Will the Digital Markets Act help Europe breed digital giants?

IN THE EARLYIBMSAPSAPEUDMA 1970s a handful of former employees at , then the world’s biggest computer-maker, spent weeks pulling double shifts. During the day they quizzed the workers at a nylon plant in southern Germany about what exactly made their factory tick. At night they painstakingly turned this knowledge into code and tested it. The result of all this toil was one of the world’s first comprehensive pieces of business software. The company behind it, , is still Europe’s mightiest technology titan by revenue, with annual sales of nearly €30bn ($33bn). It has a market value of €123bn as it celebrates its 50th anniversary on April 1st (no joke).Such stamina is a feat, but also raises worrying questions about the European tech industry. Why has remained Europe’s top digital firm for so long? Why has the continent spawned no trillion-dollar Apfel or Amazonie? Might one eventually emerge? And could such a development be speeded by the ’s landmark technology law, the Digital Markets Act (or for short), which the bloc was expected to approve after went to press on March 24th?