When a country or region falls into the "middle-level technology trap", it means that its product technology is trapped in the middle or even low end of the global industrial chain and value chain, making it difficult to achieve technological innovation and industrial upgrading. At present, the global science and technology frontier has made breakthroughs in many areas, and the gap between Europe and the United States in emerging technology fields is gradually widening, especially in cutting-edge key technologies such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing and microchips. This dilemma is not only related to Europe's own development, but also has a profound impact on the global science and technology landscape. Europe's scientific and technological competitiveness shows signs of decline. The basic strength of science and technology companies and scientific research institutions is gradually out of touch. Although Europe has a world-class scientific ecosystem, including more than 30 of the world's top 100 universities and top scientific research institutions such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the number and quality of its technology companies are seriously insufficient, resulting in Europe's strong scientific research strength not being effectively transformed into corporate scientific and technological productivity. For example, in the "2024 Global Top 100 Technology Brand Values" released by a British brand evaluation agency, only 9 are located in Europe, and none of the top ten companies are from Europe. In contrast, the United States has 46 companies in the top 100, China has 25, Japan, South Korea and India have a total of 17 companies, and the United States has 26 companies in the top 50, China has 13, Japan, South Korea and India have a total of 8 companies, and Europe has only 3 companies. Key technologies are lagging behind. In key technology fields such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing and microchips, the gap between Europe and China and the United States continues to widen. In terms of investment, the EU's private investment in artificial intelligence is only US$45 billion, far lower than the US$300 billion in the United States and US$91 billion in China. In terms of corporate growth, Europe is also not as good as the United States and China. For example, China's Huawei, although ranked 15th in the above-mentioned top 100 list, its strength in 5G communication technology, chip research and development and other fields is at the global leading level, and its future growth is further optimistic, and it will show stronger competitiveness. On the contrary, due to the lagging behind of key technologies, Europe lacks technology companies with good growth. The gap in key technologies has gradually marginalized Europe in the global science and technology competition. Digital products have long relied on external supply. 80% of the digital products, services and infrastructure needed by the EU rely on third-party suppliers, showing its vulnerability in the digital economy. For example, the world's 1,453 unicorn companies are distributed in 53 countries and 291 cities, of which 78% of the company's products and services are mainly related to the digital economy, such as financial technology, software services and artificial intelligence industries. The United States leads with 703 companies, China ranks second with 340 companies, and India ranks third with 67 companies. The 27 member states of the European Union have only 109 unicorn companies, accounting for 7.5% of the global total, far lower than the EU's 15% contribution to the world's GDP. The insufficient number of European unicorn companies shows that Europe's external dependence in the field of digital products will increase in the future. The reason why Europe fell into the "middle-tech trap". The total amount of R&D investment is insufficient and the structure is not good. Data shows that in 2023, the EU's R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP) will be only 2.2%, far lower than the United States' 3.5%, lower than China's 2.65%, and far lower than South Korea's nearly 5%. In addition, Europe's R&D investment is mainly concentrated in medium-tech fields such as automobiles, rather than strategic advanced technologies and cutting-edge technologies. In particular, Europe's investment in digital fields such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain technology, and quantum computers still lags far behind its main competitors, the United States and China. This insufficient total investment and poor structure have led to a gradual weakening of Europe's competitiveness in the high-tech field. Innovative talents are facing a serious loss. Despite its huge economic size and rich cultural heritage, the EU still faces fierce competition from the United States and China in attracting global talent. Due to more than a decade of basic economic stagnation and language barriers, Europe is at a disadvantage in the global talent competition. At the same time, the United States is still the first choice for many EU talents seeking opportunities. Europe lacks technology giants such as Google, Amazon, and Huawei, making it difficult to attract and retain top talents. Considering salary levels and career development prospects, a large number of high-tech talents in Europe flow to the United States and China. Market fragmentation coexists with excessive regulation. Although the 27 EU member states have formally established a single EU market, the EU market is still severely fragmented due to differences in language, culture and regulations among member states. The innovation gap within and between member states still exists, making it difficult to form a joint force, which hinders the advancement of large-scale scientific and technological projects. At the same time, although strict privacy and security supervision protects consumers, it also restricts technological innovation and the growth of start-ups. The shortcomings of various innovative market environments have affected the overall scientific and technological innovation development of the EU. Problems and defects in innovation mechanisms and governance capabilities. The innovation dilemma currently faced by the EU is not only a technical problem, but also a cultural and institutional problem. For example, compared with other countries, Europe's political and economic systems are more decentralized, resulting in uncoordinated policy making and waste of innovation resources. In addition, the EU's protection of intellectual property rights is relatively weak, which limits Europe's innovation capabilities. To reverse this situation, the EU needs to fundamentally reshape its innovation culture. Impact on the global scientific and technological landscape. Weaken Europe's own advantages and aggravate internal development imbalances. If Europe cannot break free from the shackles of the "middle-tech trap", its innovation ecosystem will fall into a long period of decline. With its strong scientific research background and a complete system of industry-university-research integration, the United States continues to lead the technology trend in the field of artificial intelligence and continuously breaks through the limits of computing speed in the field of supercomputing. China has also gradually relied on its huge domestic market and active policy promotion to achieve world-renowned achievements in many cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, 6G communications, and high-speed rail technology. However, Europe has been struggling to develop in these cutting-edge technology fields. In the wave of the digital economy, it has gradually become a technology follower. Its position in the global industrial chain and value chain has also been declining, and its voice in global science and technology governance has gradually been weakened. The problem of unbalanced development within Europe will also become increasingly prominent. With its advanced scientific and technological research and development and innovation capabilities, Nordic countries have taken a leading position in new energy, biotechnology and other fields. Southern European countries are lagging behind in technological innovation and face many difficulties in industrial upgrading. This widening technological gap between northern and southern Europe has further exacerbated the imbalance in regional development in Europe. The younger generation is confused and disappointed about the future due to limited development opportunities, which is likely to cause a series of social problems and bring severe challenges to Europe's sustainable development. Reshape the global science and technology landscape and add variables to international competition. Europe's fall into the "medium-tech trap" will promote the reshaping of the global scientific and technological innovation landscape. In the past, the stable pattern of the three poles of North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific was broken, and the United States and China rose rapidly to become the dual engines of global scientific and technological innovation. In order to seize the initiative in this new pattern, countries have increased their investment in science and technology, and launched fierce competition around scientific and technological resources, high-end talents and emerging markets. Under the influence of anti-globalization thoughts, Europe's influence in international science and technology and industrial cooperation has gradually weakened, and global scientific and technological cooperation has shown an unfavorable trend of "low-end cooperation and high-end separation". Countries have built barriers in high-end technology to protect their own technological advantages and strategic interests. In the field of medium and low-end technology, due to the problem of unequal profit distribution, the sustainability of cooperation is also facing severe tests. In addition, competition in the field of science and technology has gradually spread to the geopolitical and economic fields, triggering a series of trade frictions, which seriously threatens the stability and development of the global economy. Impact on the global supply system and hinder the coordinated upgrading of industries. Europe has long occupied an important position in the global industrial chain in the past. Its fall into the "medium-tech trap" will have an impact on the stability and cooperation of the global supply chain. Taking the automobile manufacturing industry as an example, as the global automobile industry accelerates its transformation towards electrification and intelligence, Europe lags behind in key technologies such as battery management systems and autonomous driving chips, affecting the upgrading process of the global automobile industry chain. In the aerospace field, the innovation speed of European companies such as Airbus has slowed down, resulting in an extension of the update cycle of related technologies and products, which in turn affects the coordinated development between upstream and downstream companies. In addition, Europe's long-term reliance on external supply for digital products is not only not conducive to the diversification and resilience of the global supply chain, but will also seriously hinder the in-depth promotion of international scientific and industrial cooperation, and bring obstacles to the coordinated upgrading of global industries.
