Written by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
The EU is hopelessly behind the US and China on the technology that will lead the future. It will continue like this…
Main image of Horizon Europe.
Sleepwalking into oblivion
Eurointelligence has an interesting article on how Germany is walking towards oblivion.
Current policy debates rightly focus on the consequences of the global bifurcation. But perhaps an even greater danger for the EU is not keeping up with the US and China in high technology. This is an area that does not appear on the radar screens of policymakers and the media. We noted a comment in Germany that describes a scary scenario in which Germany would lose its leadership in the global auto industry. The reporter concluded that this is possible but unlikely. For us, this is the benchmark scenario.
And so it seems to Federico Fubini, who has delved into the market of electric batteries in the Corriere della Sera. Fubini points out that the European car trade surplus derives exclusively from the reduction in the fuel car segment. They have no hope in the fast-growing electric car business. The Chinese sold almost nothing to the Europeans until recently, but now they have become competitive in e-cars (despite the EU’s protectionist car tariff). Fubini points out that the EU has a trade deficit in this sector. Of the ten largest manufacturers of electric batteries, which is one of the basic value-added components of electric cars, six are Chinese, three are from South Korea and one is Japanese.
The decline of the European car industry is a cautionary tale. It’s not just electronic cars, but a whole range of 21st century technologies. Europe is no longer represented in the world’s top ten digital companies. SAP is now at number 11, and there isn’t much after that. Artificial intelligence is largely a duopoly between the US and China. The only European country with a foothold in this sector is Brexit-Great Britain. The UK government has identified AI as the best bet for regulatory divergence in an EU hampered by data protection laws with a one-sided focus on consumers.
It doesn’t really matter where the electric batteries are produced, but who has them. The European car industry is dying, while the EU continues to celebrate the successes of its science and research program, Horizon Europe.
Wave of the future
Electric vehicles are the wave of the future whether you like it or not. Eventually, battery technology will be good enough and costs will drop enough for widespread adoption.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Microsoft invested tens of billions of dollars and Google wants to catch up.
Meanwhile, the EU wants to destroy Google and Microsoft, and has little interest in AI other than wanting to regulate it to death.
The US leads in technology because the EU would break up any company before it was big enough to lead anything.
Proposed AI pause
In the US, Elon Musk, the WSJ and a group of signatories are seeking a 6-month pause in AI development.
On April 1st I commented on the proposed 6 month AI hiatus? Why not 23? Forever? Better yet, none
But a break will not happen, nor should it happen. Technology won’t stop because some people worry that it will kill everyone.
The EU is behind without even intending to compete. Germany still wants to protect diesel.
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