In an interview he gave before an event in Palo Alto, the Indian-born tech guru Vivek Wadhwa denounced the "building xenophobia in America" and the "flawed immigration policies" that are harming the US’s capability to attract the brightest minds in the world.
Last Thursday, Mr. Wadhwa was among the panelists convened at the discussion: "Transplanting Start-Ups in Silicon Valley: Does it Work?," an event organized by BAIA (Business Association Italy America), that gathered new and old Italian entrepreneurs who were wondering why their compatriots have not played a major role so far in Silicon Valley (see more in the previous article).
Mr. Wadhwa opened the discussion by immediately stinging the Italian audience, when he jokingly pointed out that, while his “Indian friends” founded more companies in Silicon Valley than the next four non-US groups combined, “the Italians were somewhere off the chart.”
But his main focus was not Italian entrepreneurship. A former successful entrepreneur himself, Vivek Wadhwa joined academia about six years ago, following “health issues which led me to take some time off from the tech world,” as he said in and interview earlier this year. He holds positions at Duke, Harvard, and he’s currently a Visiting Professor in Berkeley. But he is also a passionate commentator, contributing for BusinessWeek.com and TechCrunch, where he gives voice to his concerns about what he sees as “America killing the golden rules that laid its innovation eggs.”
“The US has been blessed to be able to attract the best and brightest people,” he said while recalling that foreign-born nationals founded 52% of Silicon Valley’s start-ups during the dot.com boom. "But immigrants can’t come here anymore. Those that are here can’t get visa to stay, and the result is that they are leaving in mass numbers, fueling innovations in countries like India, China, Brazil and part of Europe.”
This factual recognition led him recently to criticize US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) for his definition of “chop-shops,” referring to those (mainly) Indian companies accused to bring in tech workers who compete with Americans, and “take their jobs away.”
While this is going on here—he went on—other countries like Chile are implementing innovative programs to attract skilled minds: “Chile realized that the key of America’s success in technology is its people.” Therefore, in order to attract the brightest workers from around the world, “they are offering $40,000 dollars to anyone who wants to go and start a company there. With no obligation other than just go there and build the company.” Key to this endeavor is Chile’s bet on the communication of knowledge: “They will teach locals about entrepreneurship, risk taking, global markets. At least 5 or 10% will build successful companies,” and this simple fact will prompt the birth a new tech hub in Chile “out of nothing.”
Mr.Wadhwa came to the US in 1980 to study—“because like most immigrants I thought America was the best place in the world”—and later founded successful companies. He fell in love with this country.
Which is why his admission that his ideas have provoked several death threats is so striking. “This interview will get me in trouble,” he added, “but this is part of my job.”
Comments
You do realize, don't you, that the alleged death threats never happened. Wadhwa made the whole thing up.
Silicon Valley died long ago - sometime around late 1998/early 1999 when America decided to punish its most productive workers and reward foreign workers who never created anything. Import a 3rd world workforce, you get a 3rd world economy. America is over. And we did it to ourselves.
Silicon Valley and IT were 98% white American males until late 1998. And the economy was booming up until then. White native Americans built the IT industry. There were hardly any foreigners here before 1998. Since 1998 we've had 2 major collapses, the 2nd one being the biggest one since the great depression. Americans are training these so-called brilliant workers from other countries. Foreigners were rare in SV before 1999. It's been nothing but decline since then. Common sense says don't keep doing the things that aren't working.
America WAS the best place in the world - but that was before we flooded it with MILLIONS of 3rd worlders who cannot make their own countries work. America has been raped and plundered by lazy 3rd world grifters. That's why it's no longer the best place.
Of course every hungry 3rd world immigrant on the planet would fall in love with America -in what other country in the world can millions of 3rd world immigrants just WALK IN and takeover millions of the best-paying jobs, keep the people who created those jobs out of the workforce, and then on top of that, get nearly unlimited public services without paying any taxes. It's like a free-for-all goldmine for these people as they send our wealth home and enrich their own families back in their old countries.
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