Europe is not a museum. It’s a launchpad.

Europe is not a museum. It’s a launchpad.

- Europe is not just history; it’s a platform for the next generation of global innovators

Dr John Mullins writes for Sifted with a bracing rejoinder to the latest bout of European self-flagellation. In the wake of Emmanuel Macron’s warning that the continent faces a geopolitical and geo-economic emergency, Mullins argues that the greater danger is not American technology or Chinese manufacturing, but Europe’s own weary habit of believing decline is inevitable.

Drawing on decades at London Business School studying how ventures are born and scaled, he contends that Europe is anything but a museum piece. Its dense network of universities, scientific depth, sophisticated customers and centuries-old infrastructure are not relics but launchpads, much as pre-existing institutions and capital once underwrote the Industrial Revolution.

Fragmented markets, heavy regulation and thinner venture funding are real constraints, yet they are design challenges to be solved, not alibis for pessimism; indeed, Europe’s tougher operating environment can produce companies that are resilient rather than brittle.

Mullins points to disciplined European scale-ups such as Spotify and Adyen as evidence that patient expansion and revenue traction can trump hype, a lesson underscored by the implosion of WeWork’s once-lofty valuation. The next sparks, he suggests, may fly from defence and dual-use technologies amid rising geopolitical tension, but Europe’s comparative advantage also lies in aerospace, pharmaceuticals, robotics, climate tech and life sciences, sectors suited to deep science and long time horizons.

Reform of capital markets and university-to-market pipelines is essential, yet the subtlest and most corrosive threat is cultural: a creeping resignation that Europe’s role is merely to regulate while others build. That mindset, Mullins implies, is the one emergency that cannot be afforded.

Now read on: https://sifted.eu/articles/europe-launchpad-brnd