Europe's IT sector loses out to Asia and US European information technology companies generate less than 10 per cent of the industry's global revenues, following decades of under-investment in the sector. The region still accounts for nearly a quarter of the world's IT consumption, but European companies are losing out to Asian and US competitors in terms of sales, according to figures released on Monday. Only 15 of the top 100 global IT companies are headquartered in Europe, and of these, none is the leader in its market segment, according to research by AT Kearney, the consulting company. Jan Stenger, one of the authors of the report, argues that the loss of IT production could have far-reaching consequences for Europe. "A healthy high-tech sector is an essential pillar of a modern economy," said Mr Stenger. IT is really at the core of many other industries, and if we lose that, we will lose competitiveness in many others as well. The trend has accelerated recently in other sectors, such as semiconductors, where European companies such as Qimonda have gone out of business. Several European chip businesses were rolled into a single operation at ST- Ericsson, which is nevertheless struggling to control its heavy losses. Mr Stenger argues that the high cost of labour in Europe is part of the problem. The average European engineering salary was $75,900 in 2010, compared with $26,800 in India and $16,900 in China, according to the Electronic Engineering Times" Global Salary and Opinion Survey. Europe also suffers from a lack of skilled engineers. Just 17 per cent of all students in the EU are enrolled on an engineering, mathematics or computer science course, according to a Unesco study, compared with 31 per cent in China, 35 per cent in Taiwan and 35 per cent in Korea. Although the US is even further behind, with just 8 per cent of students in a maths or engineering course, an intake of about 32,000 skilled foreigners each year helps the country compensate. Lack of funding is another problem. Europe invests $15bn less a year in venture capital than the US, according to a recent study by the European Commission. The same study found that Europe invests 0.8 percentage points less of gross domestic product in research and development and 1.5 percentage points less than Japan. Asian and US companies, such as Samsung, Qualcomm, Panasonic, Sony and LG are now among the top ten most prolific filers of patents in Europe. "European structures are not set up to help companies scale," said Mr Stenger. We need a five or 10-year plan, and to work out which high-tech segments we want to work on. It could be areas such as nanotechnology or medical technology. We want to go to the EU with this study as a wake-up call.