Europe Pulls Welcome Mat for US Tech Companies

One message so far from the corridors around the World Economic Forum in Davos: US technology companies are very worried about the backlash they are now facing in Europe.

From their standpoint, Europe risks shooting itself in the foot by rejecting the cutting-edge technologies they have brought to the continent. But they would say that, wouldn’t they? Look at it from the European point of view. Europe once led the world in mobile technology: The Global System for Mobile Communications, developed in Europe, became the global standard. But that was a long time ago. Now, most innovation in information and communications technology comes in waves from across the Atlantic. With America’s vibrant capital markets giving them billions of dollars in risk capital, they can absorb the successful European tech enterprises -- look at Skype Technologies, swallowed by Microsoft. These US companies -- Google , Facebook , Amazon and others -- are disrupting industry after industry. Publishing, telecoms and retailing have already been convulsed. Now, the companies, and Google in particular, are turning their gaze from consumer-oriented to business-oriented platforms.