You have to out-invent, out-sell, and out-implement your economic rivals. You can't out-regulate them, because if you create an economic island with nothing but strict regulations, there's no strong incentive for the rest of the world to connect with that island.

Now, if EU regulations created an amazing place to live where everybody's inventing and implementing the future, that would be great. (And the EU does have lots of common-sense regulations with a high return on investment). The best way to set the tone of the future is to build it yourself, not complain about what someone else built.