Michiel Scheffer wants Europe to do more than finance scientific discovery. His vision for the European Innovation Council connects research, patient capital, industrial demand and strategic procurement—turning breakthrough technologies into companies, production capacity and European power.
Society & Culture
Understanding the people, values and cultural forces behind Europe’s transformation.
Under Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission has moved beyond regulation towards crisis management, industrial strategy and geopolitical coordination. Her vision is of a Europe capable of acting—but its growing executive ambition raises questions about power and accountability.
Europe has spent years demanding more engineers. At TU Eindhoven, interest in Electrical Engineering is growing just as educational capacity reaches its limits—exposing the widening gap between Europe’s industrial ambitions and its ability to train the people they require.
Europe has built strong digital rights, but technology is evolving faster than the institutions designed to protect them. As AI, biometrics and platforms reshape power, the challenge is ensuring democratic protection can keep pace.
Europe’s agricultural landscape still shapes the continent far more than many people realise. This opening Perspective explores how land, technology, science and demographic change are transforming one of Europe’s largest and most essential systems: its food landscape.
Migration challenges democracies to reconcile universal human rights with the practical realities of governance, institutional capacity and public trust. The question is not whether values matter, but how they can be translated into sustainable and legitimate public policy.
