Europe Is Not Behind. It Is Misjudged.

Europe is often framed as lagging in technology because it produces fewer platform giants and lower market capitalisations. This paper challenges that assumption. It argues that Europe has built power differently — through indispensable positions in global ecosystems rather than platform domination. What looks like weakness through American metrics is, in many cases, a strategic capability shaped for fragmented, real-world markets. This is not a call for imitation, but a reframing of how European strength should be understood.