…is probably buried deep in his/her books/lab equipment/ science kit somewhere in China or Japan (or India).
A recent survey reveals that “only one in five Americans believe that the “next Bill Gates” will come from the United States“.
Further, “practically half of all Americans (49 percent) believe that the next great technology leader will come from either China or Japan.”
The picture gets more complicated when the data is drilled down. There is a generational difference in perceptions re. Japan and China’s ability to produce the next Mr Gates…and amongst higher-income earners, US is still considered to be the place where the next Bill Gates would come from (followed by India and China).
The complete results are here and a full analysis (incl. cross-tab results) is here
January 4th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
China, Global Competition, India, Japan, Miscellaneous |
one comment
A feature on “Investing in Japan” in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (Dec 14, ’06, Pg 6) caught my eye with a very powerful and compelling graphic of the size of the economy.
It had a map of Japan with different regions and a comparison of their GDPs with different countries (See scanned map here).
The graphic immediately brought to mind a point I have made several times before about the indifference that most people have about Japan. In spite of the economic ascendancy of China and India (which is no doubt relentless and will continue for a long time), Japan remains the world’s second largest economy ($4.7 trillion in ’05 vs. $2.2 trillion for China*) and a showcase of leading-edge technology in mobile communications, displays, new materials and more recently solar and alternative energy (see Shin’s recent comment on my post about parking lot solar panels).
So it is surprising that not more people pay attention to what is happening there in terms of technology and innovation.
What drives this apathy?
No doubt distance is a barrier – but more than that, it may be a business culture that is still notoriously difficult to understand (in terms of decision-making and process) and formal behaviour that is inscrutable to most observers. I will shut up at this point as no doubt my good friend Shin will have something to say on this…(Shin, feel free to rip me apart if I am out of touch…)
Having said that, things are changing…In the last few years that I began visiting Japan once again (after a hiatus of almost five years), I have met VCs like Shin and Mori (who sound more like Silicon Valley than anywhere in Japan), have seen shoe-shine boys outside Tokyo station and have consistently found things cheaper than in London (not to mention the Japan-only models of products which are a style apart)
And slowly but steadily, more and more gaijins seem to be paying attention to what is going on in the country. I will certainly be watching for many years to come.
.
* Although on a PPP basis, China at $8.8 trillion is more than double Japan at $4.0 trillion; India is a shade below at $3.66 trillion
December 17th, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
Global Competition, Japan, Venture Capital in Asia |
2 comments
Last Tuesday evening (22nd Aug), at an ASVC event in Palo Alto, I had a great opportunity to share views & thoughts on the VC environment and ecosystem in India, China and Japan with Claude Leglise and Yasuo Miyazawa. Thanks to the hard work by Vinie and her team, we had an impressive turn-out and a very lively Q&A that went well beyond what we had anticipated.Tom Savage from Wilson, Sonsini moderated the discussion during which Claude (now with W I Harper) shared his insights about China and Yasuo who heads NIF Ventures offices in Silicon Valley commented on recent developments in Japan.
Keep Reading…
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
China, India, Japan, Venture Capital |
no comments
Talking of Globalization, one of the few people I have come across who really “get it” is Tetsuya Mori. Mori has spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley and returned to Japan a couple of years ago to head Mitusbishi-UFJ’s new VC fund.
Here’s a pointer to his investment philosophy:
Japan’s No. 4 VC Firm Created – Diamond Capital and UFJ Capital merge to create new venture capital firm
October 13, 2005
Two corporate venture capital arms said Thursday they’ve merged, creating the fourth-largest venture capital firm in
Japan. Diamond Capital, a unit of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, and UFJ Capital, an arm of UFJ Holdings, combine operations as of October 1 as part of a merger of their corporate parents.
The newly merged firm, known as Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, has about $500 million in capital under management and the capacity to invest up to $100 million a year. While the firm will focus mainly on the Japanese market, it plans to expand its cross-border operations and look for investment opportunities—especially in the life sciences and information technology industries—in the United States, China, South Korea, and
India.
“Through syndication with globally minded venture capital firms in other geographies and by giving access to our capital, domain expertise, and network, we will assist startups wanting to leverage Japan as a step towards global expansion,” said Toshio Iwasaki, a managing director of the Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. “A mystery in the VC community is that few VCs are willing to invest across borders while technologies and business are increasingly cross-border,” said Mr. Mori. “This has created an interesting void to fill. We fill the void.”
June 30th, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
Japan |
no comments
Talking of Globalization, one of the few people I have come across who really “get it” is Tetsuya Mori. Mori has spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley and returned to Japan a couple of years ago to head Mitusbishi-UFJ’s new VC fund.
Here’s a pointer to his investment philosophy:
Japan’s No. 4 VC Firm Created – Diamond Capital and UFJ Capital merge to create new venture capital firm
October 13, 2005
Two corporate venture capital arms said Thursday they’ve merged, creating the fourth-largest venture capital firm in
Japan. Diamond Capital, a unit of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, and UFJ Capital, an arm of UFJ Holdings, combine operations as of October 1 as part of a merger of their corporate parents.
The newly merged firm, known as Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, has about $500 million in capital under management and the capacity to invest up to $100 million a year. While the firm will focus mainly on the Japanese market, it plans to expand its cross-border operations and look for investment opportunities—especially in the life sciences and information technology industries—in the United States, China, South Korea, and
India.
“Through syndication with globally minded venture capital firms in other geographies and by giving access to our capital, domain expertise, and network, we will assist startups wanting to leverage Japan as a step towards global expansion,” said Toshio Iwasaki, a managing director of the Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. “A mystery in the VC community is that few VCs are willing to invest across borders while technologies and business are increasingly cross-border,” said Mr. Mori. “This has created an interesting void to fill. We fill the void.”
June 30th, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
Japan |
no comments
Last year, I had the great opportunity to present at the Symbian Summit in Tokyo where I spoke on Innovation. Here are some of the slides that I presented Symbian Summit Tokyo
June 29th, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
Conferences and Panels, Japan, My Presentations |
no comments
