How can Europe translate its strength in research and innovation into building global tech champions? This question lies at the heart of this DLD26 expert panel discussion, moderated by John Thornhill (Financial Times) that brings together Ann Mettler (Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy), Oxford economist Carl Benedikt Frey, and Infineon board member Andreas Urschitz.
Mettler highlights Europe’s failure to scale innovation. The continent “has not produced a single deep tech startup with a market cap above 100 billion euros in over 50 years”, she notes, warning that Europe’s fragmented markets and over-regulation lead to “stagnation by design.”
Frey argues that Europe’s best chance lies in charting its own path, rather than trying to imitate China or the United States – especially in a fast-moving fields like Artificial Intelligence and semiconductors. “We don’t know if the future of AI is large language models” or a different approach, he notes. “And the only way of finding out is investing in different approaches, hedging your bets, and seeing what ends up catching on.”
Urschitz points to microcontrollers, power electronics, and sensors as technologies where European companies hold significant global market shares. But he feels the continent should identify “strategic innovations that we must put our resources into” because today “we put our money into many, many, many baskets.”
Watch the video for further insights.
