Everything wrong with Europe's tech scene, according to the ex-CEO of Google

The former Google CEO, who now serves as the executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, appeared at the Startup Fest Europe conference in the Netherlands on May 24, discussing everything from artificial intelligence to Google's new chat app Allo -- as well as its regulatory environment. Google is currently the subject of antitrust investigations by the European Commission over alleged anti-competitive practices relating to Search and Android, and could face billions in fines. Asked by CNBC interviewer Julia Chatterley about the problems facing Google-linked venture capital firm GV, Schmidt said there are "lots of issues in the European Union that have to get addressed" -- and went on to list what he perceives to be the key problems holding back the continent's tech scene, from education to legislation. "Let's start with the universities in Europe. We hire incredibly smart people that come out of the European universities. Universities themselves are underfunded relative to the American universities, by a lot."