Biotechnology is one of Europe’s most important — and most challenging — innovation sectors. From vaccines and drugs to medical devices and digital medicine, biotech underpins Europe’s health systems, competitiveness and economic sovereignty.

In this episode of Invested by Europe, Antoine de Lachaux, head of the life science and biotech unit at the European Investment Bank, explains:

• What biotech means — from pharmaceuticals and vaccines to medical devices and digital health
• Why life sciences are strategically important for Europe
• Why biotech innovation takes time, carries high risk and requires patient capital
• How Europe’s fragmented market makes scaling more difficult than in the United States
• What the proposed Biotech Act could change for European companies
• How the EIB supports the sector, including its early investment in BioNTech
• Why artificial intelligence is set to accelerate drug development, diagnostics and regulatory processes

The conversation also looks at why Europe needs a truly European investment ecosystem to help biotech companies grow to global scale — and why this is a sector Europe cannot afford to outsource.

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Critical raw materials are everywhere — in your phone, in solar panels, in wind turbines, and in the batteries that power the energy transition. But where do these materials come from? Why does Europe depend so heavily on them? And how can we build more secure, sustainable, and diversified supply chains?

In this episode of Invested by Europe, Lerato Kotelo, critical raw materials specialist at the European Investment Bank, explains:

• What is a critical or strategic raw material
• Why technologies like batteries, solar panels and wind turbines depend on them
• How Europe can diversify its supply and reduce dependence on fossil
• Why recycling and innovation are so important
• How do new approaches like extracting lithium from geothermal brines work
• How responsible partnerships with global producers can create win‑win outcomes

Lerato also shares insights on Europe’s mining history, today’s rapidly changing extraction technologies, and how innovation is making mining safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.

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Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun. If it can be made to work efficiently on Earth, it could reshape global energy systems — offering a clean, abundant and stable source of power.

In this episode of Invested by Europe, Franz Derler from the European Investment Bank explains how fusion works, why even a small amount of mass can produce an enormous amount of energy, and why fusion has so far only been achieved at laboratory scale. He discusses the two major technological approaches — magnetic confinement and laser fusion — and the rapid rise in private investment, with more than $10 billion committed in just five years.

If fusion becomes a reality, the implications for the climate, the economy and even global geopolitics would be profound.

Invested by Europe looks at the forces shaping the European economy — and how breakthrough technologies might define the future.

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