START-UP NATION launched early this month by authors Dan Senor & Saul Singer, this book addresses the trillion dollar question (that we tried to go through the first TEDx in Portugal - you can watch my video testimony with Henrique Cymerman, here): How is it that Israel - a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources—produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? How is it that Israel has, per person, attracted over twice as much venture capital investment as the US and thirty times more than Europe?
I can't wait to read this book! But, I am very happy to see the confirmation (in form of book) that we have picked a good model economy to look for inspiration for the development of High-Tech development model for Portugal, which the description of the book puts in very clear terms:
With the savvy of foreign policy insiders,the authors examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland, Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting.
Concluding, as Portugal tries to riestart its economy, we should better be looking at this resilient nation for some impressive, surprisng clues, instead of spending lots of money on megalomaniac infra-structures and high-speed trains, which do not promote growth in such structural terms as the long-lasting effects of building an innovation economy, as Israel did - now that we have access to the answers we don't have any more excuses...
