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.

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