[KineticLensman]

The big difference is that Europe is a collection of independent national governments, many of which were/are keen to independently support their own distinct domestic tech industries. The EU doesn't run the sort of big projects that dole out large amounts of govt money to tech, particularly in defence, which is notoriously partisan. France, Germany, Italy and the UK are all separately in the world top-ten defence exporters chart.

[nextos]

Actually UK, France, Italy, Germany, UK, Spain, and Poland are in the top 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry#World's_largest_...

The problem is collaboration. Too much fragmentation and piles of bureaucracy.