(Singapore 13 June) Pearson Education Asia, through its imprint Pearson Prentice Hall, will publish Filipino author Dennis Posadas’ book on technopreneurship and innovation in Asia this June 2007.
In his book RICE & CHIPS: Technopreneurship and Innovation in Asia, Posadas details the rules of innovation that have made Silicon Valley, a region of Northern California, the most innovative region in the world. Silicon Valley contains two major science universities, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley, numerous research institutes like the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, large high tech companies like Intel, Cisco, and thousands of small high tech startups.
According to Posadas, Asian countries have succeeded in copying Silicon Valley to a certain extent by including certain ingredients which have worked since time immemorial. These ingredients, says Posadas, are intrinsic to the workings of an innovative region. Posadas says that, innovation is really a local and social phenomenon. Rather than concentrating on high level policies, which he says may help somewhat, the real innovation occurs on the ground. He says what is important is that scientists and engineers are able to develop close relationships with investors and technopreneurs who have a good understanding of the technology and the market. Policy makers can help by minimizing the red tape and bureaucracy that surround these relationships, but in the end, it is the scientist/engineer and his investor partner/s who will make things happen.
Posadas hopes that other less developed Asian countries can also develop the right infrastructure and culture to attract scientists, engineers, angel and venture capitalists, intellectual property lawyers, key technology suppliers, and others involved in commercializing intellectual property, so that they can also jump on the innovation bandwagon. But he says, these countries have to iron out their kinks, like outdated intellectual property rules that prevent government scientists from starting their own tech companies and the like.
Posadas ends his book with a challenge. While he says Asia can copy Silicon Valley, he says that innovation should be targeted towards raising the quality of life of the millions of people who live below $1 a day. He cites developments like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology $100 laptop, or Microsoft’s FlexGo computer payment system as the types of technology innovation that should be encouraged.
RICE & CHIPS: Technopreneurship and Innovation in Asia is published by PEARSON PRENTICE HALL. It will be available this June 2007 in most major bookstores as well as online through Amazon.com.
Dennis Posadas is the author of RICE & CHIPS: Technopreneurship and Innovation in Asia
(Pearson Prentice Hall Asia, June 2007).
For more information about the book, please contact:
Monica Gupta
monica.gupta@pearsoned.com.sg
Pearson Education Asia
23/25 First Lok Yang Road, Jurong
Singapore 629733
email: monica.gupta@pearsoned.com.sg
tel: (65) 6319-9307
See http://ricebowlandchips.blogspot.com for more information about the book.
