Because they plan before implementation. They don't trust grassroot efforts in most work. While this works well for them in classically established fields, it m

Because they plan before implementation. They don't trust grassroot efforts in most work. While this works well for them in classically established fields, it makes them fall flat on their faces in anything that requires experimentation with scaling. Europe only has two modes: 1. Time-limited research funding (which funds basic sciences) 2. Classical "planned" funding (which funds classical industries) Both are symptoms of low-risk taking ability, the first one is bound on risk by time, the second one by planning. It doesn't have any institution that it can trust that can hand out funding which creates a bridge between the two. The real reason is that there's no EU-wide institution that has the trust and power of the EU-wide population for that purpose. And the fractured democracy is part of the reason for that.