Europe must not become the digital third world
Why don’t Europe and Belgium, which train brilliant engineers every year, have more large tech companies on their territory? Who’s fault, what?
It is the story of a hen who wanted to fly away. In front of it, however, stands a major obstacle: the arrears of its wings are cut so that it does not fly beyond the fence. How then to gain height, in Europe and the Kingdom of Belgium?
Explanation of the animal metaphor: the hen symbolizes the leader of a start-up or a technological scale-up which does not always find an ecosystem capable of supporting its legitimate development ambition.
The numbers, relentless, the detector: digital Europe is closer to Africa than the Americas or Asia-Pacific. Of the world’s largest tech platforms, 45% are located in 100 Asia, 41% in America, 12% in Europe and 2% in Africa. In terms of valuation, the figures are even worse: 66% of technology companies are American, 29% Asian, 3% European and 2% African (1).
Why are we lagging behind?
Why don’t Europe and Belgium, which train brilliant engineers every year, have more large tech companies on their territory? Who’s fault, what? With us, we cannot blame the quality of our teaching, which is accessible to as many people as possible and plays a decisive role in the social lift. And we count many entrepreneurs who have a vision, impressive creativity and talent.
It is essential that our Walloon ecosystem better understand the digital revolution we are going through. Indeed, there are still far too many decision-makers, too many banks and too many investors who only believe and value what they see.
Then what ? Without being exhaustive, we can put forward several explanations, including the smallness of our country which thus produces fewer unicorn candidates than the lower financial standing of investors. Some also invoke the taxation too heavy and the cost of labor too high, but that is not in my opinion the gist of the debate.
On the other hand, there is a major pitfall that concerns me and that we do not talk about enough: our ecosystem, which is still not fully understood and integrated into the revolution, and which does not sufficiently support technology companies in their course for global leadership.
Better support our companies in the face of global competition
It is essential that our Walloon ecosystem – and a fortiori Belgian and European – better understand the digital revolution that we are going through. Indeed, there is still too many decision-makers, too many banks and too many investors who only believe and value what they see, namely tangible assets, such as buildings or production lines.
And who, therefore, do not integrate the enormous potential of technological nuggets and their data. The company that I lead uses our technology to bring together billions of data in a cloud and thus prevent machine failures in thousands of factories around the world. With the key, fewer accidents, better protection of the environment or even more efficient industrial production – we can measure all the importance with the manufacture of vaccines, for example.
We can and must move faster and stronger so as not to leave a digital third world to our children.
Whether it concerns I-care or thousands of other technological companies, in Belgium and in Europe, it is high time for all the players in our society to paradigm changer. Yes, the digital revolution is more than ever underway in all sectors and, yes, digital assets and data need to be better valued, in every sense of the word.
Of course, mentalities change rapidly and Belgium has made enormous progress in recent years. But that’s not enough. I meet more and more ambitious entrepreneurs who are not afraid to take risks. It is also up to the surrounding ecosystem to better support them to enable them to become world leaders in their sector. We can and must go faster and harder so as not to leave a digital third world to our children. Even late, with the will and an ecosystem that does not cut its wings, Belgium can still get on the digital revolution train and shine there. Sky is the limit.
Fabrice Brion
CEO of I-care