European competitiveness in information technology and long-term scientific performance

The reasons behind the poor competitiveness of the European information technology (IT) industry vis-a-vis the US one have been discussed many times. This paper suggests that the long-term competitiveness of science-based industries is dependent on the ability of the underlying scientific base to support fast growing, turbulent and proliferating search regimes. This requires institutional mechanisms that foster severe selection of scholars from a large base, student and researcher mobility, and strong institutional complementarity with user industries. The paper compares the history of IT in the USA, Germany, the UK and France. Based on the analysis of the curriculum vitae of the top 1,000 scientists in computer science, it shows that these conditions were only met in the US academic system.