France is a good example of a country where its citizens and leaders have chosen to protect the status quo at the expense of innovation, advancement and particularly at the expense of our generation (namely those born in the 80s). This is a trend that I find is beginning to happen in the US... less productive (and more expensive) older workers are creating rules & legislation to protect themselves (unions are classic examples of this... AirBnb & Uber are constantly fighting this). We have to stand up for free markets else we'll fall victim on the road to serfdom.
You know, you can think that but, ITER, concorde, ariane, Airbus, M51, part of LHC, some air carriers are created partly here. It's not startuppy at all, but I would not say nothing happens. There is some kind of state driven innovation. I don't like it but it exists and gets shit done.
