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Why the UK doesn't have a Silicon Valley
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Clinically Insane
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Calling all entrepreneurs. What must we learn from the spirit of the States? - Telegraph
Originally Posted by story
Recently, George Osborne asked why it was that, as yet, no Facebook or Google or Apple or YouTube had been launched on this side of the Atlantic.
He argued that there was something in our business investing culture that made it difficult to back innovative winners in the digital world and that the Government had failed to create the right culture of risk taking in business.
Originally Posted by comment
VC money is not the problem. There is lots of VC money in the UK. But it doesn't want big risks or early stage. It is mainly expansion capital.
I find the above comment to be true. Ten years ago I tried to find a VC for a startup. Never found one and walked away with the distinct impression that European VCs aren't interested in funding anything that's not already on the shelves. So I'm still sitting on the tech (essentially: serverless B2B Internet).
Irony of ironies, I even exchanged emails with Mr Osborne on the matter. Got nowhere. Ho hum.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Games Meister  Join Date: Aug 2009
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I think last.fm is your only claim to fame.
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Posting Junkie
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The only British chips I can think of are fries.
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Games Meister Join Date: Aug 2009
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Clinically Insane
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Originally Posted by sek929 
The only British chips I can think of are fries.
And all those ARM thingies in yer iPhones, of course. 
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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The problem in the UK is that technical studies, like engineering, science or high tech has been frowned upon for decades. When I started doing mechanical engineering at a Uni that supplied lots of mech eng graduates for Rolls Royce (the gas turbines not the cars), my family wondered why I was doing mech eng and not finance or accountancy. This was coming from lawyers and economics qualified people.
The only reason that I got into IT instead of engineering was that the money was good. While I was earning £40K in IT back in 99/00 my mech eng colleagues were getting £20K. Its no wonder there isn't much 'British' industry - theres no reward (Dyson is an exception). I did a summer placement with Rolls Royce and some people who had good technical experience were being poached by Pratt and Whitney and GE to goto the US and work. Besides a very good salary, they were offered full payment of moving, health stuff for the families etc. What would you do? Stay in Derby or Bristol? No way.
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Originally Posted by sek929
The only British chips I can think of are fries.
As Doofy points out 98 % of mobile phones (+the iPad) are based around the ARM Architecture which is a British invention, an interesting point is that many British Schools introduced ARM based Archimedes systems in 1987.
It was not always the case that the Brits lagged behind.
Other cool British stuff is GTA and Shazzam, but unfortunately nothing else springs to mind.
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Vietnam and India have their silicon valleys. Why not the UK?
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Mac Elite
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I've yet to go anywhere in Europe where there is an entrepreneurial culture that's comparable to the US. That's not meant to be a dig against the old country, it's simply an observation.
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Moderator  Join Date: Feb 2006
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Originally Posted by Doofy
(essentially: serverless B2B Internet).
Boob2Boob?
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Professional Poster
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That's an interesting idea, especially considering that for a long time Europe was known for having the COOL mobile phones, their cell networks still tend to beat the North American ones, but now all the top phone companies are RIM (Canadian), Apple (American), Google/Motorola/HTC/Samsung/LG (American, American, Taiwanese, Korean, Korean), Palm? (Who cares?), and of course based on market share you have to say Nokia (Finish) even if they suck purdy heartily.
I mean I guess Nokia's a pretty big achievement, though they're getting their asses handed to them, and they're super lucky they already had a lot of Europe and Asia trained on their mobile phone platforms cause if you compare it to the iPhone or even a BlackBerry the platform does not make NEARLY as much sense.
Other than that... yah all England really has going for it is Doctor Who 
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Other than that... yah all England really has going for it is Doctor Who
Tell that to the US F1 Team.
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Mac Elite
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The US, and Canada to a lesser degree, deals with failure in a fundamentally different way to European countries. Within Europe there are more cultural differences, with the Brits being far more open to discussing failures than, for example, the Germans.
If you start a business in the US, work hard but still fail it is seen as valuable experience. You simply try again and learn from your mistakes. In Germany, having failed at a business is seen in a far more negative light.
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The UK had Bebo which was doing quite well until they sold out to AOL who managed to kill it.
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Clinically Insane
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Strange that this thread has been bumped since I was thinking about this the other day.
And I boiled it down to "average size of one's garage".
Big garage (as in US) = loads of space for tools and inventing stuff.
Small garage (as in UK) = no space to invent stuff.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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I thought it was the lack of decent valleys in the UK.
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"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
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Mac Elite
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Originally Posted by Doofy
Strange that this thread has been bumped since I was thinking about this the other day.
And I boiled it down to "average size of one's garage".
Big garage (as in US) = loads of space for tools and inventing stuff.
Small garage (as in UK) = no space to invent stuff.
Inspiration is not limited to the size of ones workbench.
Proof
sorry for the low quality, but its the best available.
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Posting Junkie
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Originally Posted by osiris
I thought it was the lack of decent valleys in the UK.
Oh, there are some good valleys, but they're in Scotland.
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Professional Poster
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I dont' think garage has much to do with it, as Japan doesn't even have garages as far as I know... I hear they just have helicopters built into their cell phones...
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Clinically Insane
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Originally Posted by macaddict0001
Inspiration is not limited to the size of ones workbench.
Proof
sorry for the low quality, but its the best available.
That bloke's not inventing anything.
And let's face it, he's a complete tool. 
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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