Three Rebecca Fannin articles:
(1) "Wake up, Silicon Valley! Chinese Lessons for American Entrepreneurs:"
The best and brightest U.S. entrepreneurs might have to take
steroids to keep up with their counterparts in China. For energy,
motivation and raw talent, American entrepreneurs just cannot compare.
One of the superstars of China's digital media boom is Joe Chen. A
maverick entrepreneur who reads Warren Buffet and Jack Welch books in
his spare time, Chen just raised a record sum -- $430 million! -- to
ramp up his startup. It's an all-in-one Facebook, MySpace and YouTube
look-alike called Oak Pacific Interactive.
If you think it's been easy for Chen, watch this video and see how
he's had to face layoffs and sudden market shifts due largely to new
government regulations. It's all part of his struggle to find the
"right DNA" to make Oak Pacific grow, Chen says, as "strong and sturdy
as a Sequoia tree." And to also wrestle with his own human nature to
want to take on too much at the same time! Chen himself says one of his
character failures is an inability to spot risk -- that's true of the
best entrepreneurs anywhere. For to achieve something extraordinary,
you must do something "extra-ordinary." continues
(2) "China Labs":
Here, at the grand ballroom of the China World Hotel in Beijing, the
chairman of Microsoft China, Ya-Qin Zhang, has the podium and the
audience's attention. "China is quickly emerging from a low-cost
manufacturer to a high-tech innovator," he says.
Why is China becoming a lab for the world? Zhang lists Chinese
government policies to foster innovation, improved intellectual
property protection, strong economic growth, a huge talent pool of
well-trained computer scientists and increased research and development
spending.
Already, China ranks 7th in the world for the number of
international patent applications -- 5456 in 2007 alone, an increase of
38% over the previous year, Zhang notes. By 2009, China's position will
rise to 4th globally for new patent applications, he predicts, right
after the U.S., Japan and Germany. continues
(3) "Cleantech"
It's one of those clear, blue-sky days in Beijing -- one of the very
few I've seen during the last two weeks, where a grey dusty hue has
covered the landscape (sandstorm or not). I take care to stay indoors
as much as possible, and when riding in a taxi, ask the driver to roll
up the windows and turn on the air conditioner. Otherwise, I risk
tearing eyes, runny nose and a hacking cough -- effects caused by the
air pollution.
But count on the Chinese government to continue its clean-up of the
air as the Beijing Olympics comes closer. Things have definitely
improved since 2002, when I started coming to China regularly. And much
of this progress has to do with efforts by the government and private
sector to invest in clean technology. Joining in are venture capital
investors such as the high-profile Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital
as well as a handful of Chinese funds that have earmarked cleantech
sectors as a high priority.
Certainly, much financing is needed. The Chinese government's 11th,
five-year economic plan pinpoints that $867 billion is needed for the
massive clean-up. Yet only $382 billion has been invested, according to
managing director Ka Keung Chan of London-based Climate Change Capital,
who heads a team in Beijing looking for emerging cleantech companies to
finance. continues