The European Edge

Why this continent’s time is now.

Europe. A continent that, perhaps unexpectedly, is having a moment. From defense rearmament to industrial resilience, and from fintech powerhouses to medical innovations, Europe is no longer seen as just the place for luxury retail and great wine on a scenic holiday. It’s back in the headlines.

If you’ve spent time with your European section-mates, you’ve probably heard that European innovation has been slowed by strong consumer protections and privacy rights — that there’s a lag in productivity growth, ease of doing business, and cost competitiveness. 

For decades, the narrative around Europe has been comfortable. Stable. Well-regulated. Hospitable. A producer of high-quality goods and services, but also slow-moving and behind the curve. We’re here to refine this story, to show you where it’s oversimplified and generalized, but also how Europe can do better. 

Europe’s story is changing, and it's time we start telling it.

You might be surprised to learn that European firms hold a leading position in the semiconductor supply chain (ASML), have quietly led in fintech (Adyen), disrupted U.S. mobility with European models (FlixBus), or driven global industrial automation (ABB, Schneider Electric, Siemens). 

Yet, the European story remains under-told.

That’s why we’re launching Europe Forward, a new speaker series at HBS that brings Europe’s boldest builders to campus. The goal is not just to celebrate Europe’s progress; it’s also to interrogate its competitiveness. To challenge the pace of it. To trigger more innovation. More scale. More urgency.

This series is both a platform and a provocation.

• To students: We want to spotlight the depth and diversity of what’s being built across Europe. We hope you’ll challenge our speakers to go further and consider building in Europe yourself.

• To the speakers: We want to learn how you build and innovate. We would also like to understand what the limitations of Europe are and challenge you to create more. As such, we’ll pose tough questions: Why hasn’t Europe produced an Apple? What regulations need to shift?

We’ll aim to query these leaders on how they’ve grown companies successfully within a highly regulated, geographically fragmented market. What it’s like to build a company across 27 countries and 27 regulations. We want to understand both the strengths and shortcomings of the European model and ask what needs to change.

These aren’t just academic discussions and inspirational talks for future European entrepreneurs at Harvard. With EU leaders increasingly contemplating meaningful structural reform, including a simplification of regulation and the EU’s twenty-eighth regime, we believe this series can help inform that moment. We’ll aggregate insights from across the sessions and leverage these learnings to help inform the senior European policy makers who will attend the European Conference, one of the largest student-run forums about Europe. As Europe rethinks its structure, its leaders need to hear from the ones building within it.

Have a bold European leader you want to hear from? A tough question you want answered? A connection to someone doing something extraordinary on the continent? We’d love to hear from you. Email us or stop us in Spangler.

Elif Memet (MBA/MPP ‘26) is originally from Romania and has lived in New York and Cambridge over the past 10 years. At HBS, she founded her own fintech startup, Omu, and served as Co-President of the European Conference. Passionate about European policy, she researches the design of the Eurozone and Romania’s transition to the Euro with Harvard Professor Jason Furman, explored European media policy at the Harvard Center for Media and Politics, and advises Romania’s Minister of Energy. Prior to HBS, she was a private equity investor at Apollo and an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a joint bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics from Columbia University.

Anouk Frieden (MBA ‘26) was born and raised in Luxembourg and grew up following national and European politics closely, rendering her deeply passionate about the European project and its sustained competitiveness. Prior to HBS, Anouk was a consultant at McKinsey in Munich, where she supported companies in the automotive, financial services, and private equity sectors across Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East. Anouk holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland with an academic year abroad at Harvard College.

Filippo Colonna (MBA ‘26) grew up in Rome, Italy, where his family has deep roots operating in the cultural and public administration spheres. His life’s mission is to help bring the best that Italy has to offer to the world, something that he’s been working on through his experiences in fashion with an early-stage startup in Milan, in food with Eataly in Los Angeles, and in investing in small Italian family businesses. His interest in European affairs stems primarily from his desire to understand how European companies can scale more rapidly despite their smaller domestic markets. Prior to HBS, he was a Senior Manager at Bain in Zurich and LA and received degrees from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University.

Niels Agterhorst (MBA ‘26) is originally from Amsterdam and has lived in London for the last six years. Niels is the incoming Co-President of the European Club and Campus Investment Partner for the MBA Fund. Next to investing, he is building in the Fintech and Computer Vision spaces. As such, he is passionate about showing the HBS and wider Harvard community the best innovations coming out of Europe. Prior to HBS, he was a private equity investor at Blackstone and an investment banker at J.P. Morgan. He holds a graduate degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Amsterdam.