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> There is no way we can support massive tech companies such as Google, even if they would arise here as startups. I don't see why not. The EU's GDP is almost

> There is no way we can support massive tech companies such as Google, even if they would arise here as startups. I don't see why not. The EU's GDP is almost as big as the USA's, and the EU has plenty of educated people who understand the relevant technologies. > As such, the only reasonable thing to do is to slowly ween ourselves off American tech in favor of letting our our own grow, just like China did. Yes. This needs to be done not just for web services and social networks, but for the whole technology stack including chips and operating systems.

martindbp 6y ago
> I don't see why not. Try convincing tens of thousands of engineers to learn Polish, Estonian or Dutch. Some will do it, or are fine living in a country without speaking the language, but surely it puts a wet blanket on job market mobility. It's a hard sell: "Come to Stockholm to work with us, learn a new language that is useless anywhere else, and adapt to our culture or be forever an outsider. Oh, and your next job might be in Denmark, so do it all over again." Google has 120,000 employees today. You may find half of that in Germany, France or the UK, but not in the rest of the 40-ish countries scattered throughout the continent. > Yes. This needs to be done not just for web services and social networks, but for the whole technology stack including chips and operating systems. Totally agree, especially chips. This one is the hardest though.
- samus 6y ago
  Language requirements for tech jobs are often very relaxed. For many companies, English is sufficient, and if one spends enough time in a country to build a career, one will also learn to at least understand the language. In certain big, hip cities this might not even be necessary. By the way, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are very similar to each other, and they are not tricky at all compared to German or Dutch. Most other rich EU countries are large enough that learning their language opens up lots of career possibilities. Eastern Europe is a different story. Many do well, but these countries still tend to suffer from a net brain drain towards the richer countries.
kybernetikos 6y ago
> including chips ARM was until recently a European company. This is part of the dynamic - some companies in the US have huge piles of cash. If a European company gets successful enough, there'll be interest from a large US company in acquiring it.

martindbp 6y ago

> I don't see why not. Try convincing tens of thousands of engineers to learn Polish, Estonian or Dutch. Some will do it, or are fine living in a country without speaking the language, but surely it puts a wet blanket on job market mobility. It's a hard sell: "Come to Stockholm to work with us, learn a new language that is useless anywhere else, and adapt to our culture or be forever an outsider. Oh, and your next job might be in Denmark, so do it all over again." Google has 120,000 employees today. You may find half of that in Germany, France or the UK, but not in the rest of the 40-ish countries scattered throughout the continent. > Yes. This needs to be done not just for web services and social networks, but for the whole technology stack including chips and operating systems. Totally agree, especially chips. This one is the hardest though.

samus 6y ago
Language requirements for tech jobs are often very relaxed. For many companies, English is sufficient, and if one spends enough time in a country to build a career, one will also learn to at least understand the language. In certain big, hip cities this might not even be necessary. By the way, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are very similar to each other, and they are not tricky at all compared to German or Dutch. Most other rich EU countries are large enough that learning their language opens up lots of career possibilities. Eastern Europe is a different story. Many do well, but these countries still tend to suffer from a net brain drain towards the richer countries.

kybernetikos 6y ago

> including chips ARM was until recently a European company. This is part of the dynamic - some companies in the US have huge piles of cash. If a European company gets successful enough, there'll be interest from a large US company in acquiring it.