Thomas Friedman writes in the NYT today about America’s innovation culture. Its interesting that Friedman’s two examples of American innovators are both immigrants, but Friedman doesn’t wade into the heavily politicized immigration & visa issue. Its a great story – very inspiring and encouraging – but perhaps alarming for the fact that America’s real contribution to the innovation examples highlighted is venture capital.
As a result, one has produced a fuel cell that can turn natural gas or natural grass into electricity; the other has a technology that might make coal the cleanest, cheapest energy source by turning its carbon-dioxide emissions into bricks to build your next house.
The thing I love most about America is that there’s always somebody who doesn’t get the word — somebody who doesn’t understand that in a Great Recession you’re supposed to hunker down, downsize and just hold on for dear life. I have a couple of friends who fit that bill, who think a recession is a dandy time to try to discover better and cheaper ways to do things. They both happen to be Indian-Americans — one a son of the Himalayas, who came to America on a scholarship and went to work for NASA to try to find a way to Mars; the other a son of New Delhi, who came here and found the Sun, Sun Microsystems.
via Op-Ed Columnist – Dreaming the Possible Dream – NYTimes.com.
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The guy didn’t invent the fuel cell he changed the process. Furthermore there is lots of innovation among the locals but the corporate world has been more interested in maintaining the status quo for the yuppies at the top now and filling the corporate world with minorities. Where is the innovation?