> It is also why you really don't see any actual innovation come out of Europe.
There's actually quite a lot of incremental innovation happening in Europe, but they're in non-consumer spaces so they're less visible.
But you're right, a lot of European innovation is in the area of refining and improving proven ideas. The pool of technical expertise in Europe is vast and strong so it makes sense to leverage the competitive advantage there.
The U.S. on the other hand is much stronger at defying norms and inventing completely new categories.
U.S. companies know this, so the joke in industry is: invent in the U.S., perfect in Europe (setup R&D labs etc.), and manufacture in China.
There's actually quite a lot of incremental innovation happening in Europe, but they're in non-consumer spaces so they're less visible.
But you're right, a lot of European innovation is in the area of refining and improving proven ideas. The pool of technical expertise in Europe is vast and strong so it makes sense to leverage the competitive advantage there.
The U.S. on the other hand is much stronger at defying norms and inventing completely new categories.
U.S. companies know this, so the joke in industry is: invent in the U.S., perfect in Europe (setup R&D labs etc.), and manufacture in China.