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Europe needs to build its own tech ecosystem instead of being a resource hub and market for US companies. There were some sense in the French driving Peugeot,

Europe needs to build its own tech ecosystem instead of being a resource hub and market for US companies. There were some sense in the French driving Peugeot, the Germans VW and the Americans Ford, instead of all driving a generic car from a distant silicon valley company far away from local market and value chain.

opportune 8y ago
I don’t really understand how Europe has struggled so much. Is it due to a lack of investors? Brain drain or some comparative lack of talent (I doubt it)? Regulations (also doubt it)? Cultural differences? Difficult domestic market?
- Radim 8y ago
  Fractured market for sure, but also cultural differences (mentality). What's standard bread&butter hustling in US is considered cringe-worthy BS in Europe. While the music plays, there's no way business conservatism and sticking to "fundamentals" can compete with SV unicorns.
- rarec 8y ago
  Probably a combination of all three. The US and China have the benefit of a comparatively gargantuan native population that all speak the same language and enjoy similar tasting kool-aid that you can immediately market to. A business in SF can reach people NYC, Florida, etc. Combine that with somewhat lax customer rights laws (however you may view it), and you have recipes for some explosive growth. I've also heard that European investors are notoriously conservative in their strategies and don't take the risks that the US does. Japan is also faltering in this department for that reason. Without the pools of money to draw from, if you cannot gamble then you cannot win, essentially.
  - berthe 8y ago
    > Probably a combination of all three. The US and China have the benefit of a comparatively gargantuan native population that all speak the same language As odd as it sounds, my understanding is that China's Han population doesn't all speak the same language, but they (for the most part) read/write the same language. They call the variations in spoken language "dialects," but many of them are mutually unintelligible. I think the situation is the similar to a hypothetical one where the Romance countries (e.g. France, Spain, Italy, etc.) speak their respective modern languages, but continue to write exclusively in Latin. Just a small unimportant quibble that doesn't negate your larger point.
    - tomp 8y ago
      Still, the difference is size. In China, 20 million people speaking the same language is a city. In Europe, it's a country.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- anthonybennis 8y ago
  It's hard to understand. On paper, it has all the ingredients. Highly educated rich market. The EU created a 500 million common market which should allow European companies to scale. SAP, Spotify, Philips, ASOS, Skyscanner and even Nokia/Skype before take overs were/are tech success stories. But looking at the largest companies by revenue in Europe you see they are dominated by 20th century largely traditional industries (oil, engineering, food). Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_compa...
- l5870uoo9y 8y ago
  To me an important part seems to be the fact that the US has an extremely competitive tech sector – personified in Silicon Valley – that has been cultivated over decades, basically since the US rose to prominence after second world war. Through innovative symbiosis between universities, business', talent, steady US defence spending, plentiful of financing and business friendly regulations it has become the preeminent tech sector only rivalled by the Chinese which was born out of protectionism. With the invention of the internet and the unprecedented level of free trade, a few companies from Silicon Valley has successfully monopolised large part of not only the US market but also the European market. And not only that, this was done in record speed, Facebook was only founded in 2004. Traditional manufacturing sectors are much more dependent on the local market than tech companies. After the second world war Europe was destroyed and effort when in to rebuilding countries and relations. Furthermore the mindset that gave birth to Silicon Valley to combine raw capitalism with university campus' wouldn't have had a chance. Rigid universities, socialist political discourse and unions would have prevented it. Perhaps the mindset is changing, question is to what degree protectionism will be used to gain a footing in the vital tech sector.
- ponzored 8y ago
  A few factors: 1. There is no common language so hiring is typically restricted to one country. 2. Taxes are very high, particularly social security taxes that must be paid by the employer. Firms are very reluctant to create jobs. 3. A lot of bureaucracies are old and inefficient. 4. For the same reasons, products are difficult to scale. You can go from a local product in San Francisco to a national product in the USA relatively easily. But in the EU you are dealing with multiple languages, cultures, country bureaucracies in order to make the same jump. The best thing for the EU would be to get everyone speaking English at least as a second language. Then, to require all official forms, Government engagement etc. to be in the national language and English. Imagine you go from working in Warsaw to Berlin. A distance of only 570km, but you need to be able to speak Polish to deal with Polish bureaucracy, English to work at the multinational firm, and German to deal with German bureaucracy.
- mywittyname 8y ago
  The US goverment / military dumps obscene amounts of money into the development of technology. This provides a solid foundation on which to build a thriving consumer technology sector. It's totally viable to develop and bring to market devices that cost millions of dollars per unit as long as it possesses some modest degree of military application.

opportune 8y ago

I don’t really understand how Europe has struggled so much. Is it due to a lack of investors? Brain drain or some comparative lack of talent (I doubt it)? Regulations (also doubt it)? Cultural differences? Difficult domestic market?

Radim 8y ago
Fractured market for sure, but also cultural differences (mentality). What's standard bread&butter hustling in US is considered cringe-worthy BS in Europe. While the music plays, there's no way business conservatism and sticking to "fundamentals" can compete with SV unicorns.
rarec 8y ago
Probably a combination of all three. The US and China have the benefit of a comparatively gargantuan native population that all speak the same language and enjoy similar tasting kool-aid that you can immediately market to. A business in SF can reach people NYC, Florida, etc. Combine that with somewhat lax customer rights laws (however you may view it), and you have recipes for some explosive growth. I've also heard that European investors are notoriously conservative in their strategies and don't take the risks that the US does. Japan is also faltering in this department for that reason. Without the pools of money to draw from, if you cannot gamble then you cannot win, essentially.
- berthe 8y ago
  > Probably a combination of all three. The US and China have the benefit of a comparatively gargantuan native population that all speak the same language As odd as it sounds, my understanding is that China's Han population doesn't all speak the same language, but they (for the most part) read/write the same language. They call the variations in spoken language "dialects," but many of them are mutually unintelligible. I think the situation is the similar to a hypothetical one where the Romance countries (e.g. France, Spain, Italy, etc.) speak their respective modern languages, but continue to write exclusively in Latin. Just a small unimportant quibble that doesn't negate your larger point.
  - tomp 8y ago
    Still, the difference is size. In China, 20 million people speaking the same language is a city. In Europe, it's a country.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
anthonybennis 8y ago
It's hard to understand. On paper, it has all the ingredients. Highly educated rich market. The EU created a 500 million common market which should allow European companies to scale. SAP, Spotify, Philips, ASOS, Skyscanner and even Nokia/Skype before take overs were/are tech success stories. But looking at the largest companies by revenue in Europe you see they are dominated by 20th century largely traditional industries (oil, engineering, food). Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_compa...
l5870uoo9y 8y ago
To me an important part seems to be the fact that the US has an extremely competitive tech sector – personified in Silicon Valley – that has been cultivated over decades, basically since the US rose to prominence after second world war. Through innovative symbiosis between universities, business', talent, steady US defence spending, plentiful of financing and business friendly regulations it has become the preeminent tech sector only rivalled by the Chinese which was born out of protectionism. With the invention of the internet and the unprecedented level of free trade, a few companies from Silicon Valley has successfully monopolised large part of not only the US market but also the European market. And not only that, this was done in record speed, Facebook was only founded in 2004. Traditional manufacturing sectors are much more dependent on the local market than tech companies. After the second world war Europe was destroyed and effort when in to rebuilding countries and relations. Furthermore the mindset that gave birth to Silicon Valley to combine raw capitalism with university campus' wouldn't have had a chance. Rigid universities, socialist political discourse and unions would have prevented it. Perhaps the mindset is changing, question is to what degree protectionism will be used to gain a footing in the vital tech sector.
ponzored 8y ago
A few factors: 1. There is no common language so hiring is typically restricted to one country. 2. Taxes are very high, particularly social security taxes that must be paid by the employer. Firms are very reluctant to create jobs. 3. A lot of bureaucracies are old and inefficient. 4. For the same reasons, products are difficult to scale. You can go from a local product in San Francisco to a national product in the USA relatively easily. But in the EU you are dealing with multiple languages, cultures, country bureaucracies in order to make the same jump. The best thing for the EU would be to get everyone speaking English at least as a second language. Then, to require all official forms, Government engagement etc. to be in the national language and English. Imagine you go from working in Warsaw to Berlin. A distance of only 570km, but you need to be able to speak Polish to deal with Polish bureaucracy, English to work at the multinational firm, and German to deal with German bureaucracy.
mywittyname 8y ago
The US goverment / military dumps obscene amounts of money into the development of technology. This provides a solid foundation on which to build a thriving consumer technology sector. It's totally viable to develop and bring to market devices that cost millions of dollars per unit as long as it possesses some modest degree of military application.