Welcome back to EUVC Live in Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations with the voices shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.
In this session, Daniel Wiegand, Founding Partner at World Fund, takes the stage with a powerful message: Europe’s strength has always been its ability to turn crisis into collaboration — and it must do so again.
Daniel traces Europe’s journey from the coal and steel community of 1951 to today’s climate and geopolitical challenges. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to COVID and the war in Ukraine, he reminds us that Europe’s greatest leaps have always come from unity, resilience, and investment in shared progress.
Now, as Europe faces an age of “polycrisis” — from war and climate to supply chain fragility and tech disruption — Daniel calls for a new act of radical innovation: rebuilding Europe’s industrial leadership through collaboration, deep tech, and climate investment.
🎧 Here’s what’s covered:
00:30 The Coal and Steel Treaty of 1951 — when Europe chose collaboration over conflict.
02:00 From war to unity — Daniel’s personal story of a continent rebuilt through cooperation.
03:00 The “Age of Polycrisis” — or, as Daniel reframes it, the age of opportunity for those who collaborate.
04:00 Europe’s new sovereignty — not armies and flags, but semiconductors, raw materials, data, and AI.
04:30 The hard numbers: 98% of rare earths and 97% of lithium imported; 80% of solar panels made in Asia.
05:30 Europe at risk of becoming a spectator in a game it helped invent — and why collaboration is the antidote.
06:00 Lessons from history — how Europe expanded prosperity after 1989 and launched the NextGenEU fund during COVID.
07:30 Real transformation: cutting Russian gas dependency from 40% to 11% in two years — with renewables as resilience.
08:30 The venture challenge — Europe raises 7x less VC than the US, and only 11% of climate startups reach Series B.
09:00 Hope in motion — from €300M climate funds to €1B+ deep tech and climate vehicles driving the next wave.
09:30 European champions
10:30 The next phase — Europe needs ambitious scale-up capital, public–private partnerships, and a shared mission.
11:00 The call to action — Europe’s story isn’t stagnation; it’s reinvention through unity and belief.
You can listen to the full session on Apple Podcasts and Spotify 🎧
✍️ Show Notes
About Daniel Wiegand & World Fund
Founding Partner at World Fund, Europe’s climate tech VC investing in technologies that accelerate the transition to a net-zero world.
Core Idea
Europe’s strength lies in collaboration. From post-war unity to clean energy transitions, crisis has always been the catalyst for innovation.
Key Concepts
Polycrisis or Opportunity: War, climate, and disruption are tests of Europe’s ability to work together.
European Sovereignty 2.0: Defined by chips, AI, batteries, and clean energy — not borders.
Scaling Climate Tech: Bridging Europe’s funding gap with deep tech and industrial-scale investment.
Innovation in Action: Companies like IQM, Silo, and Planet A Foods show Europe’s capacity to lead in quantum, materials, and food.
Europe’s Next Act
Build resilience through investment.
Scale climate and deep tech from seed to infrastructure.
Turn crisis into competitiveness through collaboration and shared mission.
💡 One-liner takeaway:
Europe’s story has always been one of reinvention — and its next chapter will be written by those who turn today’s crises into collective innovation.
