I have been surrounded by the voices of entrepreneurship for the past many months now. This is primarily from reading material on blogs, tech websites and different fora for discussions and information exchange. A lot of this material emanates from Silicon Valley which has a reputation as a place where world changing businesses are setup by some really smart people.
The drawback of being so smart is perhaps that you lose sight of things beyond your bubble. People in the rough and tumble of these discussions are so focused on the Silicon Valley brand of entrepreneurship that they tend to miss the things they could learn from thriving systems in other parts of the world. And by that, I don’t mean non-Silicon Valley places like Boston, Austin or Boulder, though those are great systems too.
I mean India and China.
While no one in their right minds would say that you could equate a Shenzen or Mumbai or Dalian or Bangalore or Chengdu or Noida with the evolved system in Silicon Valley today, I think it is important for SV investors to realize that while they are ahead of the game at this point of time, businesses in these lower profile places have developed and are developing key structural capabilities that in the long run will outshine their US peers.
While SV investors are looking to fund the next big web app or social network, companies in India and China have built or are building key skills in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean technology, power, health care, medical devices, low-cost drug manufacturing, human resources etc. My take is that the US is slowly losing its leadership in “hard” areas in favor of short term returns on low-barrier technologies. This in turn leads to a loss of innovation incentives and the technical DNA that enable companies, countries and ecosystems to gradually build the capabilities to tackle the problems fifty years from now. This sentiment is also echoed in some ways in this article by Mr. Andy Grove.
I am starting this series as a personal exploration into some really innovative and potentially world changing businesses that are based in any place that is not Silicon Valley.
I invite thoughts and recommendations on companies that you think are innovating and setting the trends. This is a shared learning experience and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.
