Europe's top tech officials are warning that the region's reluctance to celebrate its technological achievements could keep the region permanently in the shadow of the US.
"Often people in Europe are too negative. Sometimes people think innovation is just for Silicon Valley," Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for the Digital Agenda, said in a speech in September.
"The fact is, here in Europe, we have many great success stories – but we are not telling them. There are so many talented people working to make their ideas a reality. So many innovations and innovators."
The 28-country European Union may have a pool of 80 million euros ($109 million) to give the region's startups a helping hand in 2014 but is it a case of too little, too late for Europe's start-up technology industry?
Is the US better than Europe?
The U.S. has been the leader in churning out global technology giants that were once startups, from Google to Facebook, while European companies have remained less well-known.
(Read more: The world's hot start-ups)
But this doesn't necessarily mean there aren't some successful European startups, according to one venture capitalist firm that was the first investor in video calling platform Skype, which is based in Luxembourg and founded by a team of Estonian, Danish and Swedish entrepreneurs.
