Nicolas Brusson, the founder of BlaBlaCar, the French ride-sharing start-up that in June raised $100m to expand across Europe, got the biggest laugh of the week at the DLD technology conference in Munich. Asked about operating in a “single market” with 28 sets of laws and regulations, he replied: “When you start from France, everything looks simple.”
DLD is where tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from the US and Europe gather to discuss their industry before they shuttle to Davos for the World Economic Forum. In Munich, they chew over the contrasts between the two continents: risk-taking versus safety nets, the free market versus regulations, start-ups versus incumbents.
The notable thing about this year’s event, though, was that this no longer felt like the biggest issue. Instead of the main question being whether Europe can get its act together to take on Silicon Valley, it was whether technological progress will swallow us all, no matter where we live and work.