The State of the European Innovation Ecosystem
Conventional wisdom says that Europe’s technology markets are far too fractured to support a one-Europe competitive ecosystem of technology innovation and product development. Yet this is exactly the challenge that Europe’s technology investors, entrepreneurs, public sector officials, ITC executives, and early adopter customers must demand from one another.
Indeed, while the conventionally wise may have held firm to this belief in the past, the wisdom is in dire need of rethinking if European technology innovators are to compete on a global stage and European businesses are to remain competitive in global markets.
I tested this theory as I met with investors, startups, service providers, and journalists around Paris and London last week. No one doubted the premise.
“There is no point in one market, if it isn’t really one market,” said Fiona Vickers, an executive recruiter for Highland Partners and a founder of the exclusive business networking organization “The Chemistry” in London. “If Europe is going to be any kind of power [in the global technology market], we must come together. And if we do, Europe has the opportunity to be the leading power.”
Certainly, there are business barriers to creating a unified European technology ecosystem. Yet it seems that nations that have come together under a common currency should be able to find their way to mutually beneficial laws, regulation, and business practices to create an environment in which innovation flourishes.
The challenges could be overcome easily if they were “simply” business issues. Instead, centuries of history, culture and custom divide European countries as much as the Euro and the European Commission attempt to unite it. Europeans -- who travel along routes established by the Romans and live among medieval castles and cathedrals -- have very long memories, indeed. They are rightfully proud and fiercely protective of their heritages, their cultures, and their languages.
And those cultural differences set up very high barriers to business. Take, for example, the conversation I had with a French entrepreneur who has been building his startup entirely in the U.S. He told me, when I asked why he didn’t build the company in his homeland, that “it is too hard to sell in Europe.” Then he told me about a German customer who insisted that native-German speakers be assigned to provide customer services – and that customer service representatives be physically located near the customer’s site. “To roll out in Europe, we would have to place people in every country where we want to do business. That is too expensive. In the U.S., I have an office in Silicon Valley and another in Boston, maybe also in Chicago, and I am covered. It is much more efficient.”
And pity that poor German customer. By placing demand for local, native-German speaking sales and customer support, the customer effectively limits its technology choices only to those companies who are willing to comply with that demand. Surely some startups will do so, but many of the most innovative companies will not. They will seek out larger markets that can be effectively targeted with a few well-placed resources – markets such as the U.S. and China. And the German customer? He’s left without a technology lever to use for business advantage.
That said, after some eight years of Europe watching, it is clear to me that Europeans are eager to see things change. To a person, the people I talk to agree that the time is now to bring together a dialog that promotes a cross-border technology ecosystem in Europe.
In fact, in the most shocking admission, one French venture capitalist acknowledged that English would be the language of business in Europe. Coming from a Frenchman, that is some sign of change, indeed!
Posted by Guidewire Group at April 19, 2005 06:03 PM
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