it. I'm talking about the Viennese student. We don't look at the positive things of life first.

00:05:21:44 - 00:05:50:48

Christian Soschner

We always skip the good part and go straight to the bad part. And criticism and negativity, especially ranting in a bar is, our hobby. You have a lot of experience talking with leaders as a politician from east to west, from China, Russia, Ukraine, the United States. And I have spent the last 25 years building deep tech companies, and on my podcast had over 200 conversations with business leaders.

00:05:51:02 - 00:06:21:18

Christian Soschner

I have an opinion about, what's wrong with Europe? And I'm now curious to hear your opinion. Why can't we commercialize Europe's top notch but class science in the same way the US does, and produce companies like Nvidia or Tesla that have a tremendous market capitalization? How do you see that?

00:06:21:22 - 00:06:36:07

Karl Nehammer

I think the question is a little bit the answer as well. You know, you just you described the problem as it is. I think that we.

00:06:36:11 - 00:07:00:09

Karl Nehammer

Have to look at this like a coin. It has two sides. You know, you are right. We have a lot of challenges to face. I mean, we are really great in research and science. And afterwards we see that, if you have startups that don't stay, they go to the United States, for example, and. This has a lot of reasons.

00:07:00:13 - 00:07:30:08

Karl Nehammer

And I think we have the knowledge now what we have to change. And I think it's a kind of window of opportunity, you know, because we are under pressure. We are between the United States, we are between China. We have a lot of things to do now. We have two high energy costs. For example, we fight for every every investor now to invest in the European Union.

00:07:30:20 - 00:08:01:07

Karl Nehammer

And so this kind of pressure, this is not a good thing. I think we all need that. We have to do what we have to do now to some means, we have to reduce the regulations. We have to speed up. We have. To do what we talked about, I think years, you know, the capital market, we have to find ways to increase risk capital in Europe.

00:08:01:11 - 00:08:26:14

Karl Nehammer

We have to change culture. This is not easy. We have a totally different culture. I think if you compare the United States. But I think now this time is really a chance as well that this processes are now going on. These discussions are now in the EU Parliament and the Commission in the member states. So I think we are now starting to do the right things.

00:08:26:18 - 00:08:56:01

Christian Soschner

That's good to hear. So the energy is already there and Europe is moving forward. That's good to hear. And I totally agree to all your points. When we look at these events today, especially Europe, we have a lot of people here from life science investors, entrepreneurs and that it's a tremendous job during the pandemic and accomplished something that I thought is impossible to deliver.

00:08:56:01 - 00:09:17:05

Christian Soschner

So many doses of vaccines and diagnostic tests in such a short time. When we look into the future that you described that we need to change a lot. What lessons do you see in this industry that we learned during the pandemic that we can take with us into the future?

00:09:17:09 - 00:09:42:31

Karl Nehammer

To start with, the positive. The pandemic showed that if the pressure is really high, we can act fast. In the European Union, and it was great to see how the shared knowledge worked, how scientists all over the world, especially in the European Union, shared their knowledge. The goal was to find a vaccine against Covid, and we did it.

00:09:42:35 - 00:10:11:14

Karl Nehammer

So this is a very positive aspect. I think on the other side, the pandemia Covid showed us in a brutal way how fragile we are. If this thing about supply chains and I think this we have as well to solve and it's not it's not easy because it doesn't mean that we will have a totally independent independence of what we need.

00:10:11:18 - 00:10:36:07

Karl Nehammer

But we also now think about new ways to be more prepared if such a situation is coming again. But it's still a way we are not there where we want to be. But I think, you can see that if we really have the willing to solve a problem, a catastrophe like Covid was, then we can do it.

00:10:36:11 - 00:11:03:34

Karl Nehammer

And I it's I'm really totally convinced about that. We have to think about our strengths. We have to think about our brilliance. And if you think about research and innovation and with with this knowledge about that, we have to create this kind of new ways. We are talking about. But, you know, you mentioned Sudan. You know, there's a Sudan is a typical Austrian term.

00:11:03:39 - 00:11:34:29

Karl Nehammer

I mean, we call it everything is bad and there is no hope. And come on, let's see. Maybe maybe it's the last day. Yeah. Okay. But. If you look around, it's not only an Austrian phenomenon now. It's not a Viennese phenomenon. It's a European. And to overcome a crisis, you have to think about how you can solve the problem and not live in the problem.

00:11:34:41 - 00:11:59:21

Karl Nehammer

That's the point. And if you look around in our member states, you you can see so many interesting and fantastic ways to overcome a problem, to solve a problem out of the box, to build a new frame that we have to use this kind of power. It makes no sense to see each other all the time and to complain the.

00:11:59:25 - 00:12:16:46

Karl Nehammer

I think the only chance we have to overcome a problem is to think about how we solve it, and not how we suffer. This is the main. I think this is the key point how we can overcome and the pandemia showed us that it is possible, and I think this is the most important point.

00:12:17:00 - 00:12:43:17

Christian Soschner

Good point. I didn't know it. It's a it's a phenomenon all over Europe now. So that our culture spread out. Really? Oh, God. Oh, God. It's great to have you here because, I mean, when I listen to politicians, they over say, we and we can do that, and we can do this. But now I'm curious when we look into the future, I would like to ask you one question personally.

00:12:43:21 - 00:12:52:22

Christian Soschner

What is your personal vision for Europe? How do you see Europe evolving in the future?

00:12:52:26 - 00:13:36:07

Karl Nehammer

Easy questions today. You know, I think we have to accept Europe as it is, and it means 27 member states, 27 member states, which try to find solutions. If you look around the world, it's a unique construction. It's not possible to compare it with others. 27 democracies. Democracies are a minority in the world. So what do I mean?

00:13:36:11 - 00:14:04:49

Karl Nehammer

You know, if you have some elite discussions, you will hear the European has to do this. The European has to do that. The European Union has to improve, maybe to be the United States of Europe in the future. Whatever. But we have to be careful because it's always a question also of expect expectations. And if we overload the expectations.

00:14:05:03 - 00:14:44:45

Karl Nehammer

Do you cannot win. So what I mean is let us focus to that what we really want to reach a real single market. The same rules for the member states, a capital market. This is huge to do. Let us solve this kind of problems first, I give you an example. Did you know that we don't have in our single market, 27 member states the same railway standards?

00:14:44:49 - 00:15:09:37

Karl Nehammer

Did you know that? So if you ask me, what is my vision? Let us do our job. Let us build a real single market, let us build a good functioning infrastructure. Let's try to overcome that really difficult and different rules in the finance market to build a capital market. And this is so important because we need risk capital.

00:15:09:37 - 00:15:36:30

Karl Nehammer

For example. So let us do this things. Let us thinking about how we can solve this. And this is really not the issue. But let us also see that this 27 member States, this construction offer you is unique. It's fantastic. If you think about history in Austria now we have a special year. The war ended 80 years ago.

00:15:36:34 - 00:16:21:43

Karl Nehammer

We are free since 70 years and we are a member of the European Union's union since 30 years. And this means 80 years peace, 70 years freedom and democracy, and 30 years of membership in a union which also. Give us, give us in real a vision how we can live together, how we can solve problems, how we can build a strong economy, how we come over this totally crazy situation which now exists on the world.

00:16:21:47 - 00:16:44:29

Karl Nehammer

So I think if we think about a union, if it's think about the future, what is let us see what we can do now, not within ten, 20, 15, 30 years. I think it makes no sense. So let us solve the problems which we have. Let us build what we want to build and what is the fundament and the foundation of the European Union.

00:16:44:33 - 00:16:53:27

Karl Nehammer

And then I think we will be able to create new visions, but let us do the job first.

00:16:53:31 - 00:17:05:26

Christian Soschner

That's great. I like your energy and your positivity. When we look at the European Investment Bank, what impact to your personally wants to make at the bank in the future?

00:17:05:30 - 00:17:41:26

Karl Nehammer

First of all, I have to mention we are a group. You know, there's the European Investment Bank and there is the IAAF, the European Investment Fund. And this is really fascinating to see what this group is doing now and what the group can do in the future. I think what we try now is to build bridges to try what we can to help startups to find, constant finance, you know, and that we that we try to help the economy in the union.

00:17:41:30 - 00:18:05:39

Karl Nehammer

To restructure, to transform, to be a partner. I think this is the most important thing, what we want to be and what we are the EIB. And if we are partners for the economy, but also for the member states in their vision. And I think, this is there is a lot to do. We you can always become better.

00:18:05:43 - 00:18:32:30

Karl Nehammer

Yeah, that's also true. But what I'm really I'm now there for two months, you know, but I am really deeply impressed. I'm deeply impressed about the quality of the staff, the high expertise, the advisory. And I think this, this mix. Hope, you know, that we are really also, in the future, a trustable partner for the companies. But also for the member states.

00:18:32:34 - 00:18:59:29

Christian Soschner

Future and hope that's these are great words. Today's also a chance to celebrate the entrepreneurs in life sense and to invest especially the women in life science. And when you look around the room as my last question to you, what message do you want to give the people building the future with you?

00:18:59:33 - 00:19:32:24

Karl Nehammer

Maybe it sounds too pathetic, but I believe in you. I mean, empower you, you know? You see, if you have a strong will, you can overcome also hurts. So I think we have a, If you if you think 30 years back in the past, so many things changed and you see how powerful, how important, how strong women are in our society and not our in our society everywhere we look around.

00:19:32:28 - 00:20:03:24

Karl Nehammer

So if you have a strong will, you have to create opportunities. That's the job of politics. You know, if you ask, a CEO how he sings about that. It is the what is this the best thing? What can happen is that you have various employees, women and men, different cultures, different experiences, because it's good for the business and it's good for the society.

00:20:03:28 - 00:20:14:17

Karl Nehammer

So what I wish for you is as well empower you, empower yourself. Don't wait for another person. You can do it yourself. I think this is the most important thing.

00:20:14:20 - 00:20:28:08

Christian Soschner

That's a perfect message to start to say. Thank you for this conversation.