What makes you think this is a new development? When many of these large companies got started Europe was still recovering from World War II, even up until the '90s and continuing today. Europe isn't problem free, but in the grand scheme of things certainly getting better.

The "digital evolution" article is just ridiculous. Sweden which is "receding" has had three exits of more than a billion dollars in the last 12 months. Switzerland which is a "stand out" has, as far as I can tell, one tech startup valued at a billion dollars ever. Both countries have similar population and history.