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> They talk shit about EU innovation and talk up their own dominance We should make a list of EU innovations that just got acquired by US companies, who conven

by palata 2y ago

> They talk shit about EU innovation and talk up their own dominance We should make a list of EU innovations that just got acquired by US companies, who conveniently forget. Ever heard of Google Maps?

amadeuspagel 2y ago
That's how buying works. You can conveniently forget who you bought it from, because it's yours now. Google Maps was bought from an australian company BTW.
- palata 2y ago
  > That's how buying works. You can conveniently forget who you bought it Sure. But when you buy an innovation, you can't suddenly claim that you invented it. > Google Maps was bought from an australian company BTW https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-story-cartography-expertise-long-tradition/75766738 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-sto...
  - dagw 2y ago
    You're both right ;) Google maps was indeed bought from an Australian company. Or to be more specific, Google bought a company that had a desktop mapping application that they were in the process of porting to the web, the web version was completed after the acquisition, and that was the original Google Maps. The Swiss company in your link was working on a similar project at the same time and got acquired by Google a couple of years later. The Swiss company was in many ways ahead of Google maps at the time and added a lot new technology and features to Google maps, and can to a great extent probably be considered the basis for the success of Google maps, but Google Maps existed before that acquisition.
    - palata 2y ago
      Interesting! So that's twice non-US innovation ;-).
smugglerFlynn 2y ago
Google Maps, famous Austrian innovation on par with pouched animals ;)
- palata 2y ago
  https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-story-cartography-expertise-long-tradition/75766738 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-sto...
dagw 2y ago
Much more useful would be to make a list of all the reasons these innovations keep ending up in the US rather than staying in the EU, and then trying to do something about it. What does it matter how innovative the EU can be if no one in the EU wants to foster and grow those innovations, and if all those innovators are always looking for the first ticket out of there?
- palata 2y ago
  First, many innovations are bought by BigTech. Why are BigTech based in the US and not in the EU? Because the EU has more regulations, and the US famously doesn't do antitrust. Now of course, if you are a founder, you'd rather go make more money in the US. Does that mean that the EU culture is inferior? I don't know. Go ask the average European if they would like to live like the average American. Sure, the US have BigTech. But the EU has healthcare. Most Europeans wouldn't be proud to sleep under their desk while Musk does what he does. It's a different culture. If your only metrics is how big the biggest tech company is, then the US wins. If the metrics is how happy the people are... well...
  - rafaelmn 2y ago
    "EU has healthcare" - I dare you to depend on public healthcare in poorer EU countries. As someone living in one of those - you go private for everything because by the time you get on the waiting list it will either be irrelevant or get critical. And lets not mention the shit level of care for non threatening conditions. And this is already spreading to western Europe as well from what I hear from my friends. Giving the aging population situation every health care system is going to start breaking in the next 10-20 years because of how much health care elderly consume and how little they provide to economy. So for now rich countries have better public healthcare than US. But EU is a very wide term, inequality between EU countries is larger than US states. And on the point of why most companies gravitate to US - its to access the richest market and leverage their capital pool - EU is not a single market despite the decades of EU efforts, and EU investment into companies is way behind of US, even EU pension funds invest significant funds in the US stock market.
- Hikikomori 2y ago

by palata 2y ago

amadeuspagel 2y ago

That's how buying works. You can conveniently forget who you bought it from, because it's yours now. Google Maps was bought from an australian company BTW.

palata 2y ago
> That's how buying works. You can conveniently forget who you bought it Sure. But when you buy an innovation, you can't suddenly claim that you invented it. > Google Maps was bought from an australian company BTW https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-story-cartography-expertise-long-tradition/75766738 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-sto...
- dagw 2y ago
  You're both right ;) Google maps was indeed bought from an Australian company. Or to be more specific, Google bought a company that had a desktop mapping application that they were in the process of porting to the web, the web version was completed after the acquisition, and that was the original Google Maps. The Swiss company in your link was working on a similar project at the same time and got acquired by Google a couple of years later. The Swiss company was in many ways ahead of Google maps at the time and added a lot new technology and features to Google maps, and can to a great extent probably be considered the basis for the success of Google maps, but Google Maps existed before that acquisition.
  - palata 2y ago
    Interesting! So that's twice non-US innovation ;-).

smugglerFlynn 2y ago

Google Maps, famous Austrian innovation on par with pouched animals ;)

palata 2y ago
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-story-cartography-expertise-long-tradition/75766738 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/google-maps-a-swiss-sto...

dagw 2y ago

Much more useful would be to make a list of all the reasons these innovations keep ending up in the US rather than staying in the EU, and then trying to do something about it. What does it matter how innovative the EU can be if no one in the EU wants to foster and grow those innovations, and if all those innovators are always looking for the first ticket out of there?

palata 2y ago
First, many innovations are bought by BigTech. Why are BigTech based in the US and not in the EU? Because the EU has more regulations, and the US famously doesn't do antitrust. Now of course, if you are a founder, you'd rather go make more money in the US. Does that mean that the EU culture is inferior? I don't know. Go ask the average European if they would like to live like the average American. Sure, the US have BigTech. But the EU has healthcare. Most Europeans wouldn't be proud to sleep under their desk while Musk does what he does. It's a different culture. If your only metrics is how big the biggest tech company is, then the US wins. If the metrics is how happy the people are... well...
- rafaelmn 2y ago
  "EU has healthcare" - I dare you to depend on public healthcare in poorer EU countries. As someone living in one of those - you go private for everything because by the time you get on the waiting list it will either be irrelevant or get critical. And lets not mention the shit level of care for non threatening conditions. And this is already spreading to western Europe as well from what I hear from my friends. Giving the aging population situation every health care system is going to start breaking in the next 10-20 years because of how much health care elderly consume and how little they provide to economy. So for now rich countries have better public healthcare than US. But EU is a very wide term, inequality between EU countries is larger than US states. And on the point of why most companies gravitate to US - its to access the richest market and leverage their capital pool - EU is not a single market despite the decades of EU efforts, and EU investment into companies is way behind of US, even EU pension funds invest significant funds in the US stock market.
Hikikomori 2y ago