Is China really the next frontier?
Is China really the next Silicon Valley? As much as I respect Steve Blank opinions, I don’t think so.
As Blank pointed it out in his magistral lecture yesterday about “The Past, Present, and Future of Silicon Valley” at the AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford, the problem for all the other Silicon Valley wannabes is first and foremost, the lack of a risk taking culture. “Silicon Valley was done by cowboys, not accountants. And even the investors were cowboys,” Blank adds.
But, in fairness, the lack of risk-taking doesn’t really apply to China, where “capitalism has gone wild.”
But there’s more than just a strong – but controlled – capitalism spirit, an “obscene pile of money,” a successful “manufacturing engine,” and the ability to educate the masses to spur innovation, Silicon Valley-style.
The missing ingredient? I believe Freedom – political, spiritual… – is as important to create this sense of purpose, compassion and community which could nicely be summarized by this Silicon Valley belief that “the sky is the limit.” Not the case in China today.
Filed under: economy, news, startups Tagged: AlwaysOn, sas10 
Jean-Baptiste Su is the technology columnist for L’Expansion, the leading business publication in France. He’s also the co-founder and editor of TechPulse 360, a blog at the crossroads of business and technology, exploring the innovation and companies defining the high-tech and clean-tech industries.
Jean-Baptiste started his journalistic career 18 years ago at IDG in France, first as reporter at InfoPC (PC World) and then senior editor at Le Monde Informatique (ComputerWorld). He later joined Decision Informatique, part of Groupe Tests (01 Informatique, 01net.com…) as senior editor, before heading to France’s financial daily newspaper La Tribune as its local Silicon Valley correspondent.
