The author is a member in the big family of Zhongguancun, but one and a half years ago, he had been working for six and two years respectively in the Apple and another company of Silicon Valley.. In this article he talks about his view about and understanding of the future development of Zhongguancun.

Following are excerpts of this article. Recently, the most favorite topic of conversation among people of Zhongguancun is: How far is Zhongguancun away from the Silicon Valley? Can Zhongguancun be the next Silicon Valley?

Entirely Different Conclusions About Far Or Near

Simply making a comparison by using existing facts and data, people seem to have come to two diametrically opposed conclusions.

CONCLUSION 1: The day is not far off when Zhongguancun will become a Silicon Valley.

* Silicon Valley has two famous universities-Stanford and Berkeley universities; and Zhongguancun also has two universities-Peking and Tsinghua universities;

* Silicon Valley is the paradise of engineers; and Zhongguancun is also the gathering place of engineers;

* Silicon Valley has a group of well-known American high-tech enterprises including Intel and Hewlett-Packard, and Zhongguancun also has famous enterprises such as Legend and Founder Group;

* Silicon Valley is good at science and technology, especially information industry, while Zhongguancun is known as an Electronic Street.

CONCLUSION 2: Silicon Valley is still a faraway dream for Zhongguancun

* The market value of a group of enterprises including Hewlett-Packard and Intel of Silicon Valley is unmatched by the GNP of many countries, while the annual sales income, net profits and market value of Legend and Founder Group are not up to a quantitative level;

* Silicon Valley is an out-and-out product of the market economy, while Zhongguancun is a government-led industrial group;

* Silicon Valley has a whole set of R&D system , and a risk investment system of its own, while Zhongguancun is mainly an information products collecting and distributing place, an information product trading center, a sales center and a market center.

Pursuit of Market: Not purely Technological Innovation

In the eyes of the Chinese, Silicon Valley primarily enjoys technological advantage. As a matter of fact, the most salient characteristic of Silicon Valley is not its technology, but rather is the so-called Silicon Valley Culture. And the first characteristic of this kind of culture is a culture pursuing market innovation.

The innovation of Silicon Valley is aimed at satisfying market demands, not purely technological innovation. In fact, currently many very successful companies do not possess advanced science and technology, but they are regarded as a success, such as Yahoo.

I think the primary task for Zhongguancun to become the next Silicon Valley is to get to know the demands of the market and the user.

Talents and Relationship: The Largest Wealth

Silicon Valley's wealth is its talent and inter-personal relationship.network its weapon.

The most salient feature of Silicon Valley is the fact that personnel are the masters of the enterprise, each of them having the subscription right of the company, this is rarely seen in big American companies.

In addition, the Silicon Valley people have a set of special concepts of value. The significance of their life lies in innovation and adventure.

The successful, adventuring and pioneering people all have a gigantic inter-personal relationship network, this constitutes the most distinguishing feature of the Silicon Valley Culture. These inter-personal relationship networks enable Silicon Valley business starters to quickly gain needed funds, find cooperative partners in operation and establish a credible and tacit leading body.

Risk Investment: Service Is More Important

China's risk investment companies attach the greatest importance to technology, what they mainly provide is fund, this is completely different from the working style of Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley's risk investment companies provide funds, as well as enterprise policy consultation, even including consultation covering aspects from personnel holding stock rights to the pattern of enterprise management. Risk investment companies also help enterprises to recommend directors and personnel (they may also demand replacement of the contingent of company leaders).

The risk investment experts of Silicon Valley attach importance primarily to man and secondarily to the market.

Viewed from Zhongguancun, people give more consideration to fund-raising, more often than not, they aim primarily to get funds, and give little thought to other factors, managers are still technicians, they lack the concept of the market and the impulse to make money. This method will bring about many unstable factors and easily lead to failure.

Silicon Valley University: Absolutely Not Running Companies

Many big entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley come from Stanford and Berkeley universities. But one point is different, none of American universities run companies, Silicon Valley is no exception.

Whereas China's universities are different, schools set up many firms.

From the long-term point of view, I think schools should concentrate their efforts on education and the training of personnel and providing talents for enterprises.

Repeating Miracles Requires Understanding of Miracles

Many overseas talents who return home to start businesses are themselves people who once studied, lived and worked in Silicon Valley. A group of first-rate universities, including Peking and Tsinghua, are prerequisite to the development of Zhongguancun. In another sense, the Chinese fearlessness of risk and pioneering spirit are far better than those of the Japanese.

I believe Zhongguancun can become the next Silicon Valley, but it need not model on Silicon Valley at everything. But we must understand that Silicon Valley is a miracle. When one wants to repeat the miracle, one must have a deep understanding of how miracle comes into existence. Only by so doing, can we be sure that Zhongguancun be built into a Silicon Valley with Chinese characteristics.