Europe has never lacked scientific excellence. It continues to produce world-class research, respected regulators, leading pharmaceutical companies and some of the world’s most innovative biotechnology businesses.

Yet increasingly, the greatest economic value generated from European science is
realized elsewhere.

This is not because Europe produces weaker science. It is because it controls less of the system that transforms scientific innovation into enterprise value. The first half of 2026 exposed a different question. It is no longer simply where innovation originates. It is where it is financed, developed, validated and commercialized, and where its value is ultimately captured.

The implications reach far beyond strategy. They are shaping the leadership decisions
that boards, investors and management teams must make.