It absolutely could have happened earlier but it would have meant several things happening in the same place at some earlier point in time, not just one. Off the top of my head (remembering my GCSE history essays which went into this ad nauseum):
- A large population (including a pool of rural poor who weren’t tied to the land via feudalism* or slavery, and could move en masse to the cities)
- Relative stability and peace
- Scientific and engineering advancements and the rise of the scientific method (and the wherewithal via the printing press to disseminate them)
- Enough wealthy people who could bum around and do science without worrying about where the money is coming from (a foreign empire that can be plundered for huge piles of cash helps here)
- Large middle class free to exploit technological advances
- Abundant raw materials, particularly fuel in the form of coal
No one of those things was unique to northern Europe in the 1700-1800s but you need all of them for an industrial revolution, and once it starts they produce a positive feedback loop.
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- I know an unfashionable word nowadays, but its is still true that a rural peasant in 1800 Britain was far less tied to the land and able to move to the city than one in 1400.