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Embrace Failure

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

This is one big reason why we don’t do as well as our friends in the US.

They will bet the farm on a good technology, a clear marketing focus and great people so that if they win, they win big.  And they lose big too.  They accept ‘creative destruction’ and move on.

We tend to settle for lower goals, lower risks, lower returns and faster exits.  With some glorious exceptions, we don’t have big  technology firms because we are punished for failing rather than supported for trying.

Who has not learned enormous lessons from big failures?  Perhaps we need a very public forum for those who rolled the dice and lost to tell us how they blew it and what they are doing next?  I am sure our culture might even find government grants to support this in the name of free speech? Facebook for Failures?  Twitter for Turkeys?

Posted in Commercialization, Start-Up | No Responses »
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British Columbia needs a home, a heart, a ‘technology central’.

Monday, February 1st, 2010

In BC we have a little over 4 million souls spread throughout this glorious province – less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the population of the world.

Many of our ‘friendly competitors’ in Canada and abroad have created a place for technology to call home. In some cases this happened by chance, in some cases by design, and occasionally by a combination of the two.

Given that we are social beings, we thrive on being around like-minded folks to reinforce our aspirations and ideas, to challenge our great visions, to share contacts and energy.  It is the friends and family model.

The end game of most technological innovation is to create wealth, a better life and more opportunity – none of which matter much if we don’t have a setting in which to share it all.  BC needs such a home, a heart and a technology central. I see the perfect setting in False Creek Flats in Vancouver, including the yet to be fully developed Great Northern Way Campus.

Posted in Research Parks | No Responses »
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