The Road to a Creative Economy
by Adam George
October 15, 2014
On October 15, 2014, Dr. Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist and associate director for the MIT Center for Digital Business, Ben Casnocha, best-selling author and technology entrepreneur, Yigal Erlich, the founder and managing director of the Yozma Group, and Jung-hee Ryu, CEO of FuturePlay, gathered to discuss the values of entrepreneurship and how to establish it in any culture.
Mr. Erlich, of Israel, spoke first on the recent success Israel has experienced in venture capitalism.
“It’s a teamwork, and that the team consists of the right people – creativity characters, the interpreter, someone who pays attention to details, and someone who can understand the organization and how to move things within the company,” he said.
Because of the government’s involvement in funding such entrepreneurial startups, Israel has created the right environment from which tech-based companies can emerge.
Mr. Casnocha also cited the importance of creating such an ecosystem.
“The people who must build entrepreneurial ecosystems…are the entrepreneurs themselves. Entrepreneurs must be leaders of their own community, organized together and promote the shared cause,” he said.
In addition to embodying the leader, entrepreneurs must realize the time and effort it takes to become established and the importance of being celebrated, Mr. Casnocha noted.
Mr. Ryu agreed with Mr. Casnocha, but recognized that Koreans “prefer secure and stable jobs over adventurous startups.” This explained the hesitation people face with starting their own business.
“We need more international collaborations and learn from Israel,” Mr. Ryu said, citing that Korea has all of the necessities for a startup, from high-speed internet to government funding, but is lacking in international involvement.
Mr. Ryu commented more on the fear of failure in the Korean culture, saying that people generally grow to hate the face of a product, should it fail.
“In the Asian cultures, [people] cannot differentiate the individual and individual’s work,” he said, implying that people do not want to meet that problem and ultimately turn to other, less entrepreneurial venues.
“Most countries would love to have [Korea’s] problems,” Dr. McAfee reassured the audience, saying that Korea’s current state is rather positive. “[We need to] take these strengths and try to leverage them and go in a more positive direction.”
Israel, a prime example of international collaboration, experienced a successful surge of new companies in the past 30 years. Mr. Elrich stated that 300 multinational companies came to Israel seeking acquisition of the companies, but didn’t take the technology. Instead, these companies remained and grew with the funding of the Israeli government. The process, amounting to five years, significantly helped the companies to flourish.
This funding may seem daunting for any aspiring entrepreneur, but the panelists fervently assuaged any fears. Starting a company is “easier and costs less than ever before,” Mr. Casnocha assured.
“The money is getting easier and easier to acquire…[with a] worldwide surplus of savings,” Dr. McAfee agreed. But he warned that finding smart money to invest in any business is becoming difficult as a way to secure favorable returns.
The panelists concurred on the importance of entrepreneurial education, not just on the foundations of the business model but from within the culture as well. Mr. Casnocha argued that, in order to effectively change a culture, one must spend time outside of it.
“Spend time in a [different] culture that has [a specific] trait and try to soak it all up, and then come back to the culture that doesn’t have that trait and try to infect everyone else, just like a virus,” he said.
Dr. McAfee also maintained that the education system must face a renovation. By contrasting the free-spirited learning model of the Montessori schools and the rigid structures of universities, including MIT, Dr. McAfee concluded that the strictness of his university education turned off his ability to be creative.
Drawing upon conclusions reached through his colleagues’ research, Dr. McAfee emphasized the need for innovation in education in order to encourage more creativity.
“When [a student is] sitting in a classroom, absorbing information, it’s worse than if their brain is asleep,” he said.
All panelists agree that in order to foster more entrepreneurship within a country, the education to do so must start in school. As a society, they said we must celebrate, educate, and encourage those willing to take the leap into starting their own business and pave the way for those around them.