Tesla in the US builds flying cars. Europe makes sure plastic bottle caps stay attached that you can hardly drink. While this is exaggerated to compare, unfortunately, I think the joke captures a serious problem. For more than 10 years, we have been talking about innovation, startups and making Europe competitive. Yet how many new global technology leaders have we created, especially in Germany? We have excellent scientists, engineers and ideas. So why are we falling behind? From my experience in science and biotech, one of the biggest problems is bureaucracy. We control almost every experiment, every purchase, every decision of a scientist. Endless approvals, regulations and administrative procedures. All of this costs time, money and, most importantly, takes away the freedom to be creative. How can we compete with the US or China when building the same thing takes us much longer and costs several times more? I think we need to start where innovation begins: basic research. Give scientists freedom, responsibility and resources. Judge them by what they achieve rather than how many procedures they follow. Of course, we need rules and accountability. But we have to stop treating every scientist as someone who cannot be trusted. We cannot create an innovative Europe by regulating every step of innovation.