Thanks for the feedback Fransesco!

Just a couple of minor remarks. The Acorn Archemedes which was a RISC based home computer was not based on American microprocessors. What you had in mind was the earlier 8-bit BBC micro they made. The Archimedes was a 32-bit ARM chip which was completely designed in Britain.

Yes, Americans made the first microprocessors, but I think it is fair to remark on innovations here as the computer itself was of course a European invention.

Integrated curcuits was also a concept first developed in Europe. That is essentially what a microprocessor is: Take key parts of a computer and place on an integrated circuit. America was simply faster at commercializing this technology. There was of course more money and bigger markets in the US to pursue something like that at the time. Europe was rebuilding after a destructive war.

As for seatbelts. It proves a bit my point in the conclusions. All inventions tend to be gradual evolutions of related concepts. A lot of "inventions" are not quite as revolutionary as they may seem once you see the precursors.

My point of this article was not really to "win" a competition for Europe, but to push back against the idea that somehow the US invented most of the modern world or it somehow would not exist without the US. Usually people in a large variety of countries have been involved in evolving the products we use today. Often an evolution of a product is far more impressive than the initial incarnation of it.