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ROME, Italy, June 19, 2026 – The second and final day of FII Priority Europe 2026 opened with a speech by H.R.H Princess Dr. Maha bint Mishari bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, CEO of the FII Institute, making her first plenary address to the summit since assuming the role.
She called on all participants, governments, investors and business leaders alike, to treat the frameworks and roadmaps developed across two days in Rome as commitments to turn capital into action, and action into impact.
INNOVATION HELD HOSTAGE: THE COST OF REGULATORY DELAY
Travis Kalanick, CEO of Atoms and founder of Uber, took part in a fireside conversation on autonomous systems and Europe’s capacity to become a builder, rather than a rule-taker, in the next era of technology.
Drawing on direct experience of deploying transformative technology across dozens of regulatory environments, Kalanick argued that Europe’s instinct to regulate first and deploy later has a cost:
“When the regulatory process becomes the outcome, something that is genuinely good for people can roll out a decade late. That is how innovation gets delayed even when the benefits are already clear.” – Travis Kalanick, CEO, Atoms
The session highlighted the wider tension running through the summit: Europe’s strengths in standards, trust and rule-making are also, if misapplied, the mechanism by which it cedes ground to faster-moving competitors in the United States and China.
TRUTH, TRUST AND CAPITAL: THE INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATION OF INVESTABILITY
In a session moderated by Cécilia Attias, The Most Excellent Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, 15th Marchioness of Casa Fuerte and Member of the Spanish Parliament for Madrid, drew a direct line between institutional quality and the flow of long-term capital, warning that structural reforms are hollow without genuine independence in enforcement.
“As Acemoglu’s Nobel Prize idea showed, it’s not geography, it’s not culture. Institutions are crucial. You can have low taxes, but captured courts. You can have better regulation, but no independent enforcement. That’s not good enough.” – The Most Excellent Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, 15th Marchioness of Casa Fuerte, Member of the Spanish Parliament for Madrid
REIMAGINING SECURITY: ALLIANCE, SOVEREIGNTY AND THE DEFENCE BUILD-OUT
With the EU’s ReArm Europe plan mobilizing €800 billion through 2029, the summit addressed what it takes to convert spending commitments into capability. Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, rejected the false choice between sovereignty and alliance:
“Sovereignty and cooperation are not contradictory concepts. Together, allies achieve a level of security that none could achieve alone. NATO demonstrates every day how partnership strengthens rather than diminishes national sovereignty.” – Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chair of the NATO Military Committee
In a follow-on discussion Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto added the industrial imperative:
“The biggest enemy of every industry is time. European industry does not have many years to renovate itself, and the goal now, especially in defense, must be to speed up the journey from prototypization to production.” – The Rt. Hon. Guido Crosetto, Minister of Defense, Republic of Italy
SOVEREIGN AI: FROM ASPIRATION TO CONTROL OF THE FULL STACK
Aidan Gomez, CEO and Co-Founder of Cohere, explained that AI sovereignty requires moving beyond regulation to the ownership of underlying infrastructure:
“Countries need capabilities that no one else can mess with, see the data inside of, or switch off at will. That is what true AI sovereignty means.” – Aidan Gomez, CEO & Co-Founder, Cohere
Europe, generating 18% of global GDP while capturing only a fraction of global AI investment, must treat chips, compute, energy and data infrastructure as critical national assets on a par with power grids and transport networks.
EUROPE 2030: A NEW GROWTH STORY
FII Priority Europe closed with four former heads of state delivering an optimistic verdict on Europe’s prospects. Richard Attias said: “Europe prospered under an implicit bargain of American security, Russian energy, Chinese markets. That model is over. What replaces it?”
The panel offered a prescription: fix the energy market at European level, redefine competition policy to allow globally scaled companies to form, redirect defense spending into dual-use research rather than bureaucracy, and stop producing roadmaps that never reach implementation.
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said: “If we lose opportunities again, the future of Europe will look very similar to the future of museums. I prefer to have the future on my side.”
The message from Rome to the world was that Europe has the talent, the values and the tools, what it needs now is the will to act.
A SUMMIT THAT PRODUCED ANSWERS, NOT JUST QUESTIONS
Across two days, FII Priority Europe 2026 clarified some prescriptions for the future success of the continent: compress defense procurement timelines, control the full AI stack, anchor investment in independent institutions, and ensure regulation becomes an enabler for success.
