Nobody here is seriously suggesting the EU doesn't compete economically. The conversation is focused on tech companies, which is in the subject of the thread. Broadly the EU competes very well with the US, China and globally more generally. In most tech areas the EU continues to lag far behind the US and China.

except you seem to think (like many others commenters in this thread) that "tech" means solely "silicon valley-type startups", which it does not.

I'll give you some examples that usually stun the average Italian hence they usually stun most other people as well. You think Italy and probably think fashion but in fact the Top 10 Italian exports are (first semi-random results):

  1) Machinery including computers: US$116 billion (17.2% of total exports)
  2) Pharmaceuticals: $55.5 billion (8.2%)
  3) Vehicles: $47 billion (7%)
  4) Electrical machinery, equipment: $45.8 billion (6.8%)
  5) Gems, precious metals: $25.7 billion (3.8%)
  6) Plastics, plastic articles: $24.3 billion (3.6%)
  7) Articles of iron or steel: $21.4 billion (3.2%)
  8) Mineral fuels including oil: $19.4 billion (2.9%)
  9) Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $17.4 billion (2.6%)
  10) Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $16.4 billion (2.4%)

I see a lot of "tech" in this list, I had this very same conversation with a German Private Equity last week but they are well aware and invest in "tech", just not the "tech" the average HN visitor think about

"Tech" as in "toolmaking" is a category so broad to be almost useless. (And somewhat questionable too, when the likes of Google make money with something that is more of a service : advertising.)

"Infocom" has always been clearer to me, not sure why its usage waned so much ?