"The Tech Industry Is Huge—and Europe’s Share of It Is Very Small" A timely WSJ read (link in comments) echoes the EU Draghi report’s diagnosis: Europe is missing the tech wave. The main reasons: cultural risk aversion, tight labor laws, overregulation, weak VC funding, weak economic and demographic growth. Key stats: • VC tech investment is just 20% of U.S. levels • Unicorn value: 2.53T in the U.S. vs. 333B in the EU • Only 4 of the top 50 global tech firms are European • In 50 years: the U.S. built 241 tech giants, Europe only 14 • EU worker productivity is now less than 80% of U.S. levels (was 95%) • EU firms spend 40% of IT budgets on compliance My personal 2 cents: Europe has the talent, zero doubt about that. Where talent meets ambition (e.g. Spotify, Revolut), there is no shortage of capital. We generally over-discuss the lack of funding as a factor, and under-discuss the role of cultural factors.