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Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 1999 Just do it - the new Britons OVER the past year there have been two magical attitude changes in Britain that could transform our society. The first was last seen in Victorian times when getting rich and being visibly successful was both desirable and necessary - well, it is more or less respectable again. The second is new: having an online life has become acceptable because there are economic, social and ecosystem advantages. It is amazing that it has taken so long, but at last we seem to have grasped the notion that wealth generation coupled with a bit-based economy has significant social advantage. So it is now increasingly difficult to find the media using the dismissive and derisory terms "nerd" and "geek" when reporting the latest technology and online advances. At the same time, it has been recognised that South-East England has the richest economy in Europe. But there ought not to be any great dismay at this discovery, as the correlation between Internet and telecommunication activity in the region, along with start-up companies and investment, is also the densest in Europe. This is a microcosm of the situation in the US, where they have dozens of regional successes of this kind, and arguably the strongest economy on the planet. Another encouraging feature of the rapidly changing British economy and society that has emerged in the past few years is the number of enthusiastic and energetic youngsters wanting to start their own companies. They are leaving school and university with a just-do-IT attitude and a determination to break old British moulds epitomised by the following allegoric comparisons. If you are from South-East Asia and you decide to start a business, your friends and family will work night and day to make sure you are a success. If you are an American and you decide to start a business, your friends and family will invest money in your enterprise to get you started, provide encouragement, and share in your success. But if you are British and you decide to start a business, your friends and family will tell you not to even try, then scratch your car if you succeed. Despite all the concerns about declining education standards, I am generally impressed by young people. They may not be very adept at mental arithmetic and other backward-looking skills, but when it comes to computing and entrepreneurship, they seem to be leagues ahead of the older institutionalised mindsets. They can see the opportunities and have the skills, courage and ambition to have a go. More importantly, they have the time to make mistakes, fail several times if necessary, and then go on to get it right. A society of people is never perfect; it is always evolving and adapting to change and circumstance. To paraphrase Charles Darwin: it is not the smartest or strongest who survive, but those most able to adapt to change. So what is missing from the British equation to create even more success? We need a string of business incubators where start-ups can find a modest amount of funding, floor space and facilities rentable by the week. A raft of second and third-round venture capital funds is then required to take these new businesses to market. Finally, we need a connected government that understands business and legislates and taxes for success instead of against it. Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is: |
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