Today's generation are looking for a higher purpose: something more than simply earning their living - I think this generation will play a much bigger role over the next decade, as they've grown up in a world where entrepreneurship is extremely powerful and when directed in the right way it can solve big and complex problems.

To tackle the big issues in societies - social mobility, mental health, lifelong learning, the problems of ageing, and so on - entrepreneurs need to ignore the silos in which current solutions operate. The reality is that more money is being injected into the current systems, but the problems just keep growing. New solutions need to empower individuals to sort these issues out for themselves. Why keep waiting for others to sort it out for us? Europe has 500m consumers who will buy solutions to these issues if tech entrepreneurs can create attractive and effective products, rather than relying on existing systems to do that.

Increasingly, citizens turn to science and technology to obtain an answer for mitigating climate change, improving citizens’ health or enhancing energy and resource efficiency. This is something that Finnish, Nordic and European companies are among the best in the world at. One example of that is the rising trend of biohacking where close monitoring of yourself through tech leads to changes in your living habits. Done right, this may be a good road to healthier and longer working life and thereafter healthier ageing, and thus create a meaningful impact.

I think we in Europe are very well-suited to producing the founders that are going to solve some of the biggest challenges. This is thanks to more and more investors who are willing to back some super ambitious teams and plans, but we are also starting to see more entrepreneurs who are willing to move into that space, inspired by the example set by other European entrepreneurs.

The only limit to the impact we can have is our own imagination and commitment. At Norrsken, we’re aiming to enable impact unicorns, companies positively influencing more than one billion people. We are already seeing incredible solutions being developed in Europe, and the beauty of technology is that if they are successful they can scale globally, quickly.