One advantage was that Europe had coal. Transportation, communication, chemical manufacturing, and industrial efficiency all come back to coal. That's because the Industrial Revolution was all about using different forms of energy to automate production. Additionally, Britain had large supplies of coal, and they were cheap to mine. Another advantage were wages. Britain had the highest wages in the world at the start of the 18th century. This combined with cheap fuel costs, which meant that it was economically efficient for manufacturers to look to machines as a way of lowering their production costs.
