Director of Research, Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization and
Senior Research Associate, 
Visiting Scholar, 
Advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital manufacturing are undoubtedly going to revolutionize manufacturing during this decade, enabling us to design and “print” complex products and “manufacture” these in our own homes. Exponentially advancing technologies will provide major new opportunities for entrepreneurs to create world-changing technologies, but they also may threaten industries and jobs around the world.
Autodesk CEO Carl Bass discussed these topics and much more. We also discussed saving mankind, where the manufacturing jobs will be, the flaws in the recent NY Times piece on iPhone manufacturing, social media, and education. If you want a crash course in “exponentials”, you should spend the hour to watch this.
Name a controversial subject: immigration, investment bubbles, age discrimination, women and minorities in tech, Google’s search results. Wadhwa, the most provocative voice in Silicon Valley, has likely staked out a controversial position that has everyone in Silicon Valley taking sides. And his penchant for straight talk and challenging the conventional wisdom about the valley being a meritocracy has catapulted him to national prominence online and on the airwaves.
In my last two articles, I discussed why, based on my research on immigrant entrepreneurs, I believed that Silicon Valley was the world’s greatest meritocracy. That was before I moved to the Valley and learned that this so-called meritocracy is highly imperfect, omitting women, blacks, and Hispanics. When I researched the dearth of women, I could find no explanation. Women are equally motivated to become entrepreneurs; are equal or more competent at managing businesses; match boys in mathematical achievement; dramatically outnumber men in higher education; and receive more than 50 percent of the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and nearly 50 percent of all doctorates, in the U.S.
I used to think Silicon Valley was a model meritocracy. From 1995 to 2005, 52 percent of the Valley’s startups were founded by people born abroad. Immigrants from India had become the dominant company-founding immigrant group. They had achieved this by mastering the Valley’s rules of engagement and building their own mentoring networks.
Visit any Silicon Valley technology company, and you’ll notice that it looks like the United Nations—with people from all over the world working together toward a common goal. It wasn’t always like this. Back when Silicon Valley was still developing semiconductors, it was largely white in complexion. As the Valley evolved and grew, it started attracting the best and brightest from all over the world. At first it was the Europeans, and then the Taiwanese. Then the whole world came.
America has been extremely worried about the loss of manufacturing to China. Seduced by subsidies, cheap labor, lax regulations, and a rigged currency, American industry has made a beeline to China.
Americans are becoming disenchanted with higher education. They say it lacks relevance and isn’t cost justified — and that therefore we should send fewer children to college. They blame universities for skyrocketing education costs. That is what I’ve learned — the hard way — in my effort to defend America’s education system.
Don’t be fooled by baby-faced Mark Zuckerberg: Contrary to popular opinion, 20-somethings aren’t the only ones responsible for successful startups these days. Sure, we may be obsessed with youth, but don’t forget, it’s also wasted on the young, which is why a growing number of people are starting businesses in their 50s, 60s and even 70s. For baby boomers, with newfound free time and either financial freedom or financial insecurity on their hands, the entrepreneurial path has become more appealing, more viable and more rewarding.
Welcome to 2012 and a new list of New Year’s resolutions — a list that likely includes some variation on adopting a healthier lifestyle. Thanks to the acceleration of technology, fulfilling your resolutions this time around may be easier than it was in 2011.
