Is Central and Eastern Europe becoming the next global cybersecurity hub, or are we still exporting our best talent abroad?

In this episode of The Recursive Roundtable, recorded in Vienna and hosted by Elevator Ventures, we bring together leading voices from the cybersecurity ecosystem to discuss Europe's biggest opportunities and challenges in cybersecurity, AI, digital identity, talent retention, venture capital, and digital sovereignty.

Our guests explore whether Europe can compete with the US in building global cybersecurity champions, how AI is transforming both cyber defense and cyber attacks, and why keeping top technical talent in Europe may be one of the most important strategic challenges of the decade.

We also dive into:

☑️ The cybersecurity talent advantage in Central & Eastern Europe

☑️ Brain drain and the race for top engineers

☑️ Why European startups struggle with Series A and Series B funding

☑️ AI-powered cyber attacks and autonomous defense systems

☑️ Europe's dependence on foreign cloud and security providers

☑️ Digital sovereignty and the future of European cybersecurity

☑️ Scaling cybersecurity companies from Prague, Vienna, and beyond

Featuring:

Maximilian Schausberger, Managing Director (Elevator Ventures)

Petr Dvorak, Founder & CEO (Wultra)

Rene Heinzl, CTO (CyberTrap)

💡 Key takeaway:

Europe has world-class technical talent and cybersecurity expertise. The question is whether it can create the capital, ecosystem, and strategic vision needed to keep that talent, build global leaders, and secure its digital future.

👇 What do you think?

Can Europe become a global cybersecurity leader, or will talent and innovation continue to flow elsewhere? Share your thoughts in the comments.

👉 Watch the full conversation and join the discussion.

🎧 Like and subscribe for more episodes of The Recursive Podcast.

Chapters:

00:00 Europe's Cybersecurity Wake-Up Call

02:00 Can Europe Become a Cybersecurity Superpower?

06:00 The Brain Drain Crisis

08:55 Why Europe Struggles to Scale

13:20 Cybersecurity Cannot Be Outsourced

16:25 The Global Demand for European Cybersecurity

19:08 AI Is Already Attacking

23:42 The Startup Trust Problem

30:30 Why Cybersecurity Is So Hard

31:52 What If AI Was Smarter Than Your Team?

33:22 Quantum Computing Changes Everything

40:40 Europe's Opportunity to Lead