I was born and raised in Germany, went to university in the Netherlands, I now live in Switzerland and work for a Swedish company. I consider myself European first and foremost and have spent most of my life here — but I know I’ve only seen a fraction of what Europe is so far.

Through my work at Prima Materia I get to meet many of Europe’s best entrepreneurs, researchers and engineers. I’ve seen first hand that Europe has the talent, capital and experience to develop magical technologies and to build industry leading companies.

Despite all this potential, we’re lacking an inspiring narrative of the future in Europe that can direct our energy towards the ideas that matter most. Instead, we seem to be busy complaining about the present and tweeting about regulation.

I believe that optimism and ambition can act as self-fulfilling prophecies, and that they are contagious. My goal for 2025 is to contribute to shifting the mood in Europe because we have every reason to be excited about the future.

I’ll do that by starting my own Grand Tour of the Future: the Grand Tour was a European cultural institution in the 17th to 19th century – a rite of passage for the young and wealthy from across Europe to complete their education by learning about the legacy of European antiquity and the Renaissance. It is as true today as it was then that you can only understand Europe as a traveller.

This time we’re travelling across Europe to study the future, not the past. Each month, I will visit one European country to understand its history, its economy and meet the people, companies and projects building the future — and I will share the most interesting discoveries here.

If you have suggestions for who or what to include, please let me know about them!

Pia