"It's about the entrepreneurial ethos of Californian universities."

The Register: One thing Lisbon saw from its economic perspective was that in order for Europe to become as "dynamic" as the US, its citizens need be clued up on technology. George Osbourne had something of Lisbon in him when he said to an audience of Silicon Valley go-getters, you're better than anyone else, and you have more to show for it, and you know why? "It's about the entrepreneurial ethos of Californian universities."

If only European universities could foster the "growth of dynamic new companies" like the Yanks do with the help of their easy capital and "cheap and effective" patent system, he said.

Patents offer an interesting perspective on Osbourne's question. Most European experts agree that the US system is cheap, but they also think it is lax and of poor quality.

The European system may not be perfect, frayed by national differences as it is, but it is steeped in proud tradition and its officers are meticulous about quality. It is also fettered by heritage enshrined in different national constitutions. The European patent office expects it could take 10 years before current reform of the European system will deliver the first ever Community patent. The last set of reforms, the 2000 revision of the European Patent Convention, is still to be ratified.

Oh, for a blank sheet of paper and a decent draughtsman. The US system, like much of everything else they have, was drawn on a blank sheet (the competence of the draughtsman is _).

The EC thinks the blank sheet afforded East European countries like Estonia by the wholesale rejection of their Communist heritage has given them the opportunity to leapfrog much of Western Europe in the official league of dynamic digital societies.