Europe possesses significant scientific and technological assets, but their fragmentation hinders their full potential. Against this backdrop, the EuroTech Universities Alliance organized a session titled 'Europe's Tech at Scale: Critical Mass for Global Leadership' on November 8, as part of Falling Walls 2026 in Berlin. The aim was to strengthen European synergies to accelerate the emergence of breakthrough technologies and their transformation into high-impact innovations.
Thierry Coulhon, President of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris and the EuroTech Universities Alliance (2026-2028), engaged in discussions with Anna Fontcuberta i Morral (EPFL), Christina Egelund (Danish Minister), Stefan Drüssler (UnternehmerTUM), and Maximilian Schiffer (Praedon).
The discussions highlighted three major challenges: connecting expertise to foster tomorrow's technologies, rethinking the role of universities to accelerate the transition from research to innovation, and scaling up to build European technological leadership through mobilizing investments and connecting innovation ecosystems.
The EuroTech Universities Alliance, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2026, aims to bring together the complementary skills of leading European scientific and technological universities to foster cross-border collaborations. The alliance intends to enhance its contribution to discussions on Europe's technological future.
The entrepreneurial initiative Praedon, co-founded by Maximilian Schiffer and Axel Parmentier (Institut Polytechnique de Paris), exemplifies the potential of European cooperation. Stemming from work combining machine learning and mathematical optimization, it develops artificial intelligence solutions to optimize complex industrial decisions.
