打造创新生态环境

打造创新生态环境 / Developing an Ecosystem of Innovation

Developing an Ecosystem of Innovation

I recently joined the second annual “Asia-Global Dialogue” held by one of Hong Kong’s leading think tanks, the Fung Global Institute. The two-day event brought together opinion leaders from business, academia and government from Hong Kong, China, and around the world.

One particularly thought-provoking session was “Innovation and Business Opportunity — Can Asia Lead?”

Since there is not much debate about whether Asia can continue to lead the world in terms of business opportunity, the real focus of the panel discussion was on whether Asia can take the lead in global innovation.

This question obviously butts up against a host of issues involving education and culture in Asia, which although different in each country, seem to share some similarities. Some of these systemic traits tend to obstruct the development of an innovative eco-system. The moderator, Professor Dutta of Cornell’s Graduate School of Management, told the story of his recent visit to Stanford University, where he learned that many undergraduates there now receive recruitment overtures from Silicon Valley companies. The idea is not that they wait until obtaining their degree, but drop out of Stanford and join the company now.

The question then turned to what it would take for China, India, Korea or other Asian countries to create their own Silicon Valley. In terms of education, Asian countries clearly excel in producing graduates who are strong in math and sciences. The bigger question is how to enhance their abilities in creativity, lateral thinking, teamwork, and the willingness to risk being seen to be wrong. This is obviously not just a question involving classroom education, but culture in a broader sense.

John Rice, the Hong Kong-based Vice Chairman of General Electric, said that 20% of GE’s 60,000 engineers are now software engineers; and that they have 4,000 engineers in

China who are on a par with any in the world. His perspective is that for MNCs, innovation is now a global process, requiring major and minor R&D centers around the world working together.

Jean Pascal Tricoire, the Chairman and CEO of another major MNC, Schneider Electric, who is also Hong Kong-based, said that 1/3 of his company’s R&D staff are now based in Asia. He echoed Rice’s comments about innovation being a global process for MNCs. He also observed that often the big breakthrough ideas come not from larger companies, but from smaller ones.

Tricoire and his fellow panelists (including former Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei and Lawson Inc.’s CEO Takeshi Niinami) agreed on one thing. That is, that innovation is usually born of necessity. For Asia, one major trend which should be an engine of innovation is urbanization. This could be the best sector of opportunity for Asia to lead the world in innovation.

When asked what the “secret sauce” required to create an innovation eco-system was, panelists offered a variety of advice, centering around these points:

• innovation is borne from diversity in the workplace; without diversity it is very difficult to develop

• innovation thrives in an environment of openness, where argumentation and failure are accepted as normal and good; one panelist used the term “freedom of speech” within the corporate context, as an essential element

• innovation often occurs at smaller companies, so a level playing field which enables these companies access to capital and a fair policy and tax environment is key

• cooperative bridges between leading research universities and the corporate world are important

All in all, the panelists had a fairly optimistic take on Asia’s prospects for an innovation revolution, especially centered around the mass urbanization trend which is well underway. At the same time, there remains a lot of work to do to change long-established educational and cultural norms — not an easy task.

打造创新生态环境

最近，我出席了由香港著名智库经纶国际经济研究院举办的第二届年度“亚洲—— 全球对话”。这次活动为期两天，来自香港、内地和全球的商界、学界和政界意见领袖们汇聚一堂。 对话中有一个环节特别发人深省，主题是“创新与商业机遇——亚洲能领先吗？”

鉴于人们对亚洲能否继续引领世界商业机遇方面没有太多争议，这个分论坛的焦点就集中在亚洲能否领跑全球创新的问题上。

显然，这个问题与很多涉及亚洲教育及文化的事务密不可分。尽管各国的国情有所不同，但在这方面都有一些共通之处，某些体制上的特性会对创新生态环境的建立形成阻碍。

分论坛主持人，康奈尔大学管理研究生院的Dutta教授告诉大家，他最近去了斯坦福大学，发现那儿有很多在校本科生都已收到硅谷企业的工作邀请。这些学生不打算等到毕业拿文凭，就想先退学上班去了。

接下来的问题就是中国、印度、韩国以及其他亚洲国家将如何打造自己的硅谷。在教育方面，亚洲国家长于培养理科研究生，但更大的问题在于如何增强学生的创造性、发散性思维、团队合作能力，以及敢于试错的勇气。显然，这不只是课堂教育的问题，还涉及到更广泛的文化层面。

通用电气驻香港的副董事长庄睿思说，在通用电气的6万名工程师中，有20%是软件工程师。在中国，通用共有4,000名工程师，他们与世界其他地方的工程师相比毫不逊色。他认为对跨国企业来说，创新是全球化进程，需要世界各地大大小小的研发中心通力合作。 另一家大型跨国企业施耐德电气的总裁兼首席执行官、同样常驻香港的赵国华说，施耐德三分之一的研发人员都在亚洲。他同意庄睿思关于创新是全球化进程的观点，并指出突破性的创意往往诞生于小公司，而不是大公司。

赵国华和分论坛嘉宾（包括索尼前董事长出井伸之、罗森公司首席执行官Takeshi Niinami）一致同意，创新源自需求。对亚洲而言，城市化作为创新的主要推手已渐成趋势，将成为亚洲主导世界创新的最佳契机。

在回答什么才是打造创新生态环境的“秘方”时，与会嘉宾给出了不同的建议，归纳起来主要有下述几点：

• 创新源自企业的多元化，缺少多元化就很难发展。

• 开放的环境有益于创新的蓬勃发展。所谓开放的环境是指能够正确对待争论和失败，并将其视为常态。有位嘉宾用“言论自由”来形容企业内部创新的关键。

• 创新往往诞生于小公司，因此，一个能让小公司获得资金支持的公平的竞争平台，以及公平的政策和税收环境至关重要。

• 一流研究院校和企业间的合作桥梁非常重要。

总之，与会嘉宾对亚洲未来的创新前景持乐观态度，特别是在城市化大规模展开的背景下。同时，改变长期形成的教育和文化模式依然任重而道远。