Harvard and European Commission Measurement Finds: Fragmentation of European Regulation Reduces Competitiveness in Complex Research Fields, with Exceptions Only for Green Tech and Semiconductors
Investment blogger Joachim Klement cites research by Balland et al. (2026) from a team at Harvard and the European Commission to explain how fragmentation in regulatory and funding systems across European countries undermines competitiveness by increasing collaboration friction, a disadvantage that amplifies as research field complexity increases. Measurements show the United States leads in complex fields such as AI, computer technology, and biotechnology, while Europe maintains an advantage only in the two complex fields of green technology and semiconductors.
In an article published on October 22, 2026, investment blogger Joachim Klement cited research by Balland et al. (2026) from a team at Harvard and the European Commission, offering a structural explanation for Europe's technological competitiveness: the fragmentation of regulatory and funding systems increases cross-institutional collaboration costs, and these costs amplify as the complexity of the research field increases.
European countries have different regulatory rules and funding agencies. Klement points out that a researcher working in Germany attempting to collaborate with peers in Spain or the UK must navigate a jungle of institutions, rules, and regulations. In contrast, academic researchers and technology development enterprises in the United States face essentially one unified system of grant-making institutions and one unified regulatory framework.
The key is that this difference does not constitute an obstacle in research that can be conducted within a single institution. However, when research enters fields such as AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology, requiring increasingly more collaborators with diverse expertise, the fragmented institutional environment translates into actual collaboration friction. Klement concludes that the less fragmented research environment in the United States provides a structural advantage over Europe in complex fields.