Jose Maria, boss of Telefonica, recently presented at a Spanish confer

Jose Maria, boss of Telefonica, recently presented at a Spanish conference the list of the world’s fifteen most innovative tech companies, and none of these was a European company. Not just that, merely eight out of the world’s two hundred largest digital firms were European. Moreover, data from GP Bullhound shows that the combined market value of two of the most promising European tech firms – Spotify and Zalando - is around $42 billion while Alibaba from China has a market cap of approximately $480 billion, just a little less than that of Facebook, which is valued around $550 billion. The message is clear – Europe is lagging far behind in technology.

The cradle of the industrial revolution has been lagging so far behind in the digital world for numerous reasons. The lack of standardization and the varying rules and regulations across the continent that helped Europe during the industrial revolution are proving to be a disadvantage now: long-term capital investment in tech firms is a distant dream in Europe. Moreover, the practices from the 19th-century industrial revolutions are acting like roadblocks, limiting the propensity of European startups to take risks or to think big and consequently limiting the funding these startups are likely to receive. In fact, the biggest Asian tech firms created since 2000 have raised an average of approximately $7.3 billion, while the corresponding average for European startups has been a mere $1.6 billion. Another significant disadvantage faced by European tech firms is the unavailability of skilled labor. The European education system has not yet adapted to the skill requirements of the European tech firms. To put the situation in perspective, almost half of the European population is not digitally skilled, possibly leading
to a shortfall of 800,000 jobs by 2020.

A lot needs to be done to bring back the lost glory of this continent. We can start with the standardization of processes, and with doing away the existing rules and regulations that do not provide enough motivation to the budding entrepreneurs in Europe and that thereby give an indirect advantage to the American and Asian competitors. Another crucial step that can be undertaken to address the situation is the skill development in the local labor through partnerships such as the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs, aimed at scaling up digital learning. Moreover, creation of a single digital market will provide a pool of skilled labor, data, and capital – immensely helping the startup environment in Europe. However, all such changes will be possible only if we recognize the requirement and impact of these measures, and work towards them with the intent to bring back the former status of this continent. Otherwise, such recommendations will reap no fruits.

1. Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?

A. Standardization of the processes can help Europe overcome the present situation.
B. It will be difficult for Europe to excel in technology without skilled labor.
C. The data from various sources indicates that Europe is lagging in technology.
D. Most of the Europeans are protective of their data, thereby restricting Europe’s technological competitiveness.
E. The situations that favored the industrial revolution are currently going against the developments required for tech companies in Europe

2. As per the passage, what is the impact of industrial revolution on the present situation of Europe?

A. It resulted in the standardization of rules and regulations across the continent which is proving to be a disadvantage now
B. It changed the education system of Europe because of which there is a lack of skilled labor now
C. It divided the continent based on regulations and languages
D. It made it dif}cult for the American and Asian competitors to compete with Europeans
E. It reduced the capacity of people to take risks and think big

3. What is the main point of the passage?

A. To describe the problems that resulted from the Industrial Revolution and the means to tackle the same
B. To describe how Europe can get back its lost glory
C. To discuss reasons that Europe is lagging in the digital field and suggest some changes
D. To explain why Europe lags in the field of technology
E. To mention the advancements that Europe made during the industrial revolution