Why does all of the interesting 50plus research go on in the US?

I was reading an article the MIT technology review about the use of the Internet by people over the age of 60. It was OK, nothing startling. But, what was really interesting was the subsequent comments that had been made about the article. Firstly, all of them were by people in their 60s – not a surprise I guess – and secondly they all mentioned the small font size that was used on the MIT site and how hard it made to read. A number of them then went on to tell MIT how to modify the site to improve things. This was not at a trivial level but some complex technical commentary.

Most of the comments came from a group involved with the media lab at MIT who, for the last 3 years, have been researching the use of the Web by older people. One of the results of this is a weekly magazine that is published by the group. Worth looking at.

Why do I not see this type of activity taking place in Europe? Maybe I am not looking in the right place. Advice please.