: Sick of paying the US tech tax and relinquishing talent to other continents, politicians finally wake up
  • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    From the strategy paper:

    It aims to create a dynamic ecosystem where … failure is seen as a necessary step to progress. The strategy will drive policy and regulatory changes across the EU, with the Commission leading by example.

    Is this a good idea? There is always the risk of failure, but why make it a necessity?

    • PhilipTheBucketOPA
      2·
      2 days ago

      I think what they’re saying is that if your ecosystem doesn’t have a lot of failure in it, it’s not a startup ecosystem. 80-90% of startups fail, so if your system isn’t okay with that, the startups are of necessity going to go somewhere else.

      • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        That should be the mindset.

        However they speak of steps, and that the commission will lead by example. It doesn’t feel right. Will the commission take risks and try various regulations to see what is successful?

        They also think that the bottleneck is venture capital so that they create their own scaleup fund. That fund will be run by bureaucrats. There is no network of experienced businessmen who support their investment beyond financing.

        Yet, the EU financial system remains predominantly bank-centred, with bank assets totalling 300% of EU GDP, compared to just 85% in the US.

        This has ‘we have startup at home’ energy. Either the EU increases the number of billionaires or they train a new class of bureaucrats who are not risk averse but still loyal enough to manage billions of euros.

        It is time for Europe to become a startup powerhouse. Our competitiveness and ultimately prosperity depend on it.

        This is existential. It’s not enough to copy some startup culture. The Commission cannot be in control but expect others to create the future of the economy.

        In the USA, the billionaires are in control and they organize the future. The commission has to do much more. Maybe they should also take a look at China and its party.

        If they want regular people to step up and do the founding without billionaires, they have to create much more infrastructure. All the things that the billionaires or the party provides, somebody else had to do that.

        It’s also short sighted to focus on research institutions for founders. Everybody should be enabled to bring a good idea to life, especially people with real life experiences.