Europe’s Innovation Problem: We Build It, Then Give It Away or Sell It Too Early
The Pattern is Clear:
OPEN SOURCE (gave away for $0): → Linux, Python, PHP, Git, WWW → Built the entire internet economy: $50T+ → Europe got: $0
Open Source: Europe got $0 → USA built trillion-dollar industries on our free technology
Early Exits: Europe got ~$50 billion total → USA made 5-10x more in long-term growth
Minecraft: sold $2.5B, now worth $25B+ (10x loss)
→ Skype: sold $8.5B, Teams worth $50B+ (6x loss)
→ DeepMind: sold $500M, Google AI worth $30B+ (60x loss)
Stayed Independent: Europe retains $650+ billion in value → AND keeps strategic control + jobs + tax revenue
The Real Numbers:
If we had kept just these companies instead of selling:
- Minecraft: $2.5bn → could be worth $25bn+ today ($22bn lost)
- Skype: $8.5bn → Teams infrastructure worth $50bn+ ($40bn+ lost)
- DeepMind: $500m → Google’s AI core worth $30bn+ ($30bn lost)
- King: $5.9bn → still minting billions, probably worth $15bn+ ($10bn lost)
Total value lost by selling too early: ~$100+ billion
If we had taken even 1% royalty on open source:
- WWW: €500bn/year
- Linux: €100bn/year
- PHP: €50bn/year
- Python: €200bn/year
Total lost: €850 billion PER YEAR
The Lesson:
✅ Spotify proves it works – refused billions, now worth $50bn
✅ ASML proves it works – stayed European, now worth $300bn
✅ SAP proves it works – scaled globally from Germany, $200bn
❌ We sell too early – VCs want quick exits, founders take the money
❌ We give away open source – then buy it back as AWS/Azure customers
The question isn’t ”Can Europe innovate?”
The question is: ”When will we stop selling our innovation too cheap, too early?”
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