My Internet Notebook

The following two VCs had some interesting and relevant comments:

Roger McNamee Co-Founder of Elevation Partners

is focusing his investments on media, entertainment and consumer business, believes that role of traditional electronics (semiconductors, enterprise software) is changing from growth engine of the economy to a fuel (like the course steel or cement in the 1950’s). “It’s entirely dependent on other industrires to add value,” he said. The big opportunities is for those who deliver goods and services that are not overtly technical–like well packed consumer devices. But the industry will require a major reset to get away from burdening technology user with too much technology.

Joe Shoendorf of Accel Partners

is investing in Chinese companies, sees the innovation pendulum swinging toward China, and expressed concerns about U.S. competitiveness. Other panelists agreed that China is moving fast, and that the U.S. needs to address the challenge and leadership that focuses on innovation, especially in areas that are emerging, such as energy and genomics.

In the annual meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, the delegates from China promised a harsher crackdown on copyright / IP infringement. I think this is a great thing for China to do if the government is serious in developing a service and creativity based economy. One of the key reasons why the software industry in China has not developed to a stage where it should have been is exactly because of the lack of copyright protection. Piracy is a huge dis-incentive for software companies in China.

News link – http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14318660.htm

Wired’s article on the global Madarin ‘Chinese Fever’ – http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/mandarin.html

The main Chinese government sponsor is Hanban, where Ma Jianfei is serving as the deputy director general of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. His goal is to reach 100 million Chinese speakers around the world in four years (i.e. 2010).

In 2007, high school kids across the US will be able to take the first ever AP exam for Chinese language and culture …

Gaston Caperton, ex governor of West Virginia, now president of College Board and unofficial promoter for Chinese-language education is on the road ever since the AP Chinese course was established, trying to solve the shortage of qualified Chinese teachers in the US by prodding American universities to offer certification programs and persuading elementary schools and colleges stateside to offer more Chinese language classes. He’s recently been in Beijing, meeting with Hanban officials about their volunteer-teacher program. But today he’s in Shanghai with his wife, Idit Harel Caperton. She spent the fall teaching software engineering at a university here and is a consultant and major investor (along with MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte) in a language software company based in China.

By Michael Erard (erard@lucidwork.com)