The choices companies and governments make now will determine Europe's future for decades to come. So it's not surprising that they're not yet seeing the benefits. In general, European companies invest less in technology. In the next three years, productivity growth should increase at a slow rate and then pick up, as European companies learn how to better integrate technology into work processes and as the Internet becomes more popular. That's the Catch-22 in Europe right now.
International data show a high correlation between economic growth and use of the Internet.
Those with the lowest technology penetration are also at the bottom economically. For models of technological and economic success, Europeans don't have to look beyond the Continent. A closer examination of economic data shows some surprising success stories right here. Some of the European countries are doing very well in comparison. It isn't the large workhorse economies leading the way, though.