Over the past few decades, the EU has been relegated from global technology player to passive consumer of technologies developed elsewhere. Today, 80 percent of the technologies and services Europe needs for its digital transformation are designed and manufactured beyond its borders, mostly in the US and China. So deep is this consumer mindset that it has even shaped the philosophy behind its laws: the goal of recent tech regulations like the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act was to protect Europeans as consumers by keeping them safe online and ensuring fair competition.